This one-day workshop will examine the effect of Brexit on the UK’s capital city and the effect of London on Brexit. Despite being the UK and England’s capital, a diverse metropolis of 9 million people, the UK’s economic powerhouse, and a leading European and global city, a great deal remains to be said and researched about what Brexit means for London and Londoners. This one-day workshop will bring together academics and members of London’s political, business, media and civ

Some thoughts on me for the Madrid newspaper, La Razón, about recent Brexit developments.

The negotiations with the EU have consumed British politics, leaving little time and energy for much else. But this distracts from the fact that the relationship sought with the EU is in itself a means to an end, that end being what sort of country the UK wants to be. That’s what really sits at the heart of Brexit, but which has struggled to get the necessary attention in debates and negotiations. In the last few days there has been some discussion about workers’ rights and l

Explaining Brexit and the Supreme Court judgement to the readers of the Spanish daily, La Razón...

I know this sounds bleedingly obvious advice, but underestimating the time and commitment necessary to achieve something is a mistake we all make and which Britain has been especially guilty of with Brexit. Britain has tried to withdraw from the EU as if it’s a sprint when it’s actually a marathon. Face it: trying to detach yourself from a forty six year relationship or an established way of life is not easy. That some in Britain think it can be achieved quickly and simply fi

As I and many others (both Remainers and Leavers) have written about repeatedly, the UK has struggled with Brexit because Theresa May’s government’s strategy was all over the place. That was because it didn’t have a clearly defined goal. But a clear goal alone isn’t enough, something the current government of Boris Johnson has also discovered, because you need a strategy to achieve it, and a strategy is a combination of the ends (i.e the goal), ways, and means. Most important

My latest journal article, written with Peter Wilson (LSE), is an English School take on Brexit. Brexit can be so fast-paced that it's often difficult to take a step back to appreciate the bigger picture, something theories such as the English School can help us do. Abstract: The English School is one of the main traditions of thought in International Relations and the only one home-grown in Britain. While initially unconcerned with questions of integration, and the regional

Thanks to NYU for hosting me for a 'Brexit Breakdown' lecture. I hope I helped shed a little light on the current situation in the UK, although I was tempted to just turn on BBC Parliament and give a running commentary.

It’s a sure sign that two things figure prominently in my life – Brexit and the gym – that earlier this year with Andrew Brinkley I wrote a piece entitled ‘Brexercise! Brexit lessons for keeping fit in 2019’. We identified several lessons from Brexit for those starting out on a New Year’s resolution to keep fit. With summer nearly over and us all still coming to terms with a new prime minister known for his sporting moments/fails/crashes, I thought I’d review the piece and

I contributed a piece on Brexit (what else?) to the International Yearbook of CIDOB (Barcelona Centre for International Affairs). They kindly translated it into Spanish. My original English version is below. Facing the Never-Ending Brexit Brexit is not going away. The problems Britain has faced negotiating its withdrawal mean that even if it does exit then the next stage of negotiations over a new UK-EU relationship will be just as difficult, divisive and drawn-out. Whether y

A short comment piece for the Mirror on the future of England and the UK. Sadly they decided not to go with my suggested headline: England can't be a Little Britain.

I shared some thoughts on the future of UK-US relations with VOA. You can read and watch the report here. I had to comment on their... hair: “There are similarities beyond the blondeness, in terms of the kind of impulsiveness, in terms of the personalities overshadowing the policies. But there’s also similarities in the constitutional constraints they face,” Oliver added.

My latest piece for the Clingendael Institute's Spectator magazine explains why 2016 is the new start date of British politics, replacing 1979 as it replaced 1945. What follows 2016, however, is not a consensus as emerged and survived for the generations after 45 and 79. Instead Britain faces a generation of dissensus. You can find the full article here: https://spectator.clingendael.org/nl/publicatie/1945-1979-and-2016-brexit-reset-british-politics

It was a pleasure to return to the University of Agder earlier this week to speak on Brexit - or more specifically 'Brexit Breakdown' - at their European Integration summer school. As you can see, Brexit is like an Escher drawing.

The IAI have produced a short video based on my paper on the role of the UK parliament in the UK-EU withdrawal negotiations. You can watch the video below and read more about it here.

Matteo Tiratelli of UCL has reviewed Understanding Brexit on the LSE's Brexit blog. You can read the review here -- https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2019/04/30/book-review-understanding-brexit-a-concise-introduction/

A piece for Columbia University's Journal of International Affairs in which I try to make some sense of the current situation with Brexit...

'Brexit and the European Council summit: Close to the finish line or a kick into the long grass?' was the title of a panel I spoke on with Nicolai von Ondarza (German Institute for International and Security Affairs, SWP), John Peet (The Economist), and Georgina Wright (Institute for Government), and chaired by Rem Korteweg (the Clingendael Institute). Full details here: https://www.clingendael.org/event/brexit-close-finish-line-or-kick-long-grass

While it is well acknowledged that the United Kingdom performed poorly in its task of obtaining a swift and workable agreement on the terms of withdrawal from the European Union, the EU has also made its fair share of mistakes. This Dahrendorf Forum policy brief (available here) seeks to identify those areas where the EU has been less than perfect in its treatment of Brexit to date.

The Istituto Affari Internazionali, Rome, has just published a short report I wrote for them on the role of the UK Parliament in the UK-EU Brexit negotiations. Main conclusions-- • Parliament has been the site of intense arguments and differences over what the UK’s vote to leave should mean, not least when it comes to approving the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement. The deep divisions in the Conservative and Labour parties especially, reflect similar divisions in British society. •