Brexit Unmasked

For fans of My Secret Brexit Diary by Michael Barnier, Brexit Unfolded by Christopher Grey and Heroic Failure by Fintan O’Toole

Part memoir, part erudite indictment of Britain’s political shortcomings, Brexit Unmasked lifts the lid on the UK’s decision to leave the EU and examines what politician should do next.

- The UK left the EU three years ago in January 2023.

- The Centre for European Reform reports that by the end of last year the economy was 5% – or £31bn – smaller than if the UK had stayed in the EU.

- According to the Economist, support for Brexit has fallen from 52% in 2016 to 43% today.

Albert Kemp believes that Brexit was a disaster for the UK. In this memoir-cum-social commentary, the 95-year-old Home Office veteran recounts life before the formation of the European Economic Community (the precursor to the EU) and Britain’s early reluctancy to take a leading role the political unification of Europe. He gives a fascinating insight into his family’s experience of WWII and recalls the events that made him a proud and staunch Remainer during the Brexit referendum. In this respect, Kemp is in the minority. According to the Guardian, 64% of voters of 65 voted to leave the EU.

‘By any reasonable and objective assessment, Brexit has been a total failure.’

In the second section of his book, Kemp discusses the ways in which the 2016 referendum could and should have been avoided, the media coverage in the months leading up to the vote, and the fantasies that fuelled the Brexit campaign. The book also examines the economic and diplomatic costs of leaving the EU, and what this means for trade, the NHS and civil freedoms. This rigorous, considered account, written with the precision of a historian, is rounded off with Kemp’s views on what Britain should do next to ensure stability in the wake of its exit from the EU.