0:00

ABC Listen, podcasts,

0:02

radio, news, music

0:04

and more. This

0:07

podcast is recorded on the lands of the

0:09

Awabakal, Darug and Diora people.

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Where does the British Prime Minister live? Easy,

0:21

right? Ten Downing Street. Well,

0:24

actually, for nearly three decades,

0:26

every Prime Minister has lived above the

0:28

door marked 11. I

0:31

don't know whether you've ever been

0:33

there. See, Ten Downing Street isn't

0:35

quite what it appears. If you

0:37

haven't, why not join me now

0:40

and come and have a look at it?

0:42

Downing Street itself is a cul-de-sac, a dead-end

0:44

street, if you're being unkind. But

0:46

it's so narrow that it's really less a

0:48

street than an alleyway. Along

0:51

one side are doors marked 10, 11

0:53

and 12. They

0:55

look like neighbouring townhouses. But

0:58

the doors are entirely for show.

1:01

All three lead into the same

1:03

massive complex with more than 100

1:05

rooms. The

1:08

complex has a press briefing room

1:10

behind door number nine and a

1:12

massive garden out the back, both

1:14

of which are great spots to

1:16

hold press conferences with plenty of

1:18

room for journos and cameras, shelter

1:21

from the rain and plenty of other good,

1:23

helpful things. But for whatever

1:25

reason, whenever the Prime Minister

1:28

is announcing something really, really

1:30

big, like their appointment or

1:32

their resignation. Ladies and gentlemen,

1:36

we're leaving Downing Street for the last

1:38

time. They do it outside the

1:40

iconic black door with a 10 on

1:42

it. I have just accepted the invitation

1:44

of Her Majesty the Queen to

1:47

form a government. Some of the

1:50

most important moments in modern British

1:52

political history have happened in that

1:54

narrow alley, often in the

1:56

rain, with the press

1:58

jostling for position. When the curtain

2:00

falls, it's time to

2:02

get off the stage. In the last eight

2:05

years, four British Prime Ministers have resigned outside

2:07

that door. Usually,

2:09

they're not all that happy about it. But

2:11

one guy seemed pretty pumped to be getting

2:13

out of there. David Cameron.

2:17

I expect to go to the palace and offer

2:19

my resignation so we'll have a new Prime Minister

2:21

in that building behind me by

2:23

Wednesday evening. Thank you very much. In

2:26

2016, David Cameron was so thrilled to be

2:28

resigning that he sang a little song as

2:30

he walked back through the black door forgetting

2:33

that he was wearing a radio mic. Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo.

2:39

Right. MUSIC PLAYS Now,

2:45

why would someone be so thrilled to

2:47

resign as Prime Minister that they're singing

2:49

a little ditty as they do it?

2:52

Well, in Cameron's case, it's akin to singing a

2:54

little ditty on your way out of a house

2:56

party after you clogged the toilet. He'd

2:59

made a big mess and he

3:01

wasn't going to have to be the one to clean it up.

3:04

The UK's waking up to the hard

3:06

reality of a referendum that split the

3:08

European Union, toppled a Prime Minister and

3:11

spread turmoil on financial markets. Around one

3:13

o'clock, the BBC called it for Brexit

3:16

and all hell broke loose. Brace

3:18

on break! Brace on break!

3:20

Brexit means Brexit. Order! This

3:24

parliament is a dead

3:26

parliament. We are supposed to

3:28

be a prime minister to

3:30

talk about morals and morality.

3:33

It's a disgrace. The

3:36

time is coming, Mr Speaker, when

3:39

even these turkeys won't be

3:42

able to prevent Christmas. CHEERING

3:47

Today, David Cameron's colossal gamble

3:51

that brought about Brexit and

3:53

how it's sent Britain into chaos and

3:55

division. And

3:57

from if you're listening, this is

4:00

who... broke Britain. If

4:08

you ask any Australian today where Britain is,

4:10

they would say Europe. It's

4:12

a European country surrounded by other

4:15

European countries. But that

4:17

wasn't always the case. Britain

4:19

was once the centre of our

4:21

universe, the mother country. Even

4:23

60 years after we became the

4:25

little country that Gert, the

4:28

Australian Prime Minister proudly declared... I'm

4:30

British to the boot heels, British

4:32

right and through and through. And

4:34

yet in the 1960s, when Britain

4:36

said that they were potentially going

4:38

to join the European Union, then

4:40

called the EEC, Australians

4:43

were pissed. Well, I think person

4:45

that has an Australian Britain is

4:47

a very greedy country. England's been

4:49

dependent on Australia for a

4:52

long, long time. This fellow appears to be

4:54

pissed in at least two senses of the

4:56

word. But now she's going to the common

4:58

market. She didn't care a

5:00

damn about Australia or anything else. Now, why

5:03

were these Australians angry about something that might

5:05

happen on the other side of the world?

