Brexit Day: The 10 key events on the UK’s path to leaving the European Union

1) CAMERON'S BLUFF CALLED

The Conservative Party has long been riven by factionalism over the EU, and it has been the undoing of more than one leader over the decades.

And David Cameron unwittingly sowed the seeds of his downfall by giving his “Bloomberg speech” in 2013, pledging to renegotiate the UK's membership of the EU before putting it to the people in an in-out referendum.

As a way of preventing Tory voters throwing their lot in with Ukip, it worked a treat. The Tories won an unexpected majority in the 2015 majority. But it also meant that Cameron had to make good on his promise to give the public a say on whether or not the UK should leave the EU.

Although his renegotiation with Brussels yielded little in the way of meaningful concessions, the Prime Minister said it was enough to justify the UK's continuing membership of the bloc. 

Voters, Cameron said, would have the chance to pass their own verdict on his efforts on 23 June, 2016.

2) BOJO A-GO-GO

Although the Prime Minister was firmly backing Remain, to keep his Cabinet together he allowed his ministers to join the pro-Brexit campaign if they wanted.

Six of them immediately did just that, including the likes of Michael Gove and Iain Duncan Smith. But the defection Cameron most feared was that of Boris Johnson.

After what he described as an “agonisingly difficult” decision, and having written Daily Telegraph columns setting out the arguments for both decisions, his fellow old Etonian confirmed that he was joining Vote Leave – only telling Cameron minutes before announcing it live outside his house on a cold and blustery Sunday afternoon.

Johnson teamed up with Gove and Dominic Cummings, and was soon travelling around the country aboard the notorious red bus and its “£350million a week for the NHS” claim.

Meanwhile the PM led the cross-party “Stronger In” campaign, but with little help from Jeremy Corbyn after the Labour leader refused to share a platform with him.

3) 'THE BRITISH PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN AND THE ANSWER IS WE'RE OUT'

Against the prevailing opinion, as the results began to roll in it became clear that Leave had won, with the result being confirmed at around 4.40am on 24 June, when the BBC's David Dimbleby uttered the immortal words: "The British people have spoken and the answer is we're out."

Despite having insisted he would remain in his job regardless of the result, a stunned David Cameron resigned within hours.

He insisted he would stay in place until his successor was chosen at the Conservative conference in October, but he and his family ended up packing far sooner than expected as the leadership campaign reflected the nervous breakdown being suffered by the country at large.

First Stephen Crabb was scuppered by sexting scandal, then Gove – who had initially backed his Brexit buddy Boris – threw his hat into the ring, forcing Johnson to drop out and killing his own candidacy at birth.

Tory members never even got the chance to have their say, after Andrea Leadsom’s ill-judged comments about motherhood saw her quit, leaving Theresa May as the last person standing and the UK's next Prime Minister.

4) BREXIT MEANS BREXIT?

May, who had backed Remain (though not campaigned especially hard for it), set out her priorities for the Brexit negotiations with the EU in January 2017 in what was known as the ‘Lancaster House speech’.

And it was music to Eurosceptic ears as she promised to take the UK out of the single market and the customs union, and end the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.

Brussels was taken aback by the hardness of May’s red lines, which laid down a marker for the negotiations between the then-Brexit secretary David Davis and the EU's Michel Barnier.

Two months later Parliament voted to trigger Article 50, beginning the two-year countdown to the UK’s exit on 31 March, 2019. Or so we thought.

In April 2017, May stunned the country by announcing the snap election she had repeatedly ruled out. But, after a disastrous Tory campaign, she lost her Commons majority, leaving her beholden to the Tory party’s rival Brexit faction as well as the DUP.

5) CHEQUERS GOES POP

In June 2018 the EU Withdrawal Act was approved by Parliament, but thanks to the efforts of former Tory attorney general Dominic Grieve, it was amended to force the Government to give MPs a "meaningful vote" on any final Brexit deal.

A fortnight later, the PM dragged her Cabinet to Chequers to discuss a blueprint for any future relationship, but her White Paper received luke-warm support.

A row over “frictionless trade” and maintaining a “common rulebook” with the bloc led to the resignations of Johnson, Davis and junior Brexit minister Steve Baker, and arguably sparking the beginning of the end for May’s premiership.

But she ploughed on, and following a year and a half of tense wrangling, a Withdrawal Agreement finally emerged – and this time the reaction was even worse.

