U.K. Edges Closer to the Cliff of a No-Deal Brexit

The New Yorker Radio Hour

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

Politics, Arts, News, Wnyc, Books, David, Storytelling, Society & Culture, Yorker, New, Remnick

4.2 • 6.2K Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2019

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Since the minute that British citizens voted, in a 2016 referendum, to leave the European Union, confusion and disorganization has consumed the U.K. Three years later, little has changed: confusion and disorganization may carry the U.K. over the cliff of a no-deal Brexit with devastating economic consequences. While we can’t predict what will happen on the deadline of March 29th, we continue to learn about what brought the U.K. to this precarious position. Like the 2016 presidential election in the U.S., the campaign for Brexit employed divisive social media campaigns, mysterious sources of financing, Cambridge Analytica, and questionable meetings with Russians. At the center of it was a man named Arron Banks, an insurance magnate who is happy to take credit for his efforts to promote Brexit by whatever means necessary. Ed Caesar has reported on Banks’s outsized role in the referendum, and found that Banks is had been under investigation in Britain and in South Africa, where he has business interests in diamonds, as well as a person of interest in the Mueller investigation. Caesar spoke with David Remnick about the shady past and the uncertain future of Brexit. Plus, a visit with Roomful of Teeth, the Grammy-winning vocal octet that’s building a unique repertoire and redefining classical singing for the future.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From One World Trade Center in Manhattan, this is the New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of the New Yorker and WNYC Studios.
0:09.1	This is the New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick.
0:12.1	From the moment that British citizens voted in a referendum to leave the European Union, confusion and disorganization has absolutely consumed the UK.
0:21.8	And three years later, nothing much has changed.
0:25.0	Confusion and disorganization may yet carry Britain over the cliff, so to speak, to a no-deal Brexit with devastating economic consequences.
0:34.8	But if we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, we're learning a little bit
0:38.8	more about what brought Great Britain to the edge of the cliff in the first place. Much like our
0:44.3	2016 election, the pro-Brexit vote employed divisive social media campaigns, mysterious sources of
0:51.6	financing, Cambridge Analytica, and meetings with Russians.
0:56.4	At the center of it is a man named Aaron Banks, an insurance magnate.
1:01.3	Reporter Ed Caesar has been digging into Banks' outsized role in the referendum,
1:06.1	and Ed joins me now from Manchester.
1:09.6	Ed, I think when many Americans think about Brexit, when they can
1:13.2	focus on it at all, they think of figures like Boris Johnson or Nigel Farage, but they don't
1:21.4	think about the person that you've written about at such great length in the New Yorker, a person
1:25.8	named Aaron Banks. Who is that?
1:29.1	Aaron Banks is perhaps the single biggest political donor in UK history. And he helped to fund
1:38.1	both Nigel Farage, but also a rambunctious outlier organization called Leave.EU.U.
1:46.0	And Aaron Banks gave about $13 million in all to anti-EU causes.
1:52.1	And there have been a few questions about where his money comes from,
1:58.8	because there are big disputes about how rich he actually is. He says
2:02.7	250 million pounds, financial journalists who have seen publicly available information for him
	...

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