5:08

Well, it's all about trade. For

5:14

the previous couple of centuries, the

5:16

British Empire primarily traded with the

5:18

colonies. Britain was the

5:20

factory and the Empire was the farm

5:22

and the mine. It worked in Britain's

5:25

favour. Labour, land and

5:27

resources were much cheaper in the

5:29

colonies than in Europe. But once

5:32

those colonies became nations, they

5:34

started demanding better rates. So

5:37

Britain started buying local. By

5:40

1960, Britain was trading as

5:42

much with Europe as it was with

5:45

its former empire. So it decided to

5:47

cut the cord and join the EEC,

5:49

where you could buy and sell goods

5:51

to European countries with no taxes or

5:54

tariffs. We want wholeheartedly, genuinely and sincerely

5:56

to become a member of the European

5:58

Union. European common market. This was, according

6:00

to both sides of British politics, great

6:03

for the UK. Now this is important

6:05

for economic reasons for the country as

6:07

a whole. It's very important

6:10

for individuals as well, because

6:12

it means that the competition would

6:14

get prices down as

6:16

this goes on. Although it

6:18

did mean that they'd gone from being the centre

6:21

of the universe to being part of

6:23

a kind of a co-op with their neighbours. Australian

6:25

comedian Norman Gunston said that the change felt

6:28

a bit weird. I'm a bit worried about

6:30

Britain now that it's entered the common market.

6:32

Has it lost its national

6:34

characteristic? Has God save

6:36

the Queen been drowned out by the

6:38

masterlays and quando, quando, quando? Two

6:43

years after the UK joined the EEC,

6:45

a national referendum was held, Britain's first,

6:48

basically to check whether the public was okay with

6:50

the whole thing. In

6:52

the campaign, some argued that Britain should

6:54

go back to trading with the old

6:56

empire. Others said that that

6:58

argument made no sense. A Europe without

7:01

Britain, like a Britain

7:03

without Europe, would

7:05

be both weaker and

7:07

less prosperous. It sounds familiar, doesn't

7:10

it? The electorate voted

7:12

two to one to remain in Europe. From

7:18

the moment that Britain joined the European Union,

7:20

there have been people who wanted to turn

7:22

around and leave. You want to be

7:24

citizens of a European Union? No!

7:28

For 50 years, leaders in both major

7:30

parties found themselves repeatedly having to defend

7:32

the EU. It is time to take

7:34

on those who believe if

7:37

we are pro-British, we

7:39

must be anti-European. More than 50% of

7:41

our traders with Europe, 3 million jobs

7:43

depend upon it. We don't want Britain

7:45

to be on the sidelines when

7:48

the security and the prosperity of Europe

7:50

are being decided. The EU was a

7:52

really convenient donkey on which to pin

7:54

any problem that you might have. Even

7:57

problems that weren't necessarily the EU's fault.

8:01

Britain's farmers became sick and tired

8:03

of dealing with strict European regulations.

8:06

Britain's manufacturing jobs began to

8:08

disappear and were replaced

8:10

with jobs in finance, tourism, IT,

8:12

logistics, healthcare and government administration. For

8:14

many Britons, these are hard times.

8:16

With little immediate prospect of industrial

8:18

growth, the number of jobless is

8:20

unlikely to dwindle in the near

8:22

future. Ever since the 70s, the

8:24

polling company Ipsos has been tracking

8:27

support for leaving the EU. I

8:30

spent an afternoon making charts, trying to figure out

8:32

why support for leaving the EU seems to go

8:34

as high as 70% at times,

8:37

and then plummets as low as 29% at others. Finally,

8:41

I found a stat that seems to explain

8:43

it. It seems like the

8:46

fewer jobs there are, the

8:48

more people want to leave the EU.

8:52

And in 2010, when David Cameron and the

8:54

Conservatives swept to power, unemployment

8:56

was high. 18

9:01

months into his term as Prime Minister, David

9:03

Cameron stepped up to a podium to give

9:05

a massive speech. It was billed as the

9:07

speech of his life. Cameron wanted to squash

9:10

the talk about leaving the EU once and

9:12

for all. We

9:15

will give the British people a referendum with

9:17

a very simple in or

9:20

out choice. To stay

9:22

in the EU on these new terms,

9:25

or to come out altogether. But it was

9:27

in fact a bet. The podium he spoke

9:29

at was a metaphorical poker table, and he

9:31

was going all in. We're

9:34

going to get out there, lead it, shape

9:36

it, and win for Britain in our national

9:38

interest. David Cameron was going to campaign in

9:41

favour of staying in the European Union, and

9:43

he was confident that his side would win.

