As Brexit unravels before our eyes, it's worth reminding ourselves who got the UK and the EU into this mess in the first place. DW's Rob Mudge tries to shed light on how the former British prime minister spends his days.
And even the most neutral of those observers would concede that they deserve the bashing they're receiving. However, we wouldn't even be discussing Boris' latest antics (at least not in this context) if it weren't for the, er, brains behind Brexit — the man who decided to put party politics above his country.
So what exactly is former Prime Minister David Cameron up to these days? "Working on his memoirs, that's what I understand," Kevin Theakston, professor of British government at the University of Leeds, told DW. "And I think he was supposed to have finished them about now. But they've been put back and the line is that he thinks that because of Brexit he wants them out after we've left because the dust will have settled a bit."
Cameron has hinted that he has 'one big job' left in himImage: picture-alliance/R. Tang
The ill-fated referendum
Right, just to recap. In 2013, Cameron made his fateful in/out referendum pledge if the Tories won the 2015 election. Essentially that was done to appease the hardliners in his party who were worried that the United Kingdom Independence Party led by Nigel Farage would bite into the Conservative voter base and hand victory to Labour. To fight off that challenge, the Tories demanded that Cameron give them the prospect of a European Union referendum which would allow them to persuade their own anti-EU supporters that only a vote for the Tories would give them a definitive say over Britain's future in the bloc.
Cameron did so in the belief that the electorate would vote to remain. Obviously that didn't go according to plan. "I think he still feels the humiliation of calling and losing the referendum," said Theakston. "And he fears going down in history as the person who accidentally took us out of the EU and maybe triggered knock-on consequences for the future of the UK itself — and doing it for reasons of party management and taking a gamble and it all came off badly."
Who's who in Brexit?
Britain is leaving the European Union, but who exactly is directing the drama? DW takes a look at the people involved in the messy divorce.
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Britain's embattled skipper: Theresa May
May became prime minister after David Cameron resigned from the post in the wake of the Brexit referendum vote in June 2016. Despite her position, she has struggled to define what kind of Brexit her government wants. Hardliners within her Conservative party want her to push for a clean break. Others want Britain to stay close to the bloc. The EU itself has rejected many of May's Brexit demands.
The leader of the British Labour Party has no formal role in the Brexit talks, but he is influential as the head of the main opposition party. Labour has tried to pressure the Conservative government, which has a thin majority in Parliament, to seek a "softer" Brexit. But Corbyn's own advocacy has been lukewarm. The long-time leftist voted for the UK to leave the European Community (EC) in 1975.
Image: picture-alliance/empics/A. Chown
Britain's boisterous Brexiteer: Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson's turbulent two years as UK foreign secretary came to an abrupt end with his resignation on July 9. The conservative had been a key face for the Leave campaign during the 2016 referendum campaign. Johnson disapproves of the "soft Brexit" sought by PM May, arguing that a complete break from the EU might be preferable. He became the second Cabinet member within 24 hours to quit...
Image: picture alliance/AP Images/M. Turner
Britain's cheery ex-delegate: David Davis
David Davis headed Britain's Department for Exiting the EU and was the country's chief negotiator in the talks before he quit on July 8, less than 24 hours before Downing Street announced Boris Johnson's departure. Davis had long opposed Britain's EU membership and was picked for the role for this reason. Davis was involved in several negotiating rounds with his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/V: Mayo
Britain's former Brexit secretary: Dominic Raab
Raab replaced Davis in early July 2018. But he only lasted four months, resigning a day after Theresa May presented a draft withdrawal plan to her cabinet. Raab previously worked for a Palestinian negotiator in the Oslo peace process and as an international lawyer in Brussels advising on European Union and World Trade Organization law.
Jeremy Hunt was Britain's Health Secretary until he replaced Boris Johnson as foreign secretary in early July 2018. The 51-year-old supported Britain remaining in the European Union during the 2016 referendum, but said in late 2017 that he had changed his mind in response to the "the arrogance of the EU Commission" during Brexit talks. He has vowed to help get Britain a "great Brexit deal."
Image: picture-alliance/Photoshot
Britain's firebrand: Nigel Farage
Nigel Farage was the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) until July 2016. Under his stewardship, the party helped pressure former Prime Minister David Cameron into calling the EU referendum. He was also a prominent activist in the Leave campaign in the lead-up to the vote. Farage still has some influence over Brexit talks due to his popularity with pro-Leave voters.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/F. Florin
Brexit's banker: Arron Banks
Businessman Arron Banks is a friend of Nigel Farage, and donated a significant sum to the former UKIP leader's Leave.EU campaign – making him the group's biggest financial backer. He had several meetings with Russian officials ahead of the referendum, but has denied allegations of collusion with Moscow in the Brexit vote, branding the claims a "political witch hunt."
