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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Three Brexiteers: May’s key players for leaving the EU

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LONDON: When Prime Minister Theresa May took over from former prime minister David Cameron after Britain voted to leave the European Union in June 2016, she wasted no time in picking three key players for her Conservative cabinet to pave the way for Britain’s future outside the EU.


As May plans to pull the trigger to start negotiations for the British-EU divorce, time is ticking — so who are the three trusted members of May’s Brexit SWAT team?


Liam Fox, 55, vied for the Conservative leadership role but was beaten by May, who appointed him head of the newly-created department for international trade. A staunch Eurosceptic and gung-ho Conservative, Fox is now tasked with drumming up interest from non-EU countries in trade deals.


David Davis, 68, was appointed Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union but is more commonly referred to as the Brexit Secretary. Relatively unknown before the Brexit period, he has held various political posts, including Foreign Office Minister from 1994 to 1997, where he was responsible for government negotiations on Europe and Nato enlargement.


He is now the face of Brexit on the home front: Supporting May in her negotiations with the EU and working on policy to support divorce talks, working with the devolved administrations in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales and working with Parliament on Brexit-related issues. After Britain’s highest court ruled that Parliament should have a say in triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to kick off talks with the EU on the terms of Britain’s departure, Davis became known for issuing warnings to lawmakers not to frustrate “the will of the people” .


Boris Johnson, 52, is one of the most gaffe-prone people in Britain’s political history is arguably best-known for his controversial comments, making him a divisive choice for the role of foreign secretary.


Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, or BoJo, as he is nicknamed, shocked the public by backing Brexit, campaigning against his long-time friend and former prime minister David Cameron in what many saw as a thinly-veiled bid to take the top job himself. — dpa


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