9:46

So why was David Cameron so

9:48

confident? Well, look,

9:50

imagine him sitting at a Piccadilly

9:52

Circus casino poker table, sunglasses on,

9:55

playing with his chips. He

9:57

thought he was holding a perfect hand. He

10:03

peels his cards up off the table

10:05

to have one more peep at them and

10:07

suppresses a little smile. Card

10:10

1. His Ace of Hearts. The

10:13

guys leading the push to leave the

10:15

EU were, in Cameron's view, a bunch

10:18

of fruitcakes and loonies and closet

10:20

races, mostly. The UK Independence Party,

10:22

UKIP, had performed well in local

10:25

and European elections and had spooked

10:27

some conservative MPs. But

10:29

their leader Nigel Farage was roundly dismissed

10:32

by David Cameron as a clown. UKIP's

10:34

leader Nigel Farage is adept at

10:36

creating headlines for the cause. This

10:39

is how he welcomed the European

10:41

Council's President Herman Van Rompoy. You

10:44

have the charisma of a damp rag and

10:46

the appearance of a low-grade bank clerk. And

10:49

the question that I want to ask, that we're

10:51

all going to ask, is who are you? Cameron

10:54

thought that a referendum would kick Nigel

10:56

Farage to the curb. Card

10:59

2, the Ace of Diamonds, was the

11:01

parliament itself. Three

11:03

quarters of MPs, including the opposition

11:05

leader, were staunch remainers. Card

11:07

3, his Ace of Clubs, was

11:10

his own record on referendums. In

11:13

2011, Cameron had led a campaign

11:15

against changing the UK's voting

11:17

system and confounded pollsters by

11:19

winning the referendum. It seems

11:21

David Cameron has done a good

11:24

job of making the electorate believe

11:26

that preferential voting, the system Australia's

11:28

used for 80 years, is just

11:31

too complicated. Besides, referendums

11:33

globally usually enforce

11:36

the status quo, particularly if

11:38

the ramifications of what

11:40

people are voting on are unclear. If

11:42

you don't know, vote no. Card 4,

11:44

Cameron's Ace of Spades, was the fact

11:47

that the entire global community, basically every

11:49

world leader, every European news outlet and

11:51

most American ones, were on his side.

11:54

When Obama's backing you, how can you

11:56

lose? Well, at least that's how people

11:58

felt in 2013. So,

12:00

four of a kind, a very

12:03

strong hand. Cameron went

12:05

all in. But

12:09

little did he know that the Leave campaign

12:11

would put together an unlikely hand of their

12:13

own. They look like

12:15

smaller cards, but lined up,

12:18

they make a straight flush. Their

12:21

first card are two of spades. In

12:25

2015, the Labor leader, who was

12:27

a staunch remainer, was

12:29

replaced with Socialist MP Jeremy Corbyn

12:31

who had a long history of

12:33

Euroscepticism. Though Corbyn

12:36

campaigned with Remain, he was accused

12:38

of only doing it half-heartedly. They're

12:40

seething over his lacklustre sales job

12:42

to convince Labor voters to stay

12:44

in the EU. Card

12:47

2, the three of spades, was

12:49

the surprising rise of nationalism and

12:51

anti-immigrant sentiment throughout the country. You

12:53

can go to whole parts of

12:55

London now and you

12:57

will not hear English even spoken. It's

12:59

about time we started putting the interests

13:01

of British workers and British families first.

13:03

Now, that one could say I'm a

13:06

racist. Are you? Absolutely

13:08

not. One more time. We want our

13:10

country now. Thank you. Card

13:15

3, the four of spades,

13:17

was this guy. Boris Johnson

13:19

is an excellent retail politician.

13:22

Fond of silly stunts, he has

13:25

broad political appeal. Alexander Boris De

13:27

Fefel Johnson, who became internationally famous

13:30

as Mayor of London during the

13:32

2012 London Olympic Games. He

13:35

had in the past been a supporter of the

13:37

European Union, but four months

13:40

before the vote he announced his

13:42

intention to campaign vigorously for leave.

13:45

They say the EU, it's crap,

13:47

but we have no alternative. My

13:50

vote is, I'm afraid we do have

13:52

an alternative. He was very famous, charismatic

13:54

and a great campaigner. A huge boost

13:56

to the leave camp. Many

13:58

thought that he was... technically using it as

14:01

an opportunity to try and become Prime

14:03

Minister, which he denied. My chances of

14:05

being Prime Minister are about

14:07

as good as being reincarnated as an olive.

