The History Book Club discussion

This is a thread which focuses on Brexit - (historical books about the subject, speeches that were made, podcasts, youtube videos, articles and the like)

I could not fathom why I had not set this thread up before but here it is. Finally.

"Thoughts on Brexit" presented by William Legge, 10th Earl of Dartmouth

William Legge, 10th Earl of Dartmouth (known as William Dartmouth), will offer "Thoughts on Brexit."

Lord Dartmouth has been a member of the European Parliament and a ranking member of its Committee on International Trade.

The event is co-sponsored by the Political Economy Project and the Masters in Liberal Studies (MALS) Program of Dartmouth College.

Filmed on September 24, 2019
Filene Auditorium, Moore Hall
Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH USA

Link:

Source: Dartmouth, Youtube

More:
(no image) The Manuscripts Of The Earl Of Dartmouth byWilliam Legge Dartmouth (no photo)

Brexit: UK leaves the European Union - BBC News



Source: BBC

UK speaker explains Brexit to Harvard students

Link:

(17 Sep 2019) UK Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow gave a speech at Harvard University on Monday, where he made comments about Brexit.

When asked about Brexit, Bercow told listeners that he believed that there were "three possible scenarios" - a Parliament-approved deal, no deal or a segue to a mechanism for making another decision.

He said that he believed it was of "critical importance is that what happens by way of decision must be the result of the explicit endorsement of the UK Parliament."

"Parliament must come to a view, and any view to be legitimate has to, in my judgment, to be authorised by Parliament. Period," he added.

Last week, Bercow told lawmakers that he will quit the same day Britain is due to leave the EU.

He has said he will quit both as speaker and as a member of Parliament.

What Next?

by Daniel Hannan

Synopsis:

On June 23, 2016, against all forecasts, Britain voted to leave the EU. Drawing on his experiences at the heart of the campaign, Daniel Hannan dissects the result and our reaction.

He outlines why Vote Leave won, exploring what people were voting for and what they weren’t. He looks at the immediate aftermath—how it differs from what people expected and what it says about where to go next.

Brexit, Hannan points out, is a process—not an event—with three key areas of consideration: the UK's relationship with the remaining 27 EU states; their relationship with the rest of the world; and, crucially, their consequent domestic reforms—there is no point to Brexit if they don’t now tackle the threats to democracy of corporatism and lobbying.

What Next is Hannan’s blueprint for a successful Brexit. A Brexit that addresses the concerns of the 48% who voted Remain as well as of the 52% who voted Leave, a Brexit that revitalizes British democracy, and a Brexit that will be mutually beneficial for both Britain and Europe.

It is too early to assess the impact of Brexit yet. Give it 5 years and we will have a better idea. At present the UK government still has a lot of work to do brokering deals and sorting out how trade will operate between the UK and other countries (in terms of the finer details). At present its only real impact has been to add some red tape and make it slightly more difficult to do business internationally. So the jury is still very much out. I suspect we'll need 2-5 years to get back to where we were & after that we might start to see some real benefits (if there will be any). The trouble is I don't think we can really assess its success or failure until we've got to that point. For that reason I'm wondering if it is too early for history books on Brexit.

Paul, thank you. You’ve made some very good points!
Regards,
Andrea

We recently had the UK Brexit Secretary (Dominic Rabb) tell us that we will need to take a "ten year view" (his words) in order to fully appreciate the benefits of Brexit. That was on 14th Feb 2021.

So it looks like we will need to wait until 2031 before we can expect a decent history book on the subject of Brexit and its impact.

All that said, it doesn't bode well. Rabb was one of the most ardent Brexiteers and if even he feels we won't see any benefits for a decade; it would seem quite clear that it is not going to be anything like the panacea for future success that many people believed it would be.

Good point on 10 years to understand government programs- in 1967 LBJ instituted the Great Society program that instituted paying unwed mothers for their children which caused a tremendous population boom in welfare rolls. Beware of unintended consequences of policies with good intentions.