Summary
Three years after the United Kingdom's Brexit referendum, the U.K. is no closer to figuring out how to leave the European Union, and what comes next, than it was when the result was announced.
In 2016, Johnson and his fellow Brexiteers duped a narrow majority of U.K. voters into thinking that leaving the EU would somehow furnish the British National Health Service with an additional 350 million pounds ($445 million) per week.
To Johnson's followers, however, he is more prophet than politician: Only he can deliver a mythical "true Brexit" that will deliver the prosperity promised during the referendum campaign.
As an EU member state, the U.K. automatically benefits from the 40 trade agreements the bloc has in place with more than 70 countries. If the U.K. opts for a "hard" Brexit and leaves without a deal, as Johnson has indicated he is willing to do, it would immediately lose preferential access to markets that account for around 11 percent of its total trade.
That will cement the EU's position as the global leader of open trade.
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