Brexit Reveals a Whole New Set of Political Wounds
One evening last week, I found myself dining in the House of Lords just as the “European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill”—the law that will finalize Brexit—was wending its way through the final stages of the British legislative process. When I arrived, the debate was paused; at suppertime, formally speaking, the Lords “Adjourn During Pleasure.”
The dining room was full, which is not always the case in the evenings. But that didn’t necessarily mean the formal proceedings attracted great interest. At some point, the screens scattered around the room showed that debate had resumed. At another point, they showed that it had ended for the evening (“House Up”). As far as I could tell, barely anyone got out of his seat.
The atmosphere had completely changed from just a few months before. At that point, members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords were making frantic last-ditch efforts either to prevent a “hard” Brexit—a departure without a deal with the European Union on the terms of separation—or to force one through. Because Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government lacked a majority, small groups of people on multiple sides of the argument were able to hold up any decision, either because they wanted to stop Brexit, to accelerate it, or to force the government to call a second public referendum on
