School of Politics and International Relations

Professor Tim Bale, Brexitology: Divining Britain’s Plan to Leave the EU

11 January 2017

Britain’s impending departure from the EU has spawned a cottage industry of Brexitologists. Investors, securities analysts, political-risk consultants and politicians, intent on divining the Government’s Brexit plans, have been scrutinizing the public utterances of Prime Minister Theresa May and her top aides for clues. Perceived shifts in tone or substance—or the lack of them—from senior officials have sent observers scrambling to recalibrate forecasts as markets gyrate. In the absence of a detailed blueprint, “every single inflection, every single difference from the formula she employed in a previous interview is blown out of all proportion,” said Professor Tim Bale.
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