The genesis of Brexit in their own words: How David and David slayed Goliath

The re-election of David Cameron as British Prime Minister in 2015 was foreshadowed by a manifesto pledge to hold an in-out referendum on the UK’s long-contested membership of the European Union. To the horror of... [ view full abstract ]

The re-election of David Cameron as British Prime Minister in 2015 was foreshadowed by a manifesto pledge to hold an in-out referendum on the UK’s long-contested membership of the European Union. To the horror of practically the entire Western political establishment, on 23 June 2016 the British public voted narrowly to leave the EU.  Ultimately, the Leavers proved more persuasive.  Or did they?

Although personality politics and populist campaign strategies largely obscured serious policy discourses, those of former Prime Minister David Cameron and now Brexit Secretary David Davis are of particular interest.  They represent not only the stark ideological divide within the Conservative party but also two intractable narratives within British society: the UK as a strong partner within an inclusive and egalitarian European collective; and the neo-imperialist reconstruction of Britain as an exclusive and superior nation state.

The limitations of text-centred analysis can produce varied readings and interpretations as factors such as audience composition and reception and the role of social and mainstream media reporting are not considered.  However, this paper will argue specifically that Cameron and Davis, while aspiring to completely opposite aims, both produced convincing arguments for leaving the European Union.  Exploring the themes of (European) citizenship, national identity, pride and collective self-esteem, a critical discourse analysis (Charteris-Black 2014) and socio-cognitive (Van Dijk 2018) approach will highlight linguistic features of key speeches delivered in both popular and business contexts by Cameron and Davis in the run-up to the referendum.  It will show how constructing emotionalism (Albertson and Gadarian 2015) about nationhood, belonging, sovereignty and independence either overtly extolled or covertly dismantled the vision of the United Kingdom as a powerful nation state.

References

Van Dijk, Teun A. (2018) ‘Socio-cognitive discourse studies’, in John Flowerdew and John E. Richardson (eds) The Routledge Handbook of Critical Discourse Studies, Abingdon, Oxon, Routledge, 26-43 

Albertson, Bethany, and Gadarian, Shana Kushner (2015) Anxious Politics: Democratic Citizenship in a Threatening World, New York, Cambridge University Press

Charteris-Black, Jonathan (2014) Analysing Political Speeches: Rhetoric, Discourse and Metaphor, New York, Palgrave Macmillan

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