Peter Foster, "What Went Wrong with Brexit? And What We Can Do about It" (Canongate, 2023)

Sep 7, 2023

Peter Foster, a Brexit expert and author, discusses the aftermath of Brexit and the economic scars it has left. He provides politically realistic solutions and insights from his book. Topics discussed include the journey of a Brexit reporter, Brexit's impact on small businesses, the political consequences, challenges of Brexit, and book recommendations.

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ANECDOTE

Foster's Brexit Reporting Journey

Peter Foster returned to the UK from overseas reporting and was surprised by the UK's readiness for populist politics.
He spent years calling businesses and individuals to understand Brexit's real-world impact on trade and life.

INSIGHT

Small Businesses Feel Brexit Pain

Many UK citizens do not understand how the single market functions and the friction Brexit introduced.
Small businesses especially suffer from new trading difficulties caused by leaving the single market.

INSIGHT

Media Nuances on Brexit Coverage

The Telegraph had diverse views on Brexit; not all staff were Brexiteers despite a right-leaning editorial line.
Even within a polarized media, inconvenient Brexit truths were published when editors saw value.

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It’s been over three years since the UK withdrew from the EU and no one – not even the most ardent Brexiter – thinks it has gone well so far. Defending the cause after yet another summertime setback, the best Matthew Lesh from the Institute of Economic Affairs could offer was: “Brexit simply means that British representatives can make … choices, not that they must point in any particular direction”.

Ever since the British voted to leave the EU in 2016, millions of words have been written for and against the process but Peter Foster’s What Went Wrong With Brexit: And What We Can Do About (Canongate Books, 2023) is the first book to assess the deep economic scars left by Brexit and provide politically realistic palliatives. He writes: "There is little mileage in relitigating the history of Brexit - as the saying goes, 'we are where we are' - but that does not mean accepting that the UK has to remain in its current state of Brexit purgatory".

Since 2020, Peter Foster has been the Financial Times's public policy editor and writer of its Britain After Brexit newsletter. Before that, he was a longtime reporter for The Telegraph - working in New Delhi, Beijing, Washington and as Europe Editor between 2015 and 2020. During this critical five-year period, he became – along with RTÉ’s Tony Connelly – the indispensable Brexit reporter, breaking stories, explaining this intricate and unprecedented divorce, and building huge Twitter followings.

*The author's own book recommendations are The Light that Failed: A Reckoning by Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes (Allen Lane, 2019) and The Road by Cormac McCarthy (Picador, 2006).

Tim Gwynn Jones is an economic and political-risk analyst at Medley Advisors, who also writes the twenty4two newsletter on Substack and hosts the In The Room podcast series.

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