In June 2016, Britons voted for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union (EU) in a referendum dubbed Brexit — a portmanteau of British and Exit — prompting a series of changes starting with the resignation of David Cameron as prime minister. It also raised questions about the future of the EU which has never, to date, seen a country leave its fold.

Conceived after the Second World War, the EU was generally seen as a force for good and membership grew steadily over the years. The past few years, however, have witnessed rising Euroscepticism among some members.

Craig Oliver, author of Unleashing Demons: The Inside Story of Brexit, served as director of communications at 10 Downing Street from 2011 to 2016. This should lend a great degree of credibility to his account of the six months leading up to the referendum.

To recap: in 2015, Cameron pledged to hold a referendum on the UK’s continued membership in the EU, were he re-elected prime minister. The UK government also decided to negotiate reforms to EU rules applicable to the UK, which were intended to take effect following a vote for “Remain” in the referendum. The government supported remaining within the EU, but individual Tory MPs could campaign for the opposing side — “Leave”.

The book describes how the referendum had a negative impact on the intraparty dynamics of the Conservatives. Old loyalties were lost and new, unlikely alliances forged as the Remain camp sought support from across the political spectrum. There was also plenty of confusion behind the scenes: the timing of the referendum was hotly contested as Remain did not want it held in June. While Remain comprised a broad coalition from among Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Green parties — adding a dimension of ideological chaos — Leave appeared to have no serious leader until as late as four months before the referendum. In fact, throughout the book, Oliver reiterates that Leave relied on ambiguous messaging which lacked substance or truth.

The author talks us through the actions and statements of some of the leading politicians at the helm of Brexit — Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Theresa May. He mentions the scandals Cameron and allies faced: the Panama Papers, “Piggate”, and leaked conversations regarding corruption allegations against Afghanistan and Nigeria. He thinks Remain had a strong argument that the UK’s economy would benefit from staying within the EU, an opinion supported by independent experts. He believes Leave, on the other hand, had no economic argument and rode a tide of anti-immigration sentiment. However, the results of the referendum revealed that 2.8 million Britons, who did not vote in the 2015 general elections, voted in the EU referendum, making the UK’s decision to leave the EU unambiguous.

Oliver discusses the impact of the allegedly disingenuous media campaign employed by Leave, and how Remain suffered because newspapers were either opposed or media houses did not play the unbiased, impartial role expected of them. He expresses particular discontent with the BBC, which he expects to have maintained a balanced approach to news and call out untruths where obvious. He feels the BBC allowed Leave to continue with its misleading messaging, its argument being that the other side was entitled to have a say. Freedom of speech, says Oliver, should not mean being allowed to make untruthful claims without being called out, because the power of the press is such that even if something isn’t true, once it catches root in the press, the public will treat it as true.

Oliver doesn’t appear to think highly of May either, presenting her as a cautious politician who holds her cards close and hesitates to voice her opinion on Brexit. Indeed, political observers have pointed out that perhaps May minimised her involvement in the Brexit debate in order to strengthen her position as a candidate for Conservative party leadership, although privately she had admitted that it was in the UK’s economic interest to stay within the EU.

If the author is unhappy with some Tory politicians, then his opinion of Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn is scathing. Oliver finds him “lukewarm” rather than unequivocally in favour, which surprises him — but then Corbyn was always a Eurosceptic. To Oliver, what is most damaging to the Remain campaign about Corbyn’s apparently half-hearted backing is that the latter had been elected party leader on a wave of anti-status quo sentiment, which begs the question of why Labour voters would support a cause (Remain) championed by the status quo (the Conservatives).

Revelations about internal confusion and disarray within Labour, the country’s second biggest political party, hark back to the fact that what was Remain’s biggest strength — having representative voices from across the board — was also its biggest problem. A large, loosely-bound coalition brings with it all the problems of large groups with divergent end-goals. 

The smaller, tighter Leave campaign, meanwhile, was clear on its aims.

The book’s title suggests that it would be an insider’s account divulging behind-the-scenes details. Unfortunately, there are no grand revelations despite the unparalleled access the author has to Brexit movers and shakers. What is apparent, however, is Oliver’s schoolboy, almost starry-eyed adulation of Cameron, whom he refers to as “DC” throughout. Also, the book could have done with better editing — there is no need to list day-to-day happenings and conversations that add nothing to our knowledge.

I picked up this book expecting it to answer the question on everyone’s mind post-referendum: in an environment of rising right-wing sentiment across Europe, why did the UK even go for a referendum since it appears to be a classic example of cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face? Instead, Oliver chooses to focus on the minutiae of what happened between January and June 2016. He defers the key question by simply saying that the referendum was inevitable — a train that had been trundling forward for years and happened to arrive at the station on Cameron’s watch. Had Cameron not offered the referendum, someone else within the Tories would have.

What I found more disturbing was the acceptance throughout power corridors that “migration is a problem” for the UK, and Remain’s assurance — bordering on appeasement — to the Leave camp that “of course, we do not support Turkey’s bid to join the EU.” This smacks of hypocrisy: although European nations felt no qualms in colonising foreign lands over the centuries, they now object to people from other countries arriving at their shores in search of a better livelihood.

Touted as perhaps the biggest political upheaval in Britain since the Second World War, Brexit’s impact will become apparent over the next two years. Perhaps that is when more quality literature on the subject will emerge. Until then, we have to rely on the accounts of civil servants and ex-advisers such as Oliver that narrate the tale of how something, which seemed rather improbable to the world, came to occur.

The reviewer is a political economist and has taught social sciences at various academic institutions in Karachi

Unleashing Demons: The Inside Story of Brexit
By Craig Oliver
Hodder and Stoughton, UK
ISBN: 978-1473652453
432pp.

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, April 9th, 2017