The ghosts of Brexit have come back to haunt politics over the past two weeks. Key players in that saga from British prime minister Keir Starmer and UK civil service mandarin Olly Robbins to top EU official Sabine Weyand have returned to the headlines, all acting in character as foreshadowed by their Brexit roles.

The lack of vision combined with ruthlessness which has characterised Starmer’s premiership was on early display during the Brexit process when he played an important role in torpedoing efforts to get a deal that would have kept the UK in the closest possible relationship with the EU.

While researching my book Ireland’s Call: How Brexit Got Done, I was surprised to discover that despite his alleged support for continuing close relations with the EU, Starmer played a decisive role in ensuring that the Labour Party voted down all Theresa May’s efforts to achieve a compromise deal.

The end result was that the anti-EU forces in the Conservative Party gained the upper hand, forced May’s resignation and set the UK on course for leaving the EU customs union and single market. It also resulted in Boris Johnson crushing the Labour Party in the 2019 general election.

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