How do you tell the history of Brexit? In the first of a nine-part series, Tim Oliver (Loughborough University London) shows how 47 objects can tell the story of how Britain ended its 47 years of EU membership.
How do you tell the history of something that’s a live issue but with a long history stretching back decades, that’s deeply divisive but can bore people, that pervades our lives (despite the best efforts of COVID-19) but which can often be abstract and distant? How, in other words, do we tell the history of Brexit?
It might be easier to imagine how several decades from now a history teacher or museum curator might try to portray Britain’s attempts to end its 47 years of EU membership. Their goal will be to not only inform but to bring to life in an entertaining way the most controversial topic in Britain in the second decade of the twenty-first century.
Interpreting the past and sensitive topics is, of course, a challenge regularly faced by all museums and historians. It was one faced by Neil MacGregor and his team at the British Museum when a decade ago BBC Radio 4 asked them to put together ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects’.
Their 100 objects, selected from the millions held by the British Museum, not only broke down two million years of human history into digestible chunks. Being a radio series meant they also had to help listeners not only imagine the object but imagine the moment or change in human history from which it came and which it was chosen to represent.
As a result, their 100 objects brought to life peoples, cultures and, crucially, the ways in which human civilisation has developed. So successful was the series that the approach has been replicated to tell the history of everything from buildings to toys.
Can the same be done for Brexit? It’s a vast topic and one that can be both abstract while having a very real effect on people’s everyday lives. It’s also about more than individual events or people because it’s a set of complex and often unclear processes. It’s also, like any history, prone to controversy over who won and whose perspective should prevail.
Before we pick any objects then, some rules similar to those set by Radio 4 for the British Museum are needed.
First, what’s the timeframe and how many objects are needed to cover it? Brexit did not begin on the 23rd March 2016 and didn’t end with withdrawal on the 31st January 2020. It, therefore, has no clear beginning or end. Better then to look back at the broader history. That could mean the 47 years of UK membership, but we need to go even further back and, in some cases, look to events after January 2020. A total of 47 objects, however, provides a symbolic number that’s also large enough to be workable.
Second, what should the focus be? Brexit touches so much that it has to be a history of more than the rich and powerful, which is what history can often be about. It has to be about the whole UK and society, telling of the everyman and everywoman. But it can’t stop there. It’s also about Europe and in some instances it’s about wider global changes. Nor can it be a Remain or a Leave history. History, as they say, is written by the victors. But the 52% vote for Leave was not an emphatic victory and it remains unclear who the winners and losers of Brexit – whether socially, politically, economically and so forth – will be.
Third, how can the history be divided? A history that’s still very much alive needs more than a chronological approach. Instead, dividing the objects into different topics, periods and lessons will simplify what is a jumble of issues and timelines.
For that reason, the series is broken down into eight groups of objects. The first six tell the journey to 2016 with the next two sets of six objects exploring the history of why Leave won and Remain lost. Looking beyond 2016, the series will look at six objects about what Brexit has meant for the UK’s unity and six more for what it has meant for Britain’s many identities. But Brexit has always been about more than the UK. It is also a global saga, especially one about trade. Two sets of six objects will tell of this wider global story. Finally, Brexit has been driven and shaped by certain prime ministers, with the experiences of five premiers told through five objects.
Finally, what objects should be avoided? With Brexit it would be easy to go for signs for places affected or one of the multitude of reports or campaign leaflets written on the topic. But it’s hard to tell a story through a functional sign or what are almost always dull documents. Better to have something more creative to fuel people’s imaginations.
For that reason, we’ll look at objects ranging from Margaret Thatcher’s handbag to David Cameron’s £25,000 shed, from a Wetherspoon’s Brexit beermat to a MAGA hat, from bendy bananas to a blue passport.
What objects would you display to tell the history of Brexit? More importantly, what would they tell us? Send your suggestions to t.l.oliver@lboro.ac.uk
This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Brexit blog, nor the LSE.
