Britain’s political system is in crisis after Brexit. Shortly after voters decided that Britain should leave the European Union, David Cameron, the prime minister and Conservative Party leader, announced his resignation. This led to a short but vicious leadership contest, which left the ambiguous “Remain” supporter Theresa May as prime minister by default. The insecurity of May’s leadership is reflected in her decision to appoint Brexiteers Boris Johnson and Andrea Leadsom to important Cabinet positions, despite their obvious ambitions and even more obvious personality flaws.
Still, so far May is doing better than Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party and of Britain’s opposition. More than half of Labour’s shadow cabinet resigned or was sacked, and most Labour Members of Parliament (MPs) voted no confidence in Corbyn’s leadership, in a doomed effort to persuade Corbyn to quit. Corbyn refused to go, and in late September, he won the support of ordinary Labour members in a leadership election.
All this is likely to have a corrosive impact on British democracy over the next decade. The Labour Party is so weak that the Conservatives do not need to worry about Labour defeating them in the next election, or perhaps in the election after that. This means that UK political debate over the next decade will be an internal fight between more or less authoritarian versions of the right.
How did the UK end up in this bind? A few months ago, British politics appeared to be stable, if not particularly happy. The Conservative government had a narrower majority in Parliament than it wanted, but appeared likely to survive for a full term. Corbyn was detested by most of his senior colleagues. However, his leadership was probably secure until after the next election, which everyone expected to be a disaster for Labour, no matter who the leader was. Business leaders and pundits expected that the Brexit referendum would be won by the Remain side.