Fintan O’Toole’s important account of three turbulent Brexit years is of both historical significance and contemporary relevance. Hot off the presses just weeks after Brexit Day on January 31st, it will both inform and entertain.
It was written as the author, an Irish Times columnist, explains, not with the benefit of hindsight but rather as a series of real-time reflections during the evolving Brexit process, in an attempt to understand a historical moment as it was unfolding. It does not purport to be a daily log of events. Rather, at the creative intersection of journalism and history, it consists of a rich variety of insightful riffs to accompany and explain the unfolding tragedy, closely and helpfully linked to the timeline of real-world Brexit developments.
The fact that the reader knows the denouement from the outset, whereas the author at time of writing did not, has three consequences.
His description of Brexit as 'uniting the have-nots with the have-yachts', to his comment that Johnston 'is merely the winner of a Winston Churchill impersonation contest'
Firstly, it means that the narrative is necessarily read with an awareness of the looming catastrophe for the United Kingdom and its friends. Just as the prologue to Romeo and Juliet, by pre-announcing that “a pair of star-crossed lovers” will take their lives, infuses the play with a sense of impending doom, so the actors in O’Toole’s unfolding Brexit play, even as they go about the daily rough and tumble of British politics, cannot be separated or absolved from their roles in this modern British tragedy.
Secondly, since O’Toole is commenting contemporaneously on evolving events, the ultimate destination of which, for him at the time, could only be a matter of guesswork, he is open to our judgment on the accuracy of his predictions. On that score, he does exceptionally well. He identified early on, for example, the reality that Brexit is essentially about English nationalism; that it is less about Britain’s relationship with the EU than “its relationship with itself”. He recognised from the outset the central role of the Northern Ireland issue in the negotiations as well as London’s lack of awareness of that simple reality. He nailed, before it seemed obvious, the one-sided nature of the DUP’s crush on Britain and the sad inevitability of betrayal.
The third consequence of the book’s sequential illustration of events – even allowing for the dramatic irony that we know throughout what the last scene will look like – is that O’Toole’s account draws our attention to the many occasions when different decisions could have been made and the many missed opportunities.
Most obviously, he notes at several points the possibility of holding a second referendum, an option still supported by more than half the British electorate as evidenced by voting patterns in the recent general election.
Zealots
But he identifies also numerous other roads not taken. He recalls, for example, that after the 2017 election, prime minister Theresa May could have sought to bring together a divided country rather than telling her party’s zealots what they wanted to hear. He notes later that May’s biggest mistake was to indulge the most self-indulgent person in British politics by allowing “Boris to be Boris” and suggests she would have been better explaining “with cold fury” why Johnson’s jokes were not funny any more, an option that was still available to her.
Three Years in Hell should be read by anyone for whom the cascade of Brexit developments, or the order in which took place, have elided or become jumbled. It is a valuable chronicle of one of the most important issues of our time. More importantly, however, it should be read by anyone interested in the underlying reasons for Brexit, or the psychology of English nationalism, or why Ireland’s neighbour has chosen to go insular under the fatuous banner of going global. O’Toole’s insights into the evolving relationship between Britain and Ireland are of particular importance and indeed concern. That some of the most insightful chroniclers of Brexit are from this island, including O’Toole himself, is testament to the ongoing closeness of our cultures and to the difference of our perceptions.
O’Toole notes, for example, the fascinating contrast between the Brexiteers who “have done the easy work of unsettling a nation” whereas both parts of Ireland have been involved “in the much harder business of settling a nation long torn apart by deep divisions of allegiance and aspiration”.
If anyone needs an additional reason to read the book, it is also highly entertaining. The substance is enriched by the exceptional depth O’Toole’s cultural references which illuminate rather than distract. His wit brightens up every page, from his description of Brexit as “uniting the have-nots with the have-yachts”, to his comment that Johnston “is merely the winner of a Winston Churchill impersonation contest”, to his take on the rewilding into British politics of English eccentricity. The story is also illuminated by creative metaphors. May, for example, was trying to be Jeeves to some of her party’s absurd Bertie Woosters; and she was the never-quite-made-it Tim Henman of British politics rather than the solidly effective Geoffrey Boycott who she so admired.
Harsh comments
In a work of such breadth and immediacy, it would be impossible not to quibble with a few nuances. The side swipes at Oxford seem a bit harsh, given that a large majority of people associated with that university are as appalled as O’Toole is by the dilettantism of a few of its now politically prominent alumni. I would like to have seen the criticisms of Jeremy Corbyn’s weak leadership reinforced by recognition that his lack of principle on Brexit was also a betrayal of working-class voters. There are a couple of unduly harsh comments about the EU outside the Brexit context, but these are more than compensated for by the deep underlying narrative of the book that the UK is mad to pursue Brexit and that Ireland would be even crazier to follow suit. The generous support of our EU partners in defending the Good Friday Agreement is acknowledged throughout.
The title, Three Years in Hell, might be read as implying that the Brexit experience is, to some extent, done and dusted. That would be as false as the Tory campaign slogan about getting Brexit done and O’Toole notes that Brexit “may even be destined to meander on forever”.
Brexit will be on our collective plate not only this year as the EU and UK negotiate their future relationship, and as the EU ensures in parallel the full implementation of the already legally-binding Northern Ireland Protocol. It will remain with us for a very long time beyond that: as the EU seeks to cope with the departure of a valued member and at the same time provide increasingly necessary global leadership in defence of multilateralism and in pursuit of its values; as the UK deals with its ongoing psychodrama and tries to manage the deepening divisions between and within its constituent parts; and as this island struggles to cope with the heedless collateral damage inflicted ultimately by a relentless campaign of untruth about Europe dreamed up by charlatans. Quite an agenda. It is at least some comfort that O’Toole will still be around to help us navigate it.
Bobby McDonagh is a former Irish ambassador to London