The object I would like to see in the history of brexit is the 2007 Labour Party Manifesto. This states that
“The new Constitutional Treaty ensures the new Europe can work effectively, and that Britain keeps control of key national interests like foreign policy, taxation, social security and defence. The Treaty sets out what the EU can do and what it cannot. It strengthens the voice of national parliaments and governments in EU affairs. It is a good treaty for Britain and for the new Europe. WE WILL PUT IT TO THE BRITISH PEOPLE IN A REFERENDUM and campaign whole-heartedly for a ‘Yes’ vote to keep Britain a leading nation in Europe. ”
Had this promise been kept then we would have either been fully committed to the EU by 2016 or we would have already left on more straightforward terms than are being offered now. It is the failure to keep this promise which has been directly responsible for the rancour over the last few years.
Yes, that thrice made referendum promise made and broken by Messrs Blair and Brown was the final straw as the EU Constitution morphed (as in replaced the cover page) into the Treaty of Lisbon.
So, ashamed was Brown that he signed it in the dead of night.
The history of Brexit?
Very simple.
The UK was taken into the EEC in 1972 by a Tory government elected in 1970 on a pledge to negotiate entry only.
So, no mandate.
In 1992, Major signed Maastricht with no mandate to do so. In fact, the previous election had Maggie at the helm; Major hadn’t even faced the electorate as Tory leader.
So, again no mandate.
In 2010, the Tories were forced into a coalition with the vile LimpDumbs to keep out the equally-vile Labour under Brown.
Cameron rather liked being PM, but the 2014 Euro elections saw massive gains and a win for UKIP. Cameron rightly saw the UKIP vote as a threat to him being PM in 2015, so he offered a referendum on EU membership.
He gained a majority, despite UKIP getting 3.8 million votes from those who saw him as a greasy charlatan.
The promised Referendum happened in June 2016, and Leave won.
In December 2019, the nation elected with a massive majority the only Party that guaranteed Brexit in January 2020.
Anything else you need to know?
I’ve never known a political movement so completely fixated on the past as the Leave movement is. The only thing that matters, the only point, is the referendum result backed up with the election result. Details about where we are now and what might conceivably be to come are dismissed as scaremongering, the future is an abstract glow, but the past is solid and clear and comfort can be found there. We voted to leave. That’s the only thing you need to know.
0 A copy of DeGaulle’s 1963 “Non” – the UK is a bunch of trouble makers antithetical to the aims the Europe…followed by the evidence that De Gaulle was in fact correct…
1 Every lying and distorted headline from the Daily Express/Mail/Telegraph – more than 47 of those but the Express 4th May 2012 “EU Plot to Scrap Britain” is typical and rather ironic now that Brexit itself might end up scrapping Britain
2 A Bendy banana and other made up anti EU trivia some penned by the current Prime Minister
3 Nigel Farage’s attendance and voting record while “serving” on an EU Fisheries Committee “standing up for Britian’s fishermen” by attending 1 out of 42 meetings – quite happy to take his salary for no work
then in the later period…
4 A copy of EU Directive 2004/38/EC – which the UK government could have used to restrict EU migration
5 more lying headlines from the Daily Express/Mail/Telegraph about migrants
6 Nigel Farage (again) and his Turkey/breaking point posters
7 The blank pages showing the absence of curiosity and investigation of the UK’s security services into the growing manipulation of the referendum process by Russia
then to finish it off..
8 A photo of Vladimir Putin’s smiling face on 24th June 2016…and perhaps another from July 31st 2020 knowing that, for the first time in British history the son of a Soviet KGB officer and a member of a Soviet funded extremist group the Revolutionary Communist Party, together with an ex-cricketer, now living in Spain and noted for posting a picture of his penis on the internet have all been nominated to the House of Lords. The collapse of Britain is complete as the ex Russian Ambassador to UK, Alexander Yakovenko, is reported to have told colleagues: “We have crushed the British to the ground. They are on their knees and will not rise for a very long time.”
Well done to all involved. Let the exhibition be a warning from history.
