On Tuesday night, outgoing British Prime Minister David Cameron dined with European leaders for a “last supper” in Brussels to address the momentous implications of Britain’s vote to leave the EU.
Wednesday, Europe’s leaders are meeting again to discuss the post-Brexit future, with Britain already no longer at the table.
Instead, Cameron is back in London, facing his first question time in the House of Commons since Thursday’s vote to leave.
In fiery clashes with opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is refusing to resign in the face of a revolt from members of his own party, Cameron told Corbyn to step down “in the national interest.”
“It might be in my party’s interest for him to sit there. It’s not in the national interest, and I would say, for heaven’s sake man, go.”
Corbyn overwhelmingly lost a no-confidence vote by Labour MPs Tuesday amid criticisms he was lackluster in his campaign to keep Britain in the EU.
Warning that difficult economic times lay ahead, Cameron came to Parliament bearing a blunt message from European leaders: that the UK cannot expect continued access to Europe’s single market without a price.
Britain’s separation from the EU was not a “cherry-picking exercise,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday.
“If you want to exist and leave this family, then you cannot expect all the obligations to drop away but privileges to continue to exist,” she told the German Parliament.
Scottish leader in Brussels
While Cameron has returned from the corridors of European power, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is in Brussels Wednesday for talks with European leaders on potential avenues for Scotland to remain in the EU.
“I have set out very clearly Scotland’s desire to protect her relationship with the European Union,” she said, following a meeting with President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz.
“I don’t want to underestimate the challenges that lie ahead for us in seeking to find a path. This is very much an initial meeting of a series of meetings in Brussels today so that people understand that Scotland, unlike other parts of the United Kingdom, does not want to leave the European Union.”
Sturgeon, who will meet the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, told the devolved Scottish Parliament Tuesday that “everything must be on the table to protect our place in Europe” — including a potential second referendum on independence from the UK.
Standoff over Article 50
Besides fueling renewed talk of Scottish independence, Britain’s shock vote last week to pull out of the EU has wounded the European project, sent the pound tumbling, hurt global markets and left a gaping leadership vacuum in the UK.
The divorce itself is shaping up as a messy undertaking, with Europe and Britain at loggerheads on how to even begin the complicated disentanglement after more than four decades together.
Cameron wants to hold off invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty — which will officially begin the separation process — until a new leadership is in place, with a vision on what a future deal with the European Union will look like.
Europe is refusing to engage in talks, formal or informal, until Article 50 is triggered.
At the conclusion of Tuesday night’s meeting, European Council President Donald Tusk said EU leaders understood “that some time is now needed to allow the dust to settle in the UK.”
“But they also expect the intentions of the UK government to be specified as soon as possible,” he said.
Who will lead Britain?
But at this critical juncture in its history, Britain is looking effectively leaderless.
The 52% vote to leave Europe has sent shockwaves through the UK’s political establishment, leaving the leadership of both major parties up for grabs.
Candidates from the ruling Conservative Party are jockeying to replace Cameron following his announcement of his intention to resign in the wake of his referendum defeat. A successor is not expected to be announced until early September.
Meanwhile Corbyn has refused to stand aside in the face of a revolt from his MPs. Tuesday’s no-confidence vote was non-binding, but paves the way for an official leadership challenge.