Boris Johnson Won Brexit; Now He Has to Own It
by Tim Ross
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At 11 p.m., Britain’s bad-tempered 47-year marriage to the European Union will formally end.
The man who helped engineer the divorce — U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson — must now own it. It was the charismatic Johnson who transformed the fringe Brexit movement into an all-conquering referendum campaign back in 2016, upending the government and unleashing three years of unprecedented turmoil in Britain.
It was Johnson who led the hardline resistance against former Premier Theresa May’s blueprint for a “deep and special partnership” with the EU’s single market and customs union. In the end, it was a Johnson-inspired revolt that triggered May’s downfall, opening the famous black door of Number 10 Downing Street for himself.
Now he must deliver.
That means more than just making Brexit work for the 17.4 million people who voted for it, though this will be hard enough as businesses reassess whether jobs need to move. Most challenging of all, he must somehow heal the wounds that Brexit has cut through the country.
As the economic heart of the U.K., cosmopolitan London is an alien place to residents of depressed former industrial heartlands and forgotten towns on the English coast. And Scotland’s government is agitating for another independence referendum, with a new poll suggesting voters favor breaking away.
With five years until another election is due, there’s plenty of time for Johnson’s Brexit project to go wrong.
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Pop quiz, readers (no cheating!). Which European politician failed to score a knock-out blow in a regional vote to accelerate his rise to national power? Send us your answers and tell us how we’re doing or what we’re missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net.
And finally ... President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to close Nigeria’s borders with two neighboring countries in an effort to boost domestic rice production and thwart smuggling has been a bittersweet experience in the world’s second-biggest buyer of the white grain. While some farmers have capitalized on the elimination of cheap foreign competition, prices have soared for the Nigerian staple — used to make delicacies such as jollof rice — and consumers are complaining that some local grain is rotten or filled with stones.
--With assistance from Karen Leigh and Kathleen Hunter.
To contact the author of this story: Tim Ross in London at tross54@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Winfrey at mwinfrey@bloomberg.net, Karl Maier
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