The Brexit buzz in the UK is back

Britain's new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delivers a speech outside Number 10 Downing Street. Reuters

King Charles III invites Mr Sunak to become prime minister and form a new government in an audience at Buckingham Palace. PA

Mr Sunak promised to bring stability amid what he called a “profound economic crisis”. PA

The new prime minister is applauded as he enters Number 10. Photo: Simon Walker/ No 10 Downing Street

Mr Sunak is greeted by Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service Simon Case as he enters 10 Downing Street. AFP

A worker loads a removal van with boxes outside 10 Downing Street. Reuters

Members of the public wait for the arrival of Mr Sunak near Downing Street. AP

Staff in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office watch from the windows as Mr Sunak arrives in Downing Street. PA

An Indian artist in Mumbai creates a painting to congratulate Mr Sunak on becoming prime minister. EPA

Mr Sunak arrives at Buckingham Palace. PA

Incoming prime minister Rishi Sunak arrives at the Conservative Party's headquarters with a wave. AFP

Rishi Sunak is greeted by colleagues upon his arrival. AFP

Conservative MPs applaud as Rishi Sunak arrives. Reuters

Rishi Sunak departs after making a statement inside the Conservative Party's headquarters. PA

Mr Sunak meets the 1922 Committee in Parliament after he was announced as the new leader of the Conservative Party when Penny Mordaunt dropped out. PA

Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, announces Mr Sunak as the new leader of the Conservatives and therefore the prime minister. PA

Members of the media work outside No 10 Downing Street, the official residence of Britain's prime minister, in central London, as they await announcements. AFP

Mr Sunak leaves his campaign office in London. AP

A billboard of Liz Truss, the departing prime minister, in London. Bloomberg

Members of the public look through the gates into Downing Street. Reuters

Mr Sunak leaves his home in London on Monday morning. AFP

Leader of the House of Commons and Conservative leadership candidate Penny Mordaunt speaks to the media on Sunday. Ms Mordaunt pulled out of the race moments before the deadline for nominations. PA

Something truly remarkable is happening in Britain. And no, I am not talking about the fact that we have had three prime ministers this year (so far). Nor am I thinking about the first person of Asian background to be prime minister of the UK, Rishi Sunak, though his rise is indeed is remarkable. Nor, even, am I thinking about the seven weeks of total madness that was the government of Liz Truss. This short-lived period of self-harm caused so much economic and political dislocation that Mr Sunak and his Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt are being forced to take another few weeks to figure out how to repair the damage caused by their own Conservative party.

These changes are indeed remarkable, yet more astonishing than all of them – and underpinning every one of them – is the fact that the B-word is back in the British political vocabulary. The B-word is Brexit. It has largely been removed from British political discussions for some time. Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed Brexit was "done," and so we shouldn’t talk about it any more. The Labour leader Keir Starmer decided that re-fighting Brexit was at best a waste of time and at worst would alienate Brexit supporting Labour voters. He therefore says very little about Brexit at all.

Television news reports often discussed all kinds of problems – long queues of trucks at British ports, trade dislocation, lines of British travellers at airports, lower growth than other European countries, the weakness of the pound and price rises for imported goods – with only occasional mentions of the B-word. But now, slowly, it has begun to sink in to the British political consciousness that not only is Brexit not "done", it is also a failure at every level – an economic, political and constitutional failure, with different parts of the UK (Scotland and Northern Ireland, most obviously) resenting Brexit for the damage that has been caused, and with more to come.

In the case of Northern Ireland, the result of Brexit has already been serious. It will get worse. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which used to be Northern Ireland’s biggest party, enthusiastically supported Brexit without ever explaining what the reality of their supposedly ideal Brexit would look like. They were against every Brexit idea put to parliament, yet still remain in favour of the idea of leaving the European Union.

The result of their confusion is the Northern Ireland Protocol – which they loathe, yet their political manoeuvring helped create. The Protocol in effect treats Northern Ireland as if it were still in the EU in terms of trade. But that means a border in the Irish sea between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. The DUP have now brought down the devolved Stormont government in Northern Ireland. The result is talk of new elections, but new elections will solve nothing, except perhaps alienate voters even more. The DUP has already lost its position as the biggest party in Northern Ireland to the Irish Republican party, Sinn Fein. Historians will note that Northern Ireland was created in 1922 specifically to avoid an Irish Republican party ever holding power in Belfast.

The sad fact is that Northern Ireland has not ever appeared high on the priority list of some of our many recent post-Brexit prime ministers. Mr Johnson agreed the Northern Ireland Protocol. Ms Truss had so little time in office she did nothing of substance about the problem. And now Mr Sunak has so many other things to think about, specifically the economy, that he appears to be too busy even to attend Cop27.

But if Northern Ireland is barely on his radar, Mr Sunak is also unlikely to admit that Brexit has been a disaster, even if others are beginning to do precisely that. The Brexit silence is over. The Financial Times has released an excellent half hour video on the impact of successive government failures. As they put it: "The UK's recent disastrous "mini" Budget can trace its origins back to Britain's decision to leave the European Union. The economic costs of Brexit were masked by the Covid-19 pandemic and the crisis in Ukraine. But six years after the UK voted to leave, the effect has become clear." The FT film had three million views in a week.

A short factual BBC film on the same subject had more than a million views after a day or two. The political omerta, the silence about the core issue which has undermined four prime ministers since 2016, divided the Conservative party and led to a lack of leadership in the Labour opposition, is slowly being broken. Of course, merely talking about a problem does not solve that problem. But at least honestly recognising that Brexit is indeed a problem, and one so significant that it has now undermined a series of British governments, opens the way to minimising future damage. There is an opportunity here for Mr Starmer. In order to seize it, he has to break his own relative silence and start saying the B-word.