Analogy sparks Brexit war of words over Gibraltar

LONDON—Less than a week after asking for a divorce from the European Union, Britain is talking war.

The dispute over Gibraltar is a conflict of words, not weapons—a matter of bellicose headlines in Britain and bemusement in Spain. But it’s a sign of how rough the road ahead could be as the U.K. extricates itself from the 28-nation bloc.

The rocky 2.6 square mile enclave at the tip of the Iberian peninsula has been a British territory—and cause of friction between the U.K. and Spain—since 1713.

The latest spat was sparked by draft Brexit negotiating guidelines drawn up by the EU, which said no future agreement between Britain and the bloc would apply to Gibraltar unless both the U.K. and Spain agreed.

Officials in Gibraltar accused Spain of using Brexit to force negotiations on the status of the territory, against the wishes of the 32,000 Gibraltarians, who overwhelmingly want to remain British.

Gibraltar’s chief minister, Fabian Picardo, accused Spain of taking a “predatory attitude.”

Some pro-Brexit voices in Britain went even farther.

Former Conservative Party leader Michael Howard said Prime Minister Theresa May would defend Gibraltar as her predecessor Margaret Thatcher did the Falkland Islands.

Howard told the BBC on Sunday that in 1982, “another woman prime minister sent a task force halfway across the world to protect another small group of British people against another Spanish-speaking country. And I’m absolutely clear that our current woman prime minister will show the same resolve in relation to Gibraltar as he predecessor did.”