I suggest a couple of mementoes of British anti-European (anti-German) sentiment that has played a big part in leaving triggers in British consciousness (with people above a certain age) that the Brexiters played on successfully:
an ARP tin hat or a copy of Commando comic, and
the programme for the 1966 football world cup final.
As Britain was smarting from the Profumo Affair and Philby Burgess and McLean defection to Russia had shredded Britain’s reputation we need in the Brexit basket:
1. Two pictures of DeGaulle’s smiling face: one from 1963 and one from 1967 as he rejected the UK’s two applications to join Europe. This man knew the Britain would be an euro troublemaker, a country not yet mature enough to embrace the European project, believing itself to be superior to mere ‘continentals’;
2. A phial of bathing water from Britain’s beaches pre EU Bathing Water Directive and a phial of bathing water from Britain’s beaches post EU Bathing Water Directive
3. The Daily Express Headline from 4th May 2012: EU PLOT TO SCRAP BRITAIN. From the perspective of 2020 it seems that Brexit is quite capable of scrapping Britain…roll on the 2021 Scottish elections!
4. An unopened copy of EU Directive 2004/38/EC. British governments could have used this to limit EU migration had they chosen to do so;
5. Any selection of lies and manipulations penned by Boris Johnson and published in the UK press;
6. A copy of my father’s EHIC card. He was hospitalised and died in France following a stroke and the EHIC covered the fees. My own EHIC card is now worthless and I will have to pay significant sums in private insurance due to an underlying medical condition which would have been covered by EHIC. I guess my insurance payments go to further enrich that well known man in insurance Mr Aaron Banks
7. A copy of Mr Farage and the Breaking Point Poster;
8. Brexiteers don’t like the BBC. This is because on the BBC is a documentary written and narrated by Mr Boris Johnson, A Dream of Rome (2006). This ends with him noting: “What are we saying if we keep Turkey out of the European Union just because it is Muslim…It sends out the worst signal to moderates in the Islamic world…”
9. Any selection of racist anti EU headlines from the Daily Mail Daily Express and the Sun;
10. The referendum poster which David Cameron refused to use, because it attacked his friends Mr Gove and Mr Johnson:
11. The pages of blank comments in the minutes of MI6 and MI5 which show their total lack of interest in or curiosity the agenda item: The extent of Russian influence in the EU referendum;
12. A picture of Mr Vladimir Putin showing his smiling face on the morning of June 24 2016.
13 A picture of Mr Vladimir Putin showing his smiling face on 31st July 2020 and unable to believe the success of his project, when he (officially at least) found out that for the first time ever the son of a serving Russian KGB officer and a member of the Russia funded Revolutionary Communist Party (together with an ex-cricketer who now lives in Spain and whose great contribution to social media was to publish a photograph of his penis) have now been appointed to become legislators in the second chamber of the Mother of Parliaments;
13. And to close, as Britain smarts from a self inflicted injury we need a copy of the words of ex Russian Ambassador to Britain, Alexander Yakovenko, who is reported to have told colleagues after the referendum: “We have crushed the British to the ground. They are on their knees and will not rise for a very long time.”
Well done all; you won’t know what you’ve got till its gone.
It’s a tricky task. Frankly I think David Cameron’s garden shed irrelevant to Brexit, since he got it after leaving power. I don’t really like the fixation on Margaret Thatcher’s handbag, since this seems to me a coded way of objecting to the fact that she was female. Teejay’s suggestion of 2007 Labour Manifesto is elegant, but a bit unfair (because the LibDems were just as bad) and also cheating (because the manifesto itself is not a physical object, but something copied to lots of physical objects, as well as being read online).
My nomination: the weighing scales used by Steve Thoburn, the “metric martyr”. https://www.theguardian.com/today/article/0,6729,422616,00.html . If the EU had been able to show rather more flexibility in cases like this, who knows how much bad feeling in the UK might have been avoided? And to be honest, I cannot imagine there are many citizens of the EU27 who care 2 Eurocents whether a greengrocer in the UK should be compelled to weigh fruit in kilograms than than pounds and ounces.
