Chapter 1015 Finale ③: Female Prime Minister (Part 1)
On June 23, 2016, Britain began its referendum on leaving the European Union.
On February 20 this year, Cameron announced that the referendum date would be today.
On this day, people across the UK will vote "yes or no" on the question "Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the EU?"
It can be said that the vote on this day will determine the fate of Britain for a long time to come.
On June 24, after a busy counting process, Chief Counting Officer Jenny Watson officially announced the national vote counting results of the referendum at Manchester City Hall.
According to statistics, this Brexit referendum received a total of 33,578,016 votes, accounting for 72.2% of the British people who are eligible to vote. The turnout rate exceeded 70%, which shows that this Brexit referendum attracted the participation of most citizens.
In the end, 17,275,889 votes were cast in favor of leaving the EU, accounting for 51.45% of the total votes cast; 16,302,127 votes were cast in support of remaining in the EU, accounting for 48.55% of the total votes cast...
So in this Brexit referendum, the people who supported Brexit won by a slim margin!
After the results of the Brexit referendum were announced, Cameron gave a speech in front of the Prime Minister's Office at No. 10 Downing Street and announced that he would resign as prime minister.
He said that although he supports remaining in the European Union, the British people have chosen another path, so they need a new prime minister.
Although he appeared calm and calm in his resignation statement, Cameron was actually deeply shocked. Many years later, he admitted in his memoirs that the referendum result had a huge impact on him, and he fell into "extreme depression and depression." ” and knowing very well, “Some people will never forgive me.”
A staff member close to Cameron later revealed to the media that the Duke of Devonshire, who had a close personal relationship with Cameron at the time, had warned him very early on that Brexit would cause damage to the British economy. Heavy damage.
Cameron himself is a representative of the Remainers. He initiated the Brexit referendum to quell the controversy within the party about the EU, and believed that the British people would choose to stay in the EU.
However, the referendum result surprised him, with 51.45% of voters choosing to leave the EU - a result that made his political position awkward and difficult for him to continue to lead the country.
Similarly, the result of the Brexit referendum brought huge political and economic uncertainty, and Cameron also found it difficult to cope with the subsequent Brexit negotiations and national integration tasks - there were reports that he was unwilling to deal with the complexities involved in Brexit. problem, so I chose to resign.
Of course, the most important reason is that Cameron feels personally responsible for the result of the referendum, because he is the leader of the Remain camp. After the failure of the referendum, he believed that he was not qualified to continue to lead the country, so he chose to resign. Show responsibility.
In addition, the result of this Brexit referendum also caused heavy losses to the British stock market.
Time goes back to the morning of June 24, when Barron’s motorcade arrived at DS Financial Center, Daisy beside him looked at Barron before getting off the car:
"Will today's results be as you expected?"
"Although I don't wish this was the case, it's a pity..."
After kissing Barron on the face, Daisy said:
"Then I'm going to prepare to fight. I've been preparing for so long."
Watching the woman get out of the car and walk towards the building in high spirits, Barron smiled and wiped off the lipstick mark on his face...
Just after the results of the Brexit referendum were announced, the FTSE 100 Index futures plummeted by more than 15%, and the FTSE 350 Index also plummeted by more than 13.5%!
And in the next few days, it continued to fall, and the British stock market ushered in a bloody storm.
In addition to the British stock market, because the result of the Brexit referendum will directly affect the relationship between Britain and the European Union, the result has also triggered violent fluctuations in global stock markets.
German DAX index futures fell 9% in response.
At the same time, rising risk aversion caused global investors to flock to safe assets. The Japanese yen soared, and the Japanese Nikkei index plummeted 7%, triggering the circuit breaker mechanism.
Stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region were not spared. The China HK Hang Seng Index fell by 5.7%, the South Korea Composite Index fell by more than 4%, and the Bay Area Weighted Index and the Straits Times Index both fell by more than 2%.
The China A-share market was also affected by the external market. The Shanghai Composite Index took a sharp turn in the afternoon, falling 2.9% to 2807.6, the largest drop since May 30, 2016. The CSI 300 Index fell by 2.5%, and the ChiNext Index fell by 3.4%.
In addition, the result of the British Brexit referendum also had a major impact on the exchange rate market.
After the results of the Brexit referendum were announced, the pound fell sharply against the US dollar, hitting its lowest level in decades, and the euro was also affected.
Severe fluctuations in exchange rates have a significant impact on international trade and cross-border investment - investors need to face exchange rate risks and adjust strategies and expectations for related businesses.
Citibank has warned that if Britain leaves the European Union, it may cause the pound and the euro to fall and the dollar to strengthen.
In this regard, Federal Reserve Chairman Yellen has said that the British vote to leave the European Union may have a significant economic impact, and the financial market may experience a period of volatility, which will have a negative impact on financial conditions and the U.S. economic outlook.
In addition, Brexit may also cause more EU countries to consider the possibility of leaving the EU, which means that the EU may face a state of disintegration, which will have a continued negative impact on the market.