14:10

Next, the five of spades,

14:12

was Johnson and Farage's willingness

14:14

to lie. It is paradoxical,

14:18

inconsistent, incoherent, that we are

14:21

being urged every

14:23

week to send £350 million of our

14:25

taxpayers' money to Brussels. See, that wasn't

14:27

true at all. What I'm concerned about

14:29

is that people are being told things

14:32

that aren't correct. But the card that

14:34

tied it all together, the six of

14:36

spades, was something that also helped

14:38

Donald Trump to victory a few months later. The

14:42

uncontrolled wave of disinformation on

14:44

Facebook and Twitter pushed

14:46

by groups both inside and outside

14:48

the UK, where uninformed voters

14:51

were told a vote for remain would

14:53

lead to increased terror attacks and

14:56

increased immigration. The

14:58

campaign managed to do something unexpected, make

15:01

leaving the European Union seem like

15:03

a return to status quo,

15:06

even though the Empire is long gone. A

15:09

two, three, four, five and

15:12

six of spades. Individually,

15:14

the cards are virtually worthless, but

15:17

together they make a straight flush,

15:19

which beats David Cameron's hand at

15:21

any poker table in the world.

15:24

This means that the UK has voted to

15:26

leave the European Union. The

15:33

52% of Britons who voted for

15:35

Brexit were concentrated in areas hit

15:37

hard by the loss of manufacturing

15:40

jobs, areas with lots of

15:42

people who felt left behind by the

15:44

modern British economy. They

15:46

were concentrated in areas hit hard by

15:49

the Conservative government's austerity cuts. There

15:52

was also a concentration of leave votes

15:54

among Britain's most wealthy, who were financially

15:56

secure enough to ignore the doom and

15:58

gloom in the US. economic predictions

16:00

made by the Remain campaign. It

16:04

was demographically bizarre and took

16:06

pollsters and politicians alike by

16:09

surprise. For the

16:11

politicians, the prospect of actually removing

16:13

Britain from the EU was daunting.

16:16

It was a massive, nation-altering

16:18

policy that the government

16:21

itself opposed. It

16:23

was a recipe for political chaos. Just

16:26

hours after the results became clear, the black

16:28

door with the tin on it opened and

16:30

David Cameron walked out onto Downing Street. But

16:32

I do not think it would be right

16:34

for me to try to be the captain

16:37

that steers our country to its

16:39

next destination. He had gone all

16:41

in and lost. Do

16:45

do do do do do do. Right.

16:52

It took three and a half years for

16:54

the UK to actually leave the EU and

16:56

it's an era that was utterly chaotic. Parliamentarians

17:00

who didn't really think Brexit was a good idea

17:03

tore each other to shreds over how it

17:05

should be delivered. There were

17:07

two snap elections. Parliament

17:09

was shut down for a while. Boris

17:12

Johnson was reincarnated as an

17:14

olive. It was total madness.

17:17

And with eight years of hindsight, the

17:19

legacy of the Brexit referendum is complicated.

17:22

The economic effect is basically unmeasurable. It might

17:24

be big, it might be small, it might

17:26

be good, it might be bad, but we

17:29

will never really know. Because

17:31

on the day that the UK finally left

17:33

the European Union on the 31st of January

17:37

2020, it will become official at 11pm GMT.

17:41

Yeah, this happened on

17:43

the same day. Now the UK

17:45

has tonight confirmed its first cases

17:47

of the coronavirus with two people

17:49

of the same family testing positive.

17:51

Within weeks the entire country would

17:53

be in lockdown, any semblance of

17:55

austerity policies were abandoned and economic

17:58

indicators were off the scale. So,

18:01

who really knows what Brexit did? But

18:04

what we do know is that the

18:07

political turmoil of Brexit left Britain underprepared

18:09

for the nightmare that was on their

18:11

doorstep. And that story is

18:13

next on Who Broke Britain. If

18:22

you're listening as written by me, Matt Bevan.

18:24

Supervising producer is Yasmin Parry. I

18:26

just want to briefly mention we said last week that this

18:29

would be a four-part series. It's

18:31

actually going to be five parts. Because

18:33

we're going to look at what happened inside the

18:35

British Labour Party while all this was going on.

18:38

The Conservative Party was re-elected three times

18:40

in the last ten years, with the

18:43

biggest landslide coming in

18:45

2019, just after Boris the Olive

18:47

Johnson became Prime Minister. We'll

18:50

look into how an internal civil war

18:52

kept Labour out of contention for so

18:54

long. And whether or not that

18:56

civil war is now over. That's

18:58

coming up in the week after the election. I

19:01

will catch you next week.