It marks the 10th anniversary of Britain's 2016 vote to leave the European Union.

Many are still asking that question.

At the time, much of the world still lived under the post-Cold War order,

globalized, open, and governed by shared rules.

When Brexit's Leave campaign promised to take back control,

for millions that slogan answered a growing

unease about where that open world was headed.

They wanted tighter borders and to reclaim an eroding sense of national sovereignty.

In addition, Brexit's leading advocates saw another opportunity to remake Britain as Singapore on Thames,

this was a vision of a buccaneering,

deregulated, low-tax competitor right on Europe's doorstep,

which would strike great trade deals with the wider world

and in particular with the United States.

But a decade on that order has come apart.

The U.S. elected Donald Trump just months after the referendum,

Brexit supporters who cheered his victory as vindication,

found an uncertain world of trade barriers and a weaker transatlantic alliance.

Even Singapore, Britain's supposed model, has warned that this new era would be very hostile

for punchy economies built on openness to global trade.

And in any case, Britain never built that nimble Singaporean-style economy.

Boris Johnson governed as a big spender who briefly pushed the country to its

highest tax burden since the end of World War II.

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