This is a story topped and tailed by Russia
As Britain was smarting from the Profumo Affair and Philby Burgess and McLean defection to Russia had shredded Britain’s reputation we need in the Brexit basket:
1. Two pictures of DeGaulle’s smiling face: one from 1963 and one from 1967 as he rejected the UK’s application to join Europe. This man knew the Britain would be an euro troublemaker who didn’t really believe in the European projects, believing themselves to be superior to mere continentals;
2. A phial of bathing water from Britain’s beaches pre EU Bathing Water Directive and a phial of bathing water from Britain’s beaches post EU Bathing Water Directive;
3. Tony Benn’s anti EU speeches which persuaded people on the Left to seek an imaginary Lexit, but which, in reality showed that he had misunderstood and feebily underestimated the power of global capital in the 21st century;
4. The Daily Express Headline from 4th May 2012: EU PLOT TO SCRAP BRITAIN. In 2020 it seems that Brexit is quite capable of scrapping Britain…roll on the 2021 Scottish elections!;
5. An unopened copy of EU Directive 2004/38/EC. British governments could have used this to limit EU migration had they chosen to do so;
6. Any selection of lies and manipulations penned by Boris Johnson and published in the UK press;
7. A copy of my father’s EHIC card. He was hospitalised and died in France following a stroke and the EHIC covered the fees. My own EHIC card is now worthless and I will have to pay significant sums in private insurance due to an underlying medical condition which would have been covered by EHIC. I guess my insurance payments go to further enrich that well known man in insurance Mr Aaron Banks;
8. A copy of Mr Farage and the Breaking Point Poster;
9. Brexiteers don’t like the BBC. This is because on the BBC is a documentary written and narrated by Mr Boris Johnson, A Dream of Rome (2006). This ends with him noting: “What are we saying if we keep Turkey out of the European Union just because it is Muslim…It sends out the worst signal to moderates in the Islamic world…”;
10. Any selection of racist anti EU headlines from the Daily Mail, Daily Express and the Sun;
11. The referendum poster which David Cameron refused to use, because it attacked his “friends” Mr Gove and Mr Johnson; https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/jul/01/rejected-remain-campaign-posters-revealed-by-ad-agencies
12. The pages of blank comments in the minutes of MI6 and MI5 which show their total lack of interest in or curiosity about the agenda item: “The extent of Russian influence in the EU referendum”;
13. A picture of Mr Vladimir Putin showing his smiling face on the morning of June 24 2016;
14. A picture of Mr Vladimir Putin showing him smiling and unable to conceal his good fortune when, on 31st July 2020, he (officially at least) found out that for the first time ever the son of a serving Russian KGB officer and a member of the Russia funded Revolutionary Communist Party (together with an ex-cricketer who now lives in Spain and whose great contribution to social media was to publish a photograph of his penis) have now been appointed to become legislators in the second chamber of the Mother of Parliaments;
15. And to close, as Britain smarts from a self inflicted injury we need a copy of the words of ex Russian Ambassador to Britain, Alexander Yakovenko, who is reported to have told colleagues after the referendum: “We have crushed the British to the ground. They are on their knees and will not rise for a very long time.”
Well done to all political lightweights, journalistic know-nothings and assorted blowhards involved in this debacle; you won’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.
A great news piece, most people ignore the main issues with Brexit, you have covered a broad and very well put viewpoint. I genuinely believe the public were clearly not informed of the possible negatives about Brexit, just a few rather exaggerated examples of The Freedom of movement within the EU. It would have been wiser and cheaper if we had negotiated a better deal for everyone in Europe including ourselves.
I guess we can now negotiate as best we can, however it clearly wont be easy.
Thanks for sharing this thought provoking piece of literature, really well put.
