Brexit vote four months later: 'Britain can never leave Europe'

It is four months since the British people voted by a margin of 52% to 48% to leave the European Union. Now Britain has two choices, says Peter Wilding of British Influence.

"It can either be an arsonist of Europe through this referendum, or it can be a forerunner," he tells The Bulletin. "We can be the people who say: we didn't expect this result, but it speaks to a real crisis not just in Britain but all over the continent and we've really got to find out what the answers to it are."

Why did you set up British Influence?
It all comes from growing up in Liverpool, this once-great port. By the 1970s it was in terminal decline. I just thought to myself: how has this country, gone from what it has been to what it was then. Years later when I was working for the Conservative party I realised that nobody had a new story to tell about Europe and that we were probably going to face a referendum somewhere down the line. Everybody talked about the price of everything rather than the  value of everything. In 2010 I set up British Influence in order to put a vision across which could win the referendum. Essentially it was: be patriotic, positive and concentrate on what Britain could do in the future.

What does the future have in store?
For Europe, as all the leaders are now acknowledging, Brexit and the eurozone and migration crises makes this the existential crisis of Europe's post-war history. This is trouble. Adding on to that the northern states vs the southern states, the east vs the west means that there's no real way through. Rather than keep on driving the train forward to the buffers, it's just good to think anew. My book says there are quite a few other organisations, not least Nato, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation. All of these organisations have a contribution.

Britain can never leave Europe. Even Boris Johnson says we're leaving the EU but we're not leaving Europe. We've got plenty of enemies out there who are quite happy to divide and rule Europe. The problem is the EU isn't Europe. Because it really is an economic organisation, how can it answer the political and security questions that are top priority right now? This book is about trying to make people think outside the box. This continent requires imagination.

You are credited with coining the term Brexit. How do you feel about that - being opposed to Brexit and being the creator of the word?
It's a funny feeling, I have to say. It doesn't come to you everyday. There are two types of people answering what is Brexit: one of them is the type of person who just wants to see Britain pull up the drawbridge to the continent and the other is to say absolutely not, this is an opportunity for Britain to try - even in this unlikely time - to say that there is another way.

Do you think that Article 50 will be triggered next March?
I think it's almost impossible for Theresa May not to. Article 50 is about the nitty gritty detail, it's quite technocratic. I think she will do it to appease her own right-wingers. But I think as she moves into the negotiations and finds her position increasingly difficult, both here in Brussels and there in London, of course she will have to compromise, and that's where the trouble begins.

What do you think will be the future of British officials within the institutions here in Brussels?
They must feel terrible. When I was promoting British membership of the EU it wasn't about promoting the status quo, it was about saying: look at the things that we haven't yet done. And that's been lost. It must be terrifying to be sitting around the institutions treading water. It must feel like waiting for Godot.

Will Brexit be a catalyst for EU reform?
I think so. Crises are still coming. We have a series of referenda and elections coming up in the next year. Russia is waiting. The firm leadership that is needed in Europe for the survival of the west could be brought to smithereens by the election of Trump. This is one of those incredible moments of history where an era is coming to an end. For anybody who wants to see the continent at peace and in prosperity, this is the worst crisis since the second world war.

Because of all these landmines facing the next tread of the European journey, there's no way forward. We need a new vision for Europe that isn't pulling the old levers of more integration, more federalism. Because it is terrible to say but it's got to be understood: we've reached the high water mark and the public are not liking it. We've got to be much more imaginative.

www.britishinfluence.org