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Brexit chaos

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Klaus Schwab, the quintessential “Davos Man”, has been front and centre at Davos every year.

Inside the dizzying fall of the King of Davos

Klaus Schwab is accused of misusing funds and inappropriate behaviour after 50 years as head of the World Economic Forum. The future of Davos is now at risk.

June

Chinese President Xi Jinping.

‘The Princess Bride’ has lessons for Trump in dealing with Xi

The cult movie has the hero tricking the villain in much the same way China’s leader has done with his US counterpart in their negotiation on rare earths.

May

Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have struck up a solid relationship over their support for Ukraine.

Britain resets trade and defence ties with EU

At the heart of the deal is a defence and security pact that could allow British defence companies to take part in a $262 billion program to rearm Europe.

Keir Starmer and Donald Trump during their meeting at the White House in February.

Trump to announce first trade deal

The framework agreement would be the first deal announced since the president imposed stiff tariffs on dozens of America’s trading partners.

April

Straight to work. Mark Carney speaks to reporters as he arrives at the Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council, the morning after the Liberal Party won the Canadian federal election.

Mark Carney won, but there will be no honeymoon

The newly elected PM told Canadians he was the right person to stand up to Donald Trump and boost the country’s lacklustre economy. Now he has to do it.

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Mark Carney was elected Liberal leader in March, replacing former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Crisis-fighting central banker to lead Canada through US trade war

Mark Carney ran a low-key five-week campaign and steered clear of major gaffes. His blend of tough talk and bland competence was a deliberate strategy.

March

Rio investor warns it faces a Brexit moment with London-listing vote

WaveStone Capital has almost $10 billion in assets under management and says a push to end the mining giant’s primary UK listing will only enrich bankers.

Mark Carney, while being in the public eye for much of his career, has not been a traditional politician before making his bid for party leadership.

Canada’s Liberals elect new leader as Trudeau bows out

The race is between Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, and former finance minister Chrystia Freeland.

US President Donald Trump.

Lessons for Australia in Trump’s stop-start tariff madness

The message is clear: the US will ignore any trade agreement or treaty, and will not necessarily honour contracts that have been entered into in good faith.

December 2024

Without young people on student or working holiday visas, who would be there to serve your drinks?

‘Abomination’: Aussie schooner at centre of UK pint row

Do you prefer your beer by the pint or another measure? A House of Lords debate on a seemingly innocuous technical bill has reignited an age-old dispute.

September 2024

Boris Johnson in full battle cry during the 2024 election.

‘Do you miss me yet?’ Britain’s zany ex-PMs back on centre stage

Boris Johnson and Liz Truss return to the limelight, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s travails leave Tories daring to dream of a swift resurrection.

September 2024

Boris Johnson at the Yalta European Strategy summit in Kyiv, Ukraine, earlier this month.

AUKUS was part of plan to punish Macron, says Boris Johnson

Writing in his upcoming memoirs, the former UK prime minister accused the French president of being a “positive nuisance” during talks to leave the EU.

Demonstrators in Lyon march against the selection of Michael Barnier as prime minister.

New French PM under pressure to suspend immigration

Michel Barnier is being propped up by Marine Le Pen of the hard Right, who said she supported the three- to five-year moratorium he proposed in 2021.

July 2024

Keir Starmer outlined his intention to forge a new relationship with Europe last week.

Von der Leyen and Starmer plan meeting to drive UK-EU ‘reset’

Britain’s new PM is seeking better trade terms with the EU, while chancellor Rachel Reeves has suggested the UK could align with EU regulations in some areas.

Nigel Farage’s ambition will only have been fortified by his modest parliamentary breakthrough and the 98 seats where Reform is currently in second place, almost all of them to Labour.

The fight for the UK right has begun

Surrendering to the Faragist path rather than taking it on and defeating it would herald the end of the centre right and a capitulation to unserious politics.

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Keir Starmer chose not to make Brexit an election issue. But once victory is secured he must hammer the point home.

Why Starmer should now play prosecutor on Brexit

Labour and the Tories have avoided the topic, but a full audit of the impact of leaving the EU would deliver political and economic benefits to incoming ministers.

Boris Johnson at the campaign event this week.

Boris Johnson in surprise late move to avert Tory wipeout

Making his first public appearance of the campaign, the former prime minister said Labour would “destroy so much of what we have achieved”.

The Conservative government has sowed the seeds of its own downfall.

Why angry Britain will this week finally dump the Tories

Five PMs, five elections and a three-ring circus: over 14 years, the Conservative government sowed the seeds of its own downfall – and leaves a mixed legacy.

Joe Biden

Feckless liberals are to blame for Biden’s downfall

The left worldwide ignores problems on its own side, and recent history has turned on that failure.

June 2024

Donald Trump and Blackstone founder Stephen Schwarzman at the White House in 2017.

Why billionaires support Trump

Business people struggle to understand fanaticism. In commercial life, all actors are negotiable, even if their price is high. They also tend to overrate contrarianism.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/brexit-chaos-1m7a