The spider, the plumber and the hairdresser
MEET THE THREE ACTIVISTS WHO COULD DERAIL THERESA MAY’S BREXIT PLAN
Awoman dubbed the “black widow spider,” a plumber to the stars and a hairdresser are responsible for putting a gigantic wrench in the British Brexit works.
Despite 17,410,742 million people winning a vote for Britain to leave the European Union, a three-judge High Court panel Thursday ruled that it was not legal for the British government to do so without first consulting Parliament.
The decision greatly complicates Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan to trigger Article 50 — the never-before-used mechanism for a country to leave the European Union — by the end of March at the latest.
A statement from May’s office insisted that Article 50 would still be triggered on the original timeline and that the government would appeal to the Supreme Court. Justices are expected to take the case next month.
But analysts said the Brexit process could not only be significantly delayed but could even force May to call an election next year to seek a new mandate.
Brexit has been a highly emotional issue in Britain, so perhaps it wasn’t surprising that many of those who voted to remain were rejoicing, especially the three who brought the case to court. So who are these three?
Gina Miller, a 51-year-old business executive and philanthropist, was the leading claimant in the case. Her name was trending on social media on Thursday, with many of her supporters dubbing her a “hero” for taking on the British government. However, she was also accused of betraying Britain.
Miller was deeply disappointed by the June referendum that saw Britons opt to leave the EU in a 52-to-48 per cent vote.
“I was sick to the stomach on the morning of the vote because I voted to remain,” she said. “But then, as the days went on, I realized that we really can’t look backward, we have to think, how do we make the best of this.”
She channelled her frustration into the legal challenge. In a statement read outside the Royal Courts of Justice, she said the case was about “process not politics” and urged the government not to appeal the ruling.
Miller has a long history of rocking the boat.
She is the co-founder of the investment firm SCM Private and the True and Fair Campaign, both of which urge greater transparency and scrutiny in the investment industry.
In an interview earlier this year with the Financial Times, she recounted confronting three men at an industry party who were staring at her.
“Being as bold as I am I went up to them, introduced myself and asked if there was a problem. One of them replied that I was a disgrace and that my lobbying efforts would bring down the entire city,” she said, referring to her campaigning efforts against hidden fund charges.
They also informed her of a nickname that people had for her: black widow spider.
Miller was born in Guyana and raised in the U.K. where she worked as a chambermaid to see her through the prestigious Roedean School in Brighton. She also worked as a model. She is married to Alan Miller — dubbed Mr. Hedge Fund by the British press — and is the mother of three children.
Multimillionaire Charlie
Mullins was another high-profile claimant. Mullins boasts that he knew he wanted to be a plumber at the age of nine and left school with no qualifications at 15. He went on to build a business empire and has been called “Plumber to the Stars” because of clients such as actors Dame Helen Mirren and Daniel Craig and businessman Richard Branson.
Mullins voted to “remain” in the EU and has helped to fund the campaign.
In a blog post last month, he said he was bankrolling the campaign in an effort to end the uncertainty in the business community.
“It doesn’t matter if we lose because the point is that at the end of the legal process we will have the certainty that business and the entire country desperately needs at this hugely important moment in our country’s history,” he wrote.
But his side didn’t lose, and on Thursday he was outside the Royal Courts of Justice giving photographers a celebratory thumbs up next to his Rolls-Royce.
Deir Santos, the hairdresser, is less well known — one of his lawyers described him in court as an “ordinary guy” — but no less passionate about democracy, he said. A statement read out on his behalf Thursday stated that he didn’t want the government to leapfrog over Parliament.
“I did not think it was right for the government to then just to bypass Parliament and try to take away my legal rights without consulting Parliament first,” he said. “I am grateful to the court for the result we have had today. This is a victory for Parliamentary democracy.”
The High Court ruling sparked an immediate rally in Britain’s beleaguered currency, the pound, as traders reacted to the possibility that Britain’s EU exit could be significantly delayed — or even blocked.
Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, said the ruling is “an example of the uncertainty that will characterize this process.”
“The negotiations haven’t even begun,” he said. “There will be volatility as those negotiations proceed.”