Cameron’s ruined legacy forces him to quit Downing Street.

Cameron's ruined legacy forces him to quit Downing Street.

Brexit: David Cameron’s Resignation Speech and the Fallout

“The British people have voted to leave the European Union, and their will must be respected.” With these words, David Cameron acknowledged an outcome that he doubted would materialize: the country had voted for Brexit. His lip quivering and his wife at his side, he proceeded to announce that he would be stepping down.

The move, once hard to imagine, had become nigh-on inevitable as, around 5 am, the prime minister’s defeat in the referendum was confirmed. Cameron, who had spent months touring the country warning voters about the disastrous consequences of Brexit, would not have wanted to continue as the leader responsible for making those consequences a reality. Furthermore, his mostly anti-EU members would not have tolerated him. He had to go.

Cameron’s resignation speech was an emotional attempt to remind the world of the best of his six-year premiership: his one-nation reforms, the importance of stability in the coming months, and a patriotic peroration about “this great country.” It was a touching bid to leave office with some scraps of dignity and honor, but it was ineffectual. With stock markets around Europe crashing and the weight of Britain’s decision to leave the EU looming, his achievements seemed, however unfairly, puny.

Most unedifying was Cameron’s attempt to imbue the referendum result with some nobility. He called it a great democratic exercise and emphasized the importance of answering such a pressing question. But this was a fantasy. In 2013, Cameron made the reckless decision to pledge a referendum to placate his cranky backbenchers, without considering the risks and realities of such a promise. His understanding of the renegotiation of Britain’s EU membership, on which he based his strategy, was cursory at best.

The prime minister’s gamble was underwritten by the assurance that he could handle it, that his powers of persuasion and credibility would save the day. Yet, in the months and years that followed his 2013 speech, he wasted opportunity after opportunity to build a durable case to stay in the EU. Under-advised and overconfident, he turned the renegotiation from an asset to a stick with which Brexiteers could beat him. His referendum campaign, though occasionally displaying skill and conviction, was too little, too late. The whole exercise was a spectacularly foolhardy act of overreach. The unanticipated outcome will be a Britain poorer, more isolated, less influential, and more divided.

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A time will come for reflection on the good in Mr. Cameron’s leadership of the Conservative Party and his premiership, on his fundamentally correct vision for a one-nation Tory party in possession of the center ground. However, this giant, nation-changing misstep will surely dwarf all that, and it is guaranteed to scar the country for decades and diminish his place in the history books. He leaves office in ignominy.

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