Cabbages & Kings: Post-Brexit ironies in Theresa's Britain

“My own song was silenced — Still-born.
So I borrowed a verse from a poet —
Read on:
The heavens took you from me and the theft
Has robbed me of all signs of joy and left
My lips without a smile, my empty heart
Only He and I know how bereft…”
From The Fond Pfonzobi by Bachchoo

After the first devastating shocks, the effects of the vote for Brexit will gradually become evident. Whether Britain will in time break away in any substantial sense from the European Union is still to be seen. On Wednesday, Theresa May moved into 10 Downing Street and subsequently went to kiss the Queen’s hand to become Britain’s second woman Prime Minister. After David Cameron, who vociferously and vigorously campaigned for the “remain” side, lost and resigned, Ms May threw her hat for the top job into the ring. She said that despite the fact that she too voted to “remain”, the British people had spoken and “out means out”. If she became Prime Minister, she would negotiate the UK’s exit from the European Union.

Even before Ms May’s appointment, civil servants were instructed to find a building which would house a new ministry for Brexit. The ironies multiply. The Brexiteers made much of the fact that the European Union had imposed an intolerable bureaucracy on member countries and one of the great advantages of leaving would be the riddance of this red tape. And now, of course, miles of red tape, conferences, consultations, communications and compromises will be initiated through a whole new ministry with hundreds, if not thousands, of civil servants to negotiate the severance and bring about Brexit. The other central irony is that the “leave” campaign made much of the fact that the president, commissioners and others who initiated, if not imposed European Union policies and decisions were an “unelected elite”. These EU officials are, of course, appointed by the votes of the elected representatives of member countries which make up the European Parliament.

There is possibly a more democratic mechanism to elect the leadership and decision-making forums of the European Union, but as the EU is now constituted, this is the best it can do. It’s obvious that when and if the European Union were to become the United States of Europe, one could have an election as they do in America and appoint a President who would then be totally free to appoint a Cabinet without reference to the electorate. Democratic? Up to a point, gentle reader! Last week, the Tory Party’s MPs, a clutch of a few hundred, went through the process of nominating and electing a leader who would then automatically become Prime Minister of the UK. No reference then to the British people or electorate. Ms May, who didn’t even undergo an election, as the other potential candidates knifed each other in the back or withdrew from the contest hoping that they would get jobs in Ms May’s Cabinet as a reward, is now Prime Minister. She has very firmly said she will not call a general election to legitimise her position. The machinations of an unelected elite? Democratic? Up to a point, dear reader!

One may consider that Ms May’s decision not to seek such legitimacy is wise. She knows she has inherited a mess and a general election, with the Labour Party in complete disarray, will be a gesture towards further confusion, not in any real sense a democratic affirmation. She has inherited a Great Britain that threatens to drop its 400-year-old adjective. Scotland and Northern Ireland are making noises about leaving the United Kingdom and staying in or reapplying to join Europe. Ms May has to urgently deal with this secessionary prospect, which is as yet but a shadow on the lung of the body politic. Then she has to reunite a very divided party, and after that... But enough of Ms May. I want to talk about me and the effect that the vote for Brexit has had and may have on this ordinary (okay, quite extraordinary!) senior citizen of the UK. I came to New Delhi leaving behind the British political and economic earthquake. I needed some sandals to face the monsoon, and bought some. They cost Rs 2,500, which would last month have translated into £25. This month they cost me £29. I shall, of course, be paid for the writing work I do here. I can’t get my head around whether it’s better to be paid in rupees and leave the money in a bank account here (Yes, I am legally allowed to have such an account being a “Person of Indian Origin”) or whether to ask for it in pounds sterling.

Again, enough of exchange-rate woes and dilemmas, except to say that all trips abroad and bottles of wine from the continental countries will cost a lot more. So will the fruit that comes from Spain or the cheese from France. Perhaps one compensation is that the stuff we import and I regularly buy from India or Pakistan — dal, rice, masalas, mangoes, etc — may become cheaper if the ambition to revive a Commonwealth Common Market works out. Some hope! The worst threat for the oldies and wrinklies who in the vast majority voted to leave the European Union is the loss of security on two distinct counts. The energy supplied by trans-European companies will inevitably become prohibitively more expensive. And then there’s transport. In line with a regulation of the European Union, all citizens over the age of 60 can apply to their municipalities for a “Freedom Pass” — a card with one’s photograph on, which allows you free travel on local buses, on underground trains and on National Rail within the precincts of the city. The pass, specially for the restless and peripatetic, is a huge blessing. Will Ms May or whoever, free of the “bureaucracy” of Brussels, take it away?