Image: Getty Images/J. Taylor
Europe's honchos: Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk
EU Commission President Juncker (left) and EU Council President Tusk (right) share two of the bloc's highest posts. Juncker heads the EU's executive. Tusk represents the governments of the 27 EU countries — the "EU 27." Both help formulate the EU's position in Brexit negotiations. What Tusk says is particularly noteworthy: His EU 27 masters — not the EU commission — must agree to any Brexit deal.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/G. Vanden
Europe's steely diplomat: Michel Barnier
The former French foreign minister and European commissioner has become a household name across the EU since his appointment as the bloc's chief Brexit negotiator in October 2016. Despite his prominence, Barnier has limited room to maneuver. He is tasked with following the EU 27's strict guidelines and must regularly report back to them during the negotiations.
Image: Reuters/Y. Herman
Ireland's uneasy watchman: Leo Varadkar
The Irish PM has been one of the most important EU 27 leaders in Brexit talks. Britain has said it will leave the EU's customs union and single market. That could force the Republic of Ireland, an EU member, to put up customs checks along the border with Northern Ireland, a British province. But Varadkar's government has repeatedly said the return of a "hard" border is unacceptable.
Image: picture-alliance/empics/B. Lawless/PA Wire
Europe's power-brokers: the EU 27
The leaders of the EU 27 governments have primarily set the EU's negotiating position. They have agreed to the negotiating guidelines for chief negotiator Barnier and have helped craft the common EU position for Tusk and Juncker to stick to. The individual EU 27 governments can also influence the shape of any Brexit outcome because they must unanimously agree to a final deal.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/J. Macdougal
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China, charity and Chequers
So while he sits on his memoirs, he's doing what other former heads of state and government are doing: Giving speeches and focusing on charity work such as the National Citizen Service, a social development program for 15-17 year olds that was part of his "big society" initiative as prime minister. He's also set up and heads a $1 billion (€866 million) China-UK investment fund, designed to improve roads, ports and rail networks between China and the countries it trades with. This line of his work could come in handy in terms of helping current Prime Minister Theresa May, who is scrambling to secure trade deals for the UK in a post-Brexit world.
Talking of which, has there been any meaningful contact between May and her predecessor? "I don't think they've had serious contact on Brexit or on policy strategy for the government. Relations between May and Cameron and [former Finance Minister] George Osborne and what what some call the 'Cameroons' were always pretty frosty between 2010 and 2016 when she was home secretary," said Theakston. "Cameron, I think, is completely politically irrelevant now and Theresa May is quite happy with that."
Boris and the man who was prime minister: 'It's his fault'Image: picture alliance/empics/Y. Mok
While May has given him the cold shoulder, Cameron seems to be back on speaking terms with another of his nemeses, Boris Johnson, with whom he had a very public falling out over Brexit. They've been spotted having dinner together and also met for talks ahead of the Chequers summit in August where May presented her controversial customs arrangements to her ministers. One source said that Johnson and Cameron agreed the prime minister's plans were "the worst of all worlds."
However, as Theakston points out, this doesn't mean they're plotting the prime minister's downfall. "I don't see Cameron and Boris meeting up or playing tennis or anything like that as the start of a political alliance," he said. "Boris might like to fool himself into thinking it is but I don't think Cameron would view it as anything more than a limited social encounter."
NATO on his mind?
By all accounts, it sounds as if Cameron is seriously underemployed. That must be weighing on his mind because he has hinted that he has "one big job" left in him. No, I don't know either.
"It's hard to see what that could be. There was speculation about the NATO [secretary-general] job," said Theakston. "But it's hard to see Cameron being acceptable to other European powers. Would other Europeans really want the person responsible for triggering this mayhem in British-European relations in that job?"
That legacy is hanging around his neck like a millstone. Every couple of years Theakston organizes a survey of other academics and gets them to score prime ministers, with 1 for, er, rubbish, and 10 for excellent.
"In the poll we did just after the Brexit referendum and Cameron's resignation, he was voted by about 100 other academics the third worst since 1945 and worse even than Gordon Brown," said Theakston. "And almost invariably when we dug beneath the headline figure and looked at what people were saying it was all down to the huge policy disaster of Brexit and its ramifications."