This is a story topped and tailed by Russia
As Britain was smarting from the Profumo Affair and Philby Burgess and McLean defection to Russia had shredded Britain’s reputation, we need in the Brexit basket:
1. Two pictures of DeGaulle’s smiling face: one from 1963 and one from 1967 as he rejected the UK’s application to join Europe. This man knew the Britain would be an euro troublemaker who didn’t really believe in the European projects, believing themselves to be superior to mere continentals;
2. A phial of bathing water from Britain’s beaches pre EU Bathing Water Directive and a phial of bathing water from Britain’s beaches post EU Bathing Water Directive;
3. Tony Benn’s anti EU speeches which persuaded people on the Left to seek an imaginary Lexit, but which, in reality showed that he had misunderstood and feebily underestimated the power of global capital in the 21st century;
4. The Daily Express Headline from 4th May 2012: EU PLOT TO SCRAP BRITAIN. In 2020 it seems that Brexit is quite capable of scrapping Britain…roll on the 2021 Scottish elections!;
5. An unopened copy of EU Directive 2004/38/EC. British governments could have used this to limit EU migration had they chosen to do so;
6. Any selection of lies and manipulations penned by Boris Johnson and published in the UK press;
7. A copy of my father’s EHIC card. He was hospitalised and died in France following a stroke and the EHIC covered the fees. My own EHIC card is now worthless and I will have to pay significant sums in private insurance due to an underlying medical condition which would have been covered by EHIC. I guess my insurance payments go to further enrich that well known man in insurance Mr Aaron Banks;
8. A copy of Mr Farage and the Breaking Point Poster;
9. Brexiteers don’t like the BBC. This is because on the BBC is a documentary written and narrated by Mr Boris Johnson, A Dream of Rome (2006). This ends with him noting: “What are we saying if we keep Turkey out of the European Union just because it is Muslim…It sends out the worst signal to moderates in the Islamic world…”;
10. Any selection of racist anti EU headlines from the Daily Mail, Daily Express and the Sun;
11. The referendum poster which David Cameron refused to use, because it attacked his “friends” Mr Gove and Mr Johnson; https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/jul/01/rejected-remain-campaign-posters-revealed-by-ad-agencies
12. The pages of blank comments in the minutes of MI6 and MI5 which show their total lack of interest in or curiosity about the agenda item: “The extent of Russian influence in the EU referendum”;
13. A picture of Mr Vladimir Putin showing his smiling face on the morning of June 24 2016;
14. A picture of Mr Vladimir Putin showing him smiling and unable to conceal his good fortune when, on 31st July 2020, he (officially at least) found out that for the first time ever the son of a serving Russian KGB officer and a member of the Russia funded Revolutionary Communist Party (together with an ex-cricketer who now lives in Spain and whose great contribution to social media was to publish a photograph of his penis) have now been appointed to become legislators in the second chamber of the Mother of Parliaments;
15. And to close, as Britain smarts from a self inflicted injury we need a copy of the words of ex Russian Ambassador to Britain, Alexander Yakovenko, who is reported to have told colleagues after the referendum: “We have crushed the British to the ground. They are on their knees and will not rise for a very long time.”
Well done to all political lightweights, journalistic know-nothings and assorted blowhards involved in this debacle; you won’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.
I suggest topics would be better. Here are some suggestions. Each one deserves detailed examination.
The bus; an overlooked subtlety was displaying the gross figure. That meant that we Remainers kept arguing about net versus gross figures and kept it in the public eye for longer. We should have just said that leaving would be far more expensive.
Slogans that skilfully misled. “Take back control” really meant more control for the Brexit politicians and less for the people of UK.
Smart responses when Remain arguments were hard to refute: like “project fear”, “we’ve had enough of experts”, “how many referendums do you want? The best of five?” These responses saved Brexiters having to actually know anything!
Power of propaganda. References to Goebbels and certain newspapers would be relevant. Keep saying something untrue often enough, etc
The influence of social media. I kept clear of twitter and facebook but I had allowed YouTube onto my smartphone to see some sailing videos. From that I kept seeing listings of videos of Farage or other Brexiters, who, according to the title had made mincemeat of Remainers in a discussion. If I watched the video it was nothing of the sort. As a well-informed Remain campaigner they had no effect on me. But how did they get there?
Good article thanks for sharing