Britain, Brexit and the EU: was this a love affair gone wrong or always an unhappy marriage of convenience?

There are umpteen explanations for the Brexit vote. Was it the banking crisis? Or was it Henry VIII? Or the shifting tectonic plates that cut us off from the continent in the first place? The story of Britain and the EU has been complicated, controversial and ultimately sad. Hear the story and bring your own tissues.

Sir Stephen Wall (@stephenwall34) was for 35 years a member of the British Diplomatic Service. He worked closely with five British Foreign Secretaries and was Foreign Policy Adviser to Prime Minister John Major. His European experience includes five years as Head of the Foreign Office European Department; two years as Britain’s Ambassador to Portugal; five years as UK Permanent Representative to the EU and four years as EU adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair and Head of the European Secretariat in the Cabinet Office. His book on Britain’s EU policy, A Stranger in Europe, was published in 2008. He has written The Official History of Britain and the European Community, 1963-1975, published in July 2012.

Piers Ludlow is Associate Professor at the LSE International History Department.

Jennifer Jackson Preece holds a DPhil in International Relations from Oxford University, and an MA and BA (Hons) in Political Science from the University of British Columbia, Canada. She is the author of two books – National Minorities and the European Nation-States System and Minority Rights: Between Diversity and Community and various articles and edited book chapters. In addition to her academic research, Dr Jackson-Preece acts as a consultant for various international and non-governmental organisations in the area of human and minority rights protection and ethnic conflict regulation.

The LSE European Institute (@LSEEI) is a centre for research and graduate teaching on the processes of integration and fragmentation within Europe. In the most recent national Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) the Institute was ranked first for research in its sector.

Keep up to date with what Brexit means for the UK and the wider world at LSE Brexit blog (@lsebrexitvote). 

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEBrexit