Timeline

      2016

      23 Jun – Britain votes to leave the European Union by a margin of 52 per cent to 48 per cent

      29 Jun – Other 27 member states agree a ‘no negotiations without notification’ stance on Brexit talks and Article 50

      13 Jul – Theresa May becomes prime minister and pledges to create ‘a country that works for everyone’

      7 Sep – May insists she will not give a ‘running commentary’ on Brexit negotiations

      24 Sep – Jeremy Corbyn re-elected as Labour Party leader

      30 Sep – Carlos Ghosn, Nissan’s CEO, says he could scrap potential new investment in its Sunderland plant

      2 Oct – In Brexit speech to party conference, May says she will trigger Article 50 before the end of March and create a Great Repeal Bill to replace the 1972 European Communities Act

      5 Oct – In main speech to party conference, May criticises ‘citizens of nowhere’

      6 Oct – Keir Starmer appointed shadow Brexit secretary

      27 Oct – Nissan says it will build its Qashqai and X-Trail models at its Sunderland plant, protecting 7,000 jobs

      2 Nov – At Spectator awards dinner May compares Boris Johnson to a dog that was put down

      3 Nov – High Court rules that only Parliament not the government has the power to trigger Article 50

      4 Nov – Daily Mail calls the judges ‘enemies of the people’

      8 Nov – Donald Trump elected the 45th president of the United States

      14 Nov – FT reveals the EU wants a €60 billion exit bill from Britain

      15 Nov – Boris Johnson tells a Czech paper the UK will ‘probably’ leave the customs union and is reprimanded by May

      19 Nov – Johnson accused of turning up to a cabinet Brexit meeting with the wrong papers

      20 Nov – Sixty pro-Brexit Tory MPs demand Britain leaves the single market

      21 Nov – Trump calls for Nigel Farage to be made British ambassador to Washington

      7 Dec – MPs back government amendment to opposition day debate saying the government must set out its Brexit plans but also that Article 50 should be triggered by the end of March

      8 Dec – Johnson calls Saudi Arabia a ‘puppeteer’ in the Middle East, sparking a rebuke from Downing Street and fears he will resign

      11 Dec – Fiona Hill’s ‘Trousergate’ texts to Nicky Morgan, banning her from Downing Street, are published

      15 Dec – BBC reveals that Sir Ivan Rogers has privately warned ministers a post-Brexit trade deal might take ten years

      2017

      4 Jan – Ivan Rogers resigns

      10 Jan – Corbyn announces a wage cap in his ‘Trump relaunch’

      17 Jan – In speech at Lancaster House May announces Britain will seek a hard Brexit leaving the single market, the customs union and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. She says ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’

      24 Jan – Supreme Court votes 8–3 to uphold the High Court ruling

      25 Jan – Downing Street says Brexit plans will be set out in a white paper

      27 Jan – May meets and holds hands with Trump at the White House

      1 Feb – Article 50 bill passes second reading by 498 votes to 114

      2 Feb – White paper published echoing the Lancaster House speech

      7 Feb – Government defeats amendment 110 which would have given Parliament the right to a vote on Brexit following a deal with Team 2019 Tory rebels

      9 Feb – Article 50 bill passes Commons by 494 votes to 122

      16 Feb – May’s aides hold strategy meeting at Chequers for the 2020 election

      17 Feb – Tony Blair makes a speech urging Britons to ‘rise up’ against Brexit

      7 Mar – House of Lords amends Article 50 bill to guarantee a ‘meaningful vote’ on Brexit deal. Lord Heseltine sacked

      8 Mar – In his spring budget, Philip Hammond raises National Insurance contributions for the self-employed

      13 Mar – Nicola Sturgeon confirms she will ask for permission to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence, playing into Ruth Davidson’s hands

      14 Mar – Article 50 bill finally gets royal assent

      15 Mar – May forces Hammond into humiliating U-turn on National Insurance

      17 Mar – George Osborne named editor of the Evening Standard, overshadowing May’s Plan for Britain

      29 Mar – May signs letter triggering Article 50

      18 Apr – May announces that she is calling a general election

      26 Apr – May dines with Jean-Claude Juncker at Downing Street. Details of the meal leak and are blamed on his chief of staff Martin Selmayr

      4 May – In local elections Tories make big gains

      10 May – Labour manifesto leaks

      16 May – Labour manifesto published

      18 May – Conservative manifesto published, includes plans for a controversial social care policy

      21 May – Polls show Tory support ‘dropping off a cliff’. Lynton Crosby says care could lose the election

      22 May – May U-turns, scrapping the care plan but insisting ‘nothing has changed’. Manchester Arena terror attack that night leads to a pause in the campaign

      24 May – In Downing Street meeting, May is warned the numbers are bad

      3 Jun – London Bridge terror attack puts police cuts at the top of the agenda

      8 Jun – General election: the Conservatives win 317 seats, down thirteen and lose their majority. Labour gains thirty seats

      9 Jun – May visits the queen and says she has a deal with the DUP then fails to apologise for losing seats

      11 Jun – Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill resign as chiefs of staff

      12 Jun – May apologises