There can now be little doubt that following the referendum called by Prime Minister David Cameron, a series of unexpected political ructions have come to dominate the British political scene. As events have transpired, it has not been necessary to wait until October for the appointment of a new Conservative Party leader, contrary to what Cameron had initially indicated, because the process was truncated after one candidate, Andrea Leadsom, pulled out of the race.
The leaders of the campaign to leave Europe had quickly faded from the limelight as potential party leaders following disputes among themselves, leaving the unexpected emergence of two women as contenders, with one of them, Theresa May, now certified as the next Prime Minister. And in that context, David Cameron rapidly fades into obscurity.
So the relative internal stability of the Conservative party has been re-established by the quick election of a new face. The Labour Party, led by Jeremy Corbyn, who has, as yet, hardly consolidated his own position as leader since his election, has itself fallen victim to what can be described as a spillover from the referendum results. No doubt Corbyn has himself been extremely conscious of the division within the country that the vote has shown. For while in both England and Wales majorities voted to leave the EU, Scotland and Northern Ireland were left to save the day as they voted to remain. And in that context, he seems to have been unwilling to take a very firm position on the issue as far as the unity of his own party has been concerned.
The result has been an expression of substantial dissatisfaction with Corbyn’s leadership among Labour MPs, based partly on his own lacklustre support for remaining, and also on his obvious unwillingness to clearly rally the Labour forces in a definitive direction.
The new leader of the Conservatives, Theresa May, though a member of Cameron’s cabinet as Home Secretary, is possibly at this time, unfamiliar with the intricacies of EU dealings. And in addition, initially she will have to spend time not only consolidating her own position, but also in creating a negotiating strategy for a Brexit that will find support from within the Conservative Party, while also seeking to secure a reconciliation between leaving the EU, and coping with the British regions like Scotland and Northern Ireland which voted to remain. May herself was in the remain camp.
Caribbean leaders will obviously have to be following the implications of the strategies which the new British leadership will be seeking to determine. For it is a reality that Britain has traditionally been the protagonist, or first line of support, for our continual search to secure arrangements within the EU that can protect our position vis-à-vis the EU-ACP agreement.
The communiqué from the recent meeting of Caricom Heads of Government describes the issue as “a watershed event in current world affairs whose geopolitical and geoeconomic repercussions would be far reaching and long-lasting,” and it indicates they were fully briefed by the Secretariat on its “political, diplomatic, trade, economic and financial implications…as well as recommendations for addressing them”.
Without our asking for any secrets about strategic plans to be revealed, would it not be beneficial for the Caricom public if the Secretariat’s basic analyses of the issues involved, as well as the diplomatic possibilities for coping with them, could be made publicly available? That the British public seems to have been left in the dark about the dimensions of the Brexit issue, should not be an example for us.
