Concessions, Threats, No Confidence: Five Ways ‘Zombie May’ Bungled Brexit

It has been more than two years since the British people voted to leave the European Union, but the country is no closer to independence.

This week has seen Britain’s Government on the verge of collapse, with Prime Minister Theresa May at risk of a ‘no confidence’ vote, and some of the Conservative Party’s most senior Brexit campaigners have resigned from Cabinet positions.

Here is how Mrs May got Britain to this point:

— To Begin at the Beginning —

The UK joined the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973, which was sold to the people as simply a trading bloc. Even then, those who opposed Britain staying in the body during the 1975 membership referendum argued the EEC was cutting Britain off from her traditional trading partners, pushing up the price of food, and killing hundreds of thousands of jobs.

But over 40 years, it has morphed into the European Union — a globalist project that has, by stealth under the noses of Europe’s citizenry, stripped countries of their rights to determine their trading relationships, immigration policies, and even laws.

The bloc is on course towards deeper federalisation including the formation of an EU army, a centralised EU budget, and an EU common asylum policy.

As the EU grew, so too did Euroscepticism grow in Britain, becoming such a powerful voice that the Conservative Party pledged to hold a referendum on EU membership in their 2015 manifesto.

The referendum was called by the establishment not to give Britons a say in the destiny of their country, but because the political elite believed strongly Britain would do as they wanted, and vote to Remain —  killing off the issue for good.

Contrary to the expectations of the mainstream media, the globalists, and the political elites, leave won with 52 percent of the vote on June 23rd, 2016. 17,410,742 citizens wanted to see an end to the EU controlling Britain’s laws, borders, trade, and immigration — more Brits than had voted for anything at any election in history.

Then-Prime Minister and Remain supporter David Cameron resigned the day after the vote.

A party leadership election was triggered and Conservative MPs eliminated prominent Leave-supporting candidates Liam Fox and Michael Gove at the ballot, leaving comparatively inexperienced Brexiteer Andrea Leadsom and Remain-supporting Home Secretary Theresa May to face off in a nationwide vote of Tory party members.

However, Leadsom withdrew from the race on July 11th, 2016, and by default, May ‘won’.

Prime Minister since July 13th, 2016, Remainer May pledged to deliver Brexit. Though almost two years to that day, May’s bungling has resulted in the country moving farther from the voters’ expectations of ‘Leave’.

— 1:  The Zombie Brexit —

May has earned herself the nickname of the “Zombie Prime Minister” by the mainstream media for her “zombie-like progress” on Brexit.

Despite being Prime Minister since July 2016, May did not trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty — the legal mechanism for leaving the EU — until March 29th, 2017.

Article 50 allows for up to two years for both sides to agree a “divorce settlement”, meaning the UK will not have formally left the EU until March 29th, 2019.

However, that date only represents the beginning of the end of Britain’s entanglement with the EU.

On September 22nd, 2017, during her ‘Florence Speech’ May announced her intention to keep the UK tied to the bloc and its rules for a further two years — until 2021 — in what she called a “transition period” before the eventual permanent arrangements for UK-EU relations come into force.

The government then signalled in March 2018 that it would consider staying tethered to the bloc beyond that date in what leading Brexit supporter Jacob Rees-Mogg MP called “perpetual purgatory”.

— 2: A Snap Election Backfires —

Theresa May called a snap election on April 18th, 2017, for the following June in a bid to strengthen her hand in negotiations with the EU.

The Conservative Party pledged in its manifesto that it would leave the EU and stop uncontrolled migration from the bloc, meaning the UK would leave the Single Market and Customs Union — the EU associations that trade internally without tariffs but place massive costs on global trade and prevent nations negotiating trade deals, forces open borders and unlimited migration for members states, and includes free movement of goods, capital, and services.

Despite a poll boost after the announcement of the election, lacklustre campaigning and two terror attacks — which turned the election into a debate about national security — resulted in the Conservative Party losing its majority in the House of Commons on June 8th, 2017.

The result was a minority government propped up by a ‘confidence and supply’ agreement with the pro-Brexit Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which has seen the 10 DUP MPs support the Conservatives on key votes such as on the budget and Brexit.

