Barking Up The Wrong Tree

The author is an op-ed contributor to Beijing Review and director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College London

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made it a key slogan during the campaign for Brexit in 2016 that the most important thing was for Britain as a sovereign nation to “take back control.” Part of that was about immigration, which was a key concern of voters during the campaign. Part of it was about how Britain felt too many decisions were made in Brussels by un-elected officials. But there was also a sense that on security, trade and investment, the UK was cramped and its strategic space restricted by being part of a multilateral union.