……
After Cameron announced his resignation, the first task of the Conservative Party is to elect a new party leader to succeed Cameron and assume the responsibility of prime minister.
From this time on, competition within the Conservative Party began for the party leader.
The Conservative leadership race is divided into two phases. The first phase of the campaign will start on July 5 and will select among the current five candidates who intend to run.
Candidates include former Foreign Secretary Joe Harriman, former Home Secretary Theresa May, former Energy Secretary Andrea Lidson, former Defense Secretary Liam Fox and others.
This stage of selection will involve three rounds of voting among Conservative MPs. The candidate with the fewest votes in each round will be disqualified from continuing to run.
But what’s interesting is that this time around, the three most vocal candidates in the Conservative Party leadership race are Joe Harriman, Theresa May and Andrea Lidson – all of whom are women.
(Pictured above: Joe Harriman, Theresa May, Andrea Lidson)
This also means that there is a high probability that Britain will have its second female prime minister after Margaret Thatcher.
Sure enough, in the subsequent two rounds of selection on July 5 and 6, two candidates withdrew from the competition.
The remaining three candidates are Joe Harriman, Theresa May and Andrea Lidson.
This means that no matter who among the three wins the final victory, it is a foregone conclusion that there will be a second British female prime minister after Margaret Thatcher.
Interestingly, among the three female candidates currently in the selection process, in order of pro-European to eurosceptic tendencies, they are Joe Harriman, Theresa May and Andrea Lidson.
Both Joe Harriman and Theresa May initially supported the failed Remain movement promoted by current Prime Minister Cameron, but Joe Harriman's attitude was more determined - although due to the growing public suspicion later Joe Harriman has started to keep a low profile on relevant statements, but he has also been emphasizing the serious consequences of Brexit.
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Before the Brexit referendum, Theresa May's attitude changed subtly. She no longer talked about the negative impact of Brexit, but began to talk more about Britain's options for leaving the EU. "It is not unacceptable, and it will be There are certain benefits”…
As for Andrea Lidson, she has always been an active Eurosceptic and supports Britain's withdrawal from the European Union.
In the third round of selection on July 7, it was determined that Joe Harriman and Theresa May entered the final competition, while Andrea Lidson was eliminated.
Joe Harriman finally defeated Theresa May in a vote held by 150,000 Conservative Party members on July 11 and was confirmed as the leader of the Conservative Party.
Next, Cameron issued a statement outside No. 10 Downing Street later on the 11th, announcing that he would resign as prime minister on the 13th.
After making the statement, Cameron walked directly to the gate of No. 10 Downing Street without taking off the small microphone on his collar.
At this time, a voice came from the microphone. Cameron was humming a ditty in a low voice. The tune sounded very cheerful.
After the door closed, Cameron's voice came from the microphone: "Okay."
Then, he took off the microphone.
Some media believed that judging from the cheerful tunes Cameron sang, he was very happy to leave No. 10 Downing Street to escape the chaos caused by "Brexit".
On July 13, Cameron attended the Prime Minister's Question and Answer session for the last time in Parliament at noon that day, and went to Buckingham Palace in the afternoon to submit his resignation to the Queen.
After the Queen agreed to his resignation, Joe Harriman drove to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen.
At this time, Joe Harriman had cut his hair into short hair, making him look neater and more capable.
When she entered the drawing room, the Queen looked at Joe Harriman and lost her composure for a moment.
After all, from her perspective at the time, it seemed that the person who had just stepped here was her former daughter-in-law, Diana.
It's just that the queen was distracted for a moment. She soon realized that it was just her illusion, so her face showed that familiar kind smile...
At this point, Joe Harriman has officially become the new Prime Minister of England with the Queen's Royal Assent.
She is the second female Prime Minister in British history after Margaret Thatcher.
At the same time, at just 36 years old, she broke Cameron's record (43 years old) and became the youngest British Prime Minister in more than 200 years.
It is worth mentioning that in the entire British history, the only person who was younger than Joe Harriman when he became Prime Minister was William Pitt Jr. He was appointed Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24.
Interestingly, the ancestor of the Devonshire family, William Cavendish, was also elected Prime Minister of England in 1756 at the age of 36.
However, because it was not long before Joe Harriman's 36th birthday, she became the second youngest Prime Minister in British history by a narrow margin.
Subsequently, Joe Harriman and her partner, supermodel Rosie Huntington, came to the Prime Minister's Office at No. 10 Downing Street and delivered a speech at the door of the Prime Minister's Office.
In his speech, Joe Harriman promised to be committed to solving various injustices in British society, developing the British economy, and providing more jobs and security for the people.
Regarding the Brexit referendum, Joe Harriman said:
"After the Brexit referendum, we have learned the choice of the British people. I will respect everyone's wishes and lead the government to deal with the challenges brought about by this matter... But what needs to be understood is that 'Brexit' is a complicated matter. We need to use Article 50 of the Lisbon Agreement with caution, before we find the best solution..."
(End of chapter)