Angered primarily over the introduction of a backstop arrangement keeping Northern Ireland locked indefinitely in the customs union, multiple ministers – including DD’s replacement at DExEU Dominic Raab – resigned, as May faced an uphill battle to get the agreement through Parliament.

6) JUNE IS THE END OF MAY

December 2018 was not a great month for May, who saw forced to delay the first meaningful vote on her deal after an internal backlash, eventually leading to a vote of no confidence in her leadership.

She won it comfortably, but any hoped that 2019 would see an improvement in her firtunes were quickly extinguished as she went down to the heaviest defeat ever, losing the first meaningful vote by a record margin of 230 votes after more than 100 Conservatives rebelled. She tried again in early March, but lost again, this time by a slightly more respectable 149 votes.

In a further humiliation, the EU agreed to extend Article 50 to 31 October, and May had a third attempt at getting her deal through Parliament, this time by separating out the withdrawal agreement and political declaration. Despite winning the support of the likes of Jacob Rees Mogg and Boris Johnson, she still loses by 58.

It proved to be a defeat too far for May, who announced that she was resigning as Prime Minister on 7 June.

7) DO OR DIE

This time Gove’s entrance into the Tory leadership contest did not wreck Johnson's chances. The clear favourite from the off, the Churchill historian achieved what many saw as his destiny by defeating Jeremy Hunt in the final run-off to win the keys to Number 10.

He quickly assembled a pro-Brexit Cabinet after a wave of sackings dubbed the "Night of the Blond Knives", and set about trying to achieve the apparently impossible of re-opening the negotiations with Brussels and getting a deal he could pass through Parliament.

Johnson achieved his goal by signing up to a new-look deal which looked supiciously like the one Theresa May had previously dismissed by effectively putting up a customs border down the Irish Sea.

Nevertheless, it is much more warmly received on the Tory benches than his predecessor's effort, but his lack of a Commons majority remained the biggest impediment to progress.

8) THE EMPTY DITCH

That lack of a majority, and the liberal interpretation of parliamentary procedure by Speaker John Bercow, led to the PM itaking the extraordinary step of proroguing Parliament for five weeks to prevent losing control of the Brexit process.

But the was deemed unlawful by the Supreme Court, and MPs passed the Benn Act in September, legally forcing Johnson to ask for another extension to Article 50 if a Brexit deal is not agreed by MPs before the end of October.

Although his Withdrawal Agreement was passed by Parliament - thanks in part to a rebellion by Labour MPs - the Commons rejects the Government’s proposed three-day timetable to scrutinise the bill which would put the bill into law. This, forces the PM, who had said he would rather die in a ditch than delay Brexit further, to request another Article 50 extension, to 31 January, 2020.

An irate Downing Street tried to push for an election, but the terms of the Fixed-Term Parliament Act trapped the PM in a deadlocked Parliament.

But, after the SNP, Lib Dems and Labour relent, the Early Parliamentary General Election Bill is passed, bypassing the Fixed Terms Parliament Act and sending the country back to the polls on 12 December.

9) GET BREXIT DONE

The Tories went into the election with a very clear, simple message on Brexit.

Critics might have claimed it was disingenuous, but “Get Brexit Done certainly worked as a slogan on the doorstep.

Compared to Labour’s tortuous, byzantine compromise, it was beautiful in its simplicity and ensured the Tories romped home with an 80-seat majority, largely built off the back of traditional Labour voters in Leave heartlands lending the party their votes.

It allowed the PM to easily get his agreement through both House of Parliament in January, and despite some last-minute ping-pong with the House of Lords on refugees, the Withdrawal Act was given Royal Assent last week.

It was then ratified by the EU and finally on Wednesday the European Parliament, signalling the end to the UK’s 47-year membership.

10) EXIT DAY, NOW WHAT?

At midnight Brussels time, and 11pm GMT, amid a light show in Downing Street and a Brexiteer party in Parliament Square, the UK will leave the European Union.

But what does that actually mean? To begin with, very little, there is a transition period up until the end of 2020 where both sides agree that almost all existing rules and regulations will stay in place.

During this period the Government is determined to get Brussels to agree to a fully-comprehensive free trade agreement, albeit with the tricky request of not having any alignment with EU rules.

Johnson and Barnier are both due to give speeches early next week setting out their red lines for the second phase of talks, but if no long-term deal is agreed then the spectre of a no-deal Brexit returns.

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