United Kingdom

When voters had their say on June 8, 2017, they handed the Conservatives a major setback. Rather than securing a mandate, May watched her party’s legislative majority disappear as it lost at least 12 seats in the House of Commons to fall to 318 seats while Labour gained at least 29 seats to surpass 260 seats in total. Both parties garnered more than 40 percent of the popular vote each in an election that witnessed a return to dominance by the two major parties. Led by Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrats, who had fared badly in the 2015 election, sought to reverse their fortunes by advocating another referendum on Brexit, and, while this proposal did not resonate for many voters, the party still gained four seats to reach a total of 12. Support for UKIP largely evaporated. Having nearly realized the goal of Brexit, many of those who had supported UKIP in previous elections were expected to vote for the Conservatives, but, in the event, it appeared that they instead were swayed by Corbyn’s vision. The Conservatives did, however, make big gains in Scotland, where the Scottish National Party fell from 56 seats to 35, in what was widely interpreted as a rebuke to Sturgeon and the SNP’s call for another referendum on Scottish independence.

Arguably the election’s biggest winner was Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). Having increased its representation in the House of Commons from 8 to 10 seats, it found itself in the role of kingmaker when May enlisted its support to cling to power by forming a minority government (rather than seeking a formal coalition arrangement). With the support of the DUP on key votes, the Conservatives would be able to just barely surpass the 326-vote bar for a legislative majority.

The central task for May’s government remained arriving at a cohesive approach for its Brexit negotiations with the EU. That task was a daunting one, however, because wide disagreement persisted even within the Conservative Party, not just on a myriad of details related to the British proposal for separation but also on the broader issues involved.

The Grenfell Tower fire, a novichok attack in Salisbury, and air strikes on Syria

In June 2017 Brexit was pushed off the front pages by one of the worst disasters in recent British history: a fire in a multistory public housing residence (Grenfell Tower) in London claimed the lives of 72 individuals, many of whom were recent immigrants. The incident prompted a period of national soul-searching after it was revealed that months before the fire the building’s low-income residents had raised concerns about fire safety and complained that they were being treated like second-class citizens.

In March 2018 British national outrage was focused on Russia when a former Russian intelligence officer, who had acted as double agent for Britain, and his daughter were found unconscious in Salisbury, England. It was determined that the pair had been victims of a “novichok,” a complex nerve agent that had been developed by the Soviets. Although the Russian government denied having any involvement with the attack and British investigators were unable to prove that the nerve agent originated in Russia, the May government responded by expelling some two dozen Russian intelligence operatives who had been working in Britain under diplomatic cover.

In April Britain joined France and the United States in launching air strikes against targets in Syria after it was revealed that the regime of Syrian Pres. Bashar al-Assad had again used chemical weapons on its own people. Corbyn was critical of May for having ordered the strike without first consulting Parliament, but she countered that the action had to be undertaken without seeking parliamentary approval in order to protect the operation’s integrity. May also said that the strike was intended to prevent further suffering, and she characterized the decision as both right and legal.

The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Chequers plan, and Boris Johnson’s resignation

In May 2018 Britain and much of the world stopped for a day to witness the royal wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle—a divorced American actress, daughter of an African American mother and a white father—whose informal approachability and personal warmth recalled the much beloved “People’s Princess” Diana. The newlywed couple’s union reflected the changing social landscape of an increasingly multicultural Britain. Moreover, they seemed determined to modernize the monarchy and to connect it with the lives of everyday Britons.