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Polly Polak @PolakPolly
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The Brexit Tale: a Chronological Thread.

1. Before the referendum there were a bunch of lies about the EU when really the UK is one of the strongest members of this exclusive club that safeguards the common interests of its countries and citizens.
2. At this time, one favoured Brexit plan was to negotiate individual trade deals with other EU countries, though it turned out EU members don’t make individual trade deals precisely because they are stronger as a bloc.
3. Unfortunately it wasn't until after the referendum that a new plan was hastily concocted. How about “Brexit means Brexit”? And so the battle line between hard and soft Brexit was drawn. Which would it be? theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/j…
4. The new PM did try for a “unique” model that would confirm UK’s place as “one of the great trading nations in the world” whilst controlling numbers of people who come to Britain from Europe. ft.com/content/cb781d…
5. But it didn't take long before UK was told what being out actually meant: independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
6. Amid the search for a new brexit plan, Trade Secretary Liam Fox hailed the opportunity for Britain to become a fully independent member of WTO, favouring a hard Brexit: no SM, no CU.
7. It was around this time the PM, pushing ahead with Brexit, warned however of the importance of the UK’s membership of the EU (in a leaked recording).
8. A slip by Boris Johnson was also pretty revealing.
9. UK's ambassador to the EU Sir Ivan Rogers then declared that whatever the Brexit plan, it would take 10 years to negotiate! bbc.com/news/uk-politi…
10. May ignored him because he had resigned anyway, but did start hinting at transition. theguardian.com/business/2016/…
11. February 2017, the UK’s White Paper was expected to finally lay out the real Brexit Plan: hard or soft? It didn't europeanpapers.eu/en/europeanfor…
12. The White Paper even contradicted the ‘Taking Back Control’ mantra by stating ‘Whilst Parliament has remained sovereign throughout our membership of the EU, it has not always felt like that.’
13. But as Article 50 was triggered, the UK got a new mantra: ‘no deal is better than a bad deal.’ Some even said no deal was better than membership, hurray! telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/2…
14. Or were they just worried the EU27 was a formidable negotiating bloc after all that didn’t ‘need us more than we need them’, especially as they stood together and gave the EU a strong mandate? eubusiness.com/news-eu/brexit…
15. May, on the other hand, was not sure of her mandate. A miscalculated snap election would then leave her with a minority government that had to strike a deal with the DUP. theguardian.com/politics/2017/…
16. The agreement with the DUP turned the tablesde definitively towards a soft Brexit or, what Arlene Foster called a ‘sensible Brexit’ bbc.com/news/uk-northe…
17. Although it was also suggested this was the beginning of the end of any Brexit. spiegel.de/international/…
18. In any case, confronted with the reality of negotiating with a slighted but massive trade bloc, a disenchanted electorate, a divided cabinet and a hung Parliament, the ‘cake and eat it’ approach was abandoned. theguardian.com/politics/2017/…
19. But there was still a way to go. Talks were deadlocked for months over the UK's Brexit bill (tick tock). bbc.com/news/uk-politi…
20. And so one day, in the words of the Express: express.co.uk/news/politics/…
21. There, we finally got from ‘go whistle’ to going to the bank (though of course it was the UK setting the conditions, so no matter) independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
22. Et voilá, with a final torpedoing of the DUP and DD’s final blustering attempts to ‘take back control’ by implying the deal wasn’t binding, our first Brexit deal was done.
23. These 18 months have been wonderful practice for the UK at being a lonely and isolated country confronted with a global power. ec.europa.eu/commission/sit…
24. It is now full steam ahead to becoming a satellite State to the EU that will follow the rules without a say in their design.

But wait, wouldn’t that mean the UK becoming what leavers thought they were voting against?
P.S. Someone unlikely seems to agree with me too
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