The horizon was clear, the future looked bright.
Less than two years ago, the United Kingdom cast off the moorings that tied it to the continent and set sail.
Freed from the shackles of collective action, the conservatives in power proposed to deregulate, lower taxes and reduce the footprint of the welfare state, a reputedly infallible recipe for attracting capital from around the world.
Their "Global Britain" would rival the Asian "tigers", giving rise to a "Singapore-on-Thames" whose competition was already worrying the EU.
Following a chaotic negotiation with Brussels, likely to cool temptations to imitate London, the implementation of Brexit was to produce formidable counter-publicity for the European club.
But nothing went as planned.
If the Covid slowed the start, it was not for much in the chain of scandals which finally got the better of the whimsical Boris Johnson.
Disputes over fishing and protocol…
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