Thread by @K_Niemietz

I've just had a look into a parallel universe, which is identical to ours up until 23 June 2016. From then on, it diverged from ours in small but significant ways:

24 June 2016: The UK government submits an application to (re-)join EFTA. PM Cameron spells out his vision for Brexit: The UK will leave the EU itself & the Customs Union, but remain in the EEA via the EFTA route "until further notice". The value of the £ immediatey bounces back.

25 June 2016: A group of backbenchers revolt against what they call a "betrayal of the referendum result". The Daily Mail describes PM Cameron as an "enemy of the people". Demonstrations are held.
Asked whether he plans to simply ignore this backlash, the PM replies: "Yes."

12 July 2016: After a bit of horse-trading with Norway, EFTA accepts the UK's membership application. "Welcome back", says EFTA Court President Baudenbacher. "What took you so long?"
The UK government triggers Article 50 on the same day.

13 July 2016: The first meeting of the UK-EU Brexit negotiation team is uneventful. Since free movement of people will be retained, the status of EU-27 citizens in the UK, and of UK citizens in the EU-27, is unaffected. There is not much to talk about.

14 July 2016: The UK agrees to keep paying into the EU budget for the remainder of the current budget period, and then make a discretionary one-off payment, mainly to cover outstanding pension liabilities. After this, UK contributions will come to an end. The EU grudgingly agrees

15 July 2016: The first Brexit meeting between PM Cameron and the Irish Taoiseach, concerning the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, remains uneventful. The border will simply be like the Swedish-Norwegian border.
There is not much to talk about.

16 July 2016: The UK is still an EU member, so technically, it cannot conduct trade negotiations yet. But the UK government declares its intention to simply join a number of existing agreements, such as NAFTA and the Australia/New Zealand Free Trade Area.

17 July 2016: Various major trading partners make positive noises about the possibility of the UK joining an existing free trade agreement. Informal working groups are established.

18 July 2016: The UK government unilaterally extends free movement of people to Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand. From now on, citizens of these countries will enjoy the same legal status as EEA citizens. "We should have done this a long time ago", the PM explains.

18 July 2016: As a complement to the extension of free movement rights, the UK government establishes the "Beveridge 2.0" commission for welfare reform. It aims to (re-)introduce strong contributory elements, and thereby reduce the pull factors of immigration.

19 July 2016: The expressions "Hard Brexit" and "Soft Brexit" never emerge in this universe. However, a group of Tories around Boris Johnson, who advocate what they call a "People's Brexit", resign in protest. Many of them quit the party altogether.

20 July 2016: The Labour Party begins to tear itself apart. It is torn between Lexiteers, who see the Single Market as an obstacle to full communism, and a group of ultra-Remainers around David Lammy MP, who want to ignore the referendum result altogether.

23 July 2016: PM Cameron says at a press conference: "I was initially opposed to Brexit, but this turns out to be easier than expected. It's only been a month since the Referendum, but the big issues are already more or less sorted."

23 July 2016: At the same conference, Cameron also declares that plans for the creation of a "Brexit Department" have been discarded. "There simply is not enough to do to justify the creation of an entire department", the Prime Minister explained.

24 July 2016: The government announces that the agricultural subsidies and protection contained in the Common Agricultural Policy will be discontinued after Brexit. But there is a substantial sweetener for farmers: farmland will almost automatically be given planning permission.

24 July 2016: This means that farmers will be able to get rich quickly by simply selling some of their land to a developer.

26 July 2016: The government announces that on Brexit Day, the EU's Common Fisheries Policy will cease to apply. It will be replaced by a system of tradable fishing quotas, like in Iceland.

Does anyone remember the old fairy tale about the ugly duckling, which then turns into a beautiful swan?
The modern-day version would be an ugly Twitter rant, which then turns into a proper article:
capx.co/brexit-as-it-m…