Brexit and war rhetoric : an electoral strategy ?

Résumé 0

The English language is replete with bellicose expressions and references to different battles and wars involving British armed forces, in particular World War Two. Many such terms have entered the everyday lexicon of most Eurosceptics and Brexiteers alike. They had already become common currency in anti-European rhetoric since the 1990s, but have reached a greater level of intensity in the last four years since the Brexit referendum, when these groups or individuals discuss or denounce the EU or Brussels. Such emotionally charged words as ‘traitor’, ‘treason’, ‘collusion’, ‘collaboration’, ‘Nazi’ or ‘Gestapo’ alongside terms like ‘the Dunkirk spirit’, hark back to the 1940s, a period of great national pride among many Britons as the country stood fast, resisted and defeated the Nazi threat. Many Brexiteers perceive Brussels as the new Berlin and the European Commission the new Reichstag. These were both fought against in June 2016 and are still demonised in the same way as negotiations over UK/EU relations continue. Using verbatim records of debate from Hansard, references from various books and newspaper articles, this chapter will attempt to study the various military forms of language used in the debate over Britain’s place in the European Union and its withdrawal from it. It will culminate with one very heated exchange that took place on the floor of the House of Commons in late September 2019, when the repeated bellicose language of the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and several of his colleagues, were challenged by various members of the opposition parties, and even pro-remain Conservative MPs, in the House. Finally I shall consider whether this choice of words was not part of a greater electoral strategy on the part of Boris Johnson.