The DUP is a Protestant, working-class party with a socially conservative domestic platform, focused primarily on maintaining Northern Ireland’s place within the UK, and will likely reject any Brexit proposal that would see Northern Ireland treated differently from the rest of the country.

This relationship could prove problematic as the EU is insisting there be no “hard border” between EU member the Republic of Ireland, which is subject to the Customs Union, and Northern Ireland, which would be outside of the Customs Union after Brexit.

— 3: Concessions, Concessions, Concessions —

The fact that Theresa May’s September 2017 ‘Florence Speech‘ was given in Italy should have indicated to Brexiteers that it would be replete with concessions to the EU.

May said that she wanted a so-called “transition period” during which, in exchange for access to the EU’s Single Market and Customs Union, mass migration from the bloc would continue unfettered.

In addition, with no Members of European Parliament the UK would have no say in the rules set by the EU — but would still abide by them for at least two years after the official Brexit date of 2019.

She also pledged to pay the bloc a so-called “divorce bill”; though no figure was given, a figure of some £40 billion has been suggested with the EU demanding £88.5 billion.

If it seems like May wasn’t just proverbially giving the farm away, she was also giving away the fishing waters, as well, with a pledge to allow European fishing vessels continued access to the vast majority of the UK’s fishing stock during the transition.

This was interpreted as a major betrayal by Brexiteers after the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy had decimated Britain’s fishing industry for decades.

“May’s vision for Brexit Britain is that we leave in name only and that all current arrangements, the status quo, is simply to be rebadged,” Mr Farage said on the day of the speech, calling it “a sell-out of our national interest, and a betrayal of Brexit”.

— 4: Chequers Summit: May’s Soft Brexit, Threats, and Risking the U.S. Bilateral Trade Deal —

It was at Chequers — the Prime Minister’s countryside retreat — on July 5th and 6th 2018 that May nailed her Brexit colours to the mast.

Her proposals would see Britain effectively remain inside the EU’s Single Market for industrial goods and agricultural products forever. The country would sign up to a free trade area regulated by a so-called “common rulebook” dictated by the European Court of Justice.

It would remain subject to EU state aid rules and keep its employment, environment, consumer protection, and social regulations at least as stringent as the EU, and would also agree to collect customs duties on the EU’s behalf for goods destined for the bloc.

In response to May’s Soft Brexit plan, U.S. ambassador to the UK Robert “Woody” Johnson warned that a bilateral trade deal between the two countries — essential for a post-Brexit Britain — is now “totally up in the air”.

Word later emerged that May had threatened her Ministers that if they refused to agree to the terms of her ‘third way’ customs plan and quit, she would immediately strip them of their ministerial cars and they would be forced to take a humiliating one-mile walk down the driveway from the country mansion to get a taxi back to London, as well as face a £67,000 pay cut.

No resignations were made during the summit, and presumably, the Prime Minister felt like she had the Cabinet under control, agreeing to a Brexit that bore no resemblance to that which the people voted for.

— 5: A Very British Political Apocalypse: the Slow Motion Brexit Crash —

That did not last long as on the night of Sunday the 8th, Brexit secretary David Davis resigned, writing in his resignation letter that “we’re giving too much away too easily, and that’s a dangerous strategy at this time.”

He was followed swiftly by junior minister Steve Baker.

On Monday, then-foreign secretary Boris Johnson resigned, writing to the Prime Minister that the dream of Brexit was “dying” and that the UK was “truly headed for the status of a colony”.

Calls were made from UKIP for May’s resignation, and there was talk of a ‘no confidence’ vote challenging her leadership from the party.

However, as of Monday night, the 1922 committee — which is comprised of MPs who do not hold office in government but who hold the core control mechanism of the Conservative Party — had not received the 48 letters needed to trigger a leadership challenge.

Following the loss of Brexit heavy-hitters Johnson and Davis, the top four positions in May’s Cabinet — that of Prime Minister, the foreign secretary, home secretary, and Chancellor of the Exchequer — are now populated by those who voted Remain in the June 2016 referendum.

Brexit Leader Nigel Farage told Fox News on Monday that “What I know in my heart is that if this woman stays as Prime Minister we will not get control back of our borders, our laws, our courts, and our money. It will be a fudge and leave us in a very bad place.”

Follow Breitbart London on Twitter @BreitbartLondon and Facebook