Get Brexit Done was a political slogan frequently used by the British Conservative Party and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the run up to the 2019 general election. The slogan reflected the party's pledge to, if re-elected, facilitate the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union by the end of January the following year.
After the 2016 EU membership referendum produced a result in favour of leaving the European Union, a period of debate within the United Kingdom and negotiations with the EU about the future began. In 2019, the UK fell into further political uncertainty when both prime minister Theresa May and her successor Boris Johnson failed to reach a consensus in the House of Commons for a withdrawal agreement on their terms or a withdrawal with no agreement at all.
By the time of the election campaign in late 2019, this meant that Brexit had dominated British politics for more than three years, remaining a divisive issue and creating a great deal of frustration amongst the general public. [1] [2] [3] The idea for the slogan came from a focus group conducted by the Conservatives in a hotel in Northern England shortly before the election was called. During discussions about the Brexit process members of the group talked of wishing to "get it done". [4]
The slogan was widely used on the Conservative Party's campaigning material and by its canvassers. [5] It was also frequently used by senior Conservative politicians. [6] [7] In November 2019, the Conservatives launched their manifesto under the slogan "Get Brexit Done, Unleash Britain's Potential". [8]
The Conservatives faced criticism for the slogan from a variety of directions. Ex-British diplomat Sir Ivan Rogers accused the party of either misunderstanding the situation or deliberately attempting to "mislead the British public". [9] The Guardian 's Brussels correspondent described leaving the EU as "only the start of a new phase in the Brexit odyssey." [10]
Research conducted by The Guardian a week before the election found that the slogan resonated with voters in marginal constituencies [11] whilst another poll by Opinium from a day or two before the election found the plurality of responders wanted the EU withdrawal agreement to be ratified. [12] The Conservatives went on to win the election with a comfortable majority of seats. [13]
The “Get Brexit Done” slogan “obviously played a part” in Johnson’s victory, says Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary, University of London, “partly because it appealed to leavers but also because it appealed to some remainers who are sick to the back teeth of Brexit and want to get it over with.” [14]
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British politician and writer. He was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously was Foreign Secretary from 2016 to 2018 and Mayor of London from 2008 to 2016. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Henley from 2001 to 2008 and Uxbridge and South Ruislip from 2015 to 2023.
Get Britain Out is a United Kingdom-based independent cross-party grassroots Eurosceptic group which campaigned for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. The campaign is still in operation and is pushing for the UK to break away from continued alignment with the European Union.
Brexit was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Following a referendum on 23 June 2016, Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020. The UK is the only sovereign country to have left the EU. The UK had been a member state of the EU or its predecessor, the European Communities (EC), since 1 January 1973. Following Brexit, EU law and the Court of Justice of the European Union no longer have primacy over British laws. The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 retains relevant EU law as domestic law, which the UK can amend or repeal.
Dame Amanda Anne Milling is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Cannock Chase since the 2015 general election. She served as Minister without Portfolio in the UK cabinet and, alongside Ben Elliot, as Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party from February 2020 to September 2021. She also served as Minister of State for Asia and the Middle East from September 2021 to September 2022. She previously worked in market research.
The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 12 December 2019 to elect members of the House of Commons. The Conservative Party won a landslide victory with a majority of 80 seats, a net gain of 48, on 43.6% of the popular vote, the highest percentage for any party since the 1979 general election.
The 2019 European Parliament election was the United Kingdom's component of the 2019 European Parliament election, held on Thursday 23 May 2019 and the results were announced on Sunday 26 and Monday 27 May 2019, after all the other EU countries had voted. This was the United Kingdom's final participation in a European Parliament election before leaving the European Union on 31 January 2020, and was also the last election to be held under the provisions of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002 before its repeal under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.
A by-election for the House of Commons constituency of Sleaford and North Hykeham in Lincolnshire, England, was held on 8 December 2016. It was triggered by the resignation of the Conservative member of parliament (MP) Stephen Phillips, who left Parliament on 4 November 2016 due to policy differences with the Conservative government led by the prime minister, Theresa May, over Brexit – the British withdrawal from the European Union (EU). The Conservatives nominated Caroline Johnson, a paediatrician, to replace Phillips; she won the by-election with more than 50 per cent of the vote, a sizable majority. The Conservatives' vote share fell slightly compared to the result at the previous general election in 2015.
The 2019 Conservative Party leadership election was triggered when Theresa May announced on 24 May 2019 that she would resign as leader of the Conservative Party on 7 June and as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom once a successor had been elected. Nominations opened on 10 June; 10 candidates were nominated. The first ballot of members of Parliament (MPs) took place on 13 June, with exhaustive ballots of MPs also taking place on 18, 19 and 20 June, reducing the candidates to two. The general membership of the party elected the leader by postal ballot; the result was announced on 23 July, with Boris Johnson being elected with almost twice as many votes as his opponent Jeremy Hunt.
People's Vote was a United Kingdom campaign group that unsuccessfully campaigned for a second referendum following the UK's Brexit vote to leave the European Union (EU) in 2016. The group was launched in April 2018 at which four Members of Parliament spoke, along with the actor Patrick Stewart and other public figures.
Steven Bray is a British activist from Port Talbot in South Wales who, in 2018 and 2019, made daily protests against Brexit in College Green, Westminster. He is variously known as Stop Brexit Man, Mr Stop Brexit or the Stop Brexit guy.
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The Conservative Party 2019 General Election Campaign was led by Boris Johnson as the Leader of the Conservative Party in the 2019 United Kingdom general election. Johnson led the campaign to victory, with the Conservatives obtaining 365 seats; a majority of 80 seats.
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