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Chapitre D'ouvrage Année : 2021

Brexit and war rhetoric, an electoral stategy?

Résumé

The English language is replete with bellicose expressions and references to different battles and wars involving British armed forces, in particular World War Two. This point was highlighted recently by the current occupant of 10 Downing Street, Boris Johnson, who remarked that "military metaphors are old parliamentary standard practice." 1 Many such terms have entered the everyday lexicon of most Eurosceptics and Brexiteers alike. They had already become common currency in anti-European rhetoric since the 1990s, but have reached a greater level of intensity in the last four years since the Brexit referendum, when these groups or individuals discuss or denounce the EU or Brussels. Such emotionally charged words as 'traitor', 'treason', 'collusion', 'collaboration', 'Nazi' or 'Gestapo' alongside terms like 'the Dunkirk spirit', take us back to the 1940s and a period of great national pride among many Britons after the country stood fast, resisted and defeated the threat of fascism. For many Brexiteers, Brussels has become the new Berlin and the European Commission the new Reichstag, which were both fought against in the June 2016 referendum and are still demonised in the same way as negotiations over UK/EU relations continue. Using verbatim records of debate from Hansard, references from various books and newspaper articles, as well as an interview with one of the leading protagonists, Dominic Grieve, this chapter will attempt to study the various military forms of language used in the debate over Britain's place in the European Union and its withdrawal from it. It will culminate with one very heated exchange that took place on the floor of the House of Commons in late September 2019, when the repeated bellicose language of the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and many of his colleagues, was challenged by various members of the opposition parties, and even pro-remain Conservative MPs, in the House. Finally, we will ask the question as to whether, apart from being an appeal to MPs to back the government on its withdrawal deal, this choice of words on the part of the premier was not a deliberate tactic, adopted to win over electoral support in the forthcoming general election.
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hal-03345496 , version 1 (15-09-2021)

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  • HAL Id : hal-03345496 , version 1

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Matthew Leggett. Brexit and war rhetoric, an electoral stategy?. Brexit and its discontents. Le Brexit, un malaise sans fin?, 2021. ⟨hal-03345496⟩

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