But it was not a surprise to everyone. Andy Burnham, then Labour’s shadow home secretary, had broken rows weeks before he warned that the Remain campaign was doing things wrong and was in grave danger of throwing off the referendum.
Their game was “too much Hampstead and not enough Hull,” he argued – contrasting the leafy north London suburb with the working-class north of the city that ultimately pushed Leave to victory.
Ten years later and on the verge of becoming prime minister, one of Burnham’s first tasks if he rises to No 10 will now be to restore Britain’s relationship with the EU. His predecessor leaves him with three half-finished agreements, a postponed summit, and an unpopular political strategy – all of which will need to be revised.
The EU-UK summit, scheduled for July 22 in Brussels, was intended to take EU relations to a higher level.
“Now, of course, we need to postpone it,” European Council President António Costa told reporters on Monday after Keir Starmer announced his resignation. “But we are reassessing the opportunity for this new meeting. My wish is that his successor can continue on this positive path of restoring our relationship with the UK.”
Rules of Honor
After the referendum, the political rule book of British politics was quickly rewritten. And over the next few years, some would learn the law faster than others. Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn and Jo Swinson – leaders of the Conservatives, Labor and Liberal Democrats, respectively – all ended up losing their jobs due to Brexit-related miscalculations.
