How Europe bungled its way to the Brexit

The original idea of the EU was a noble one. Here's how a generation of politicians and bureaucrats messed it up.

The United Kingdom will vote June 23.
(Image credit: iStock)

A man murdered Jo Cox, a Labour Member of the British parliament, yesterday.

It may have been an act of terrorism, as Cox was a prominent supporter of Muslim refugees and spoke out in favor of staying in the European Union. Several witnesses reported that the murderer shouted "Britain First" — the name of an extreme right anti-immigrant, anti-EU group — while shooting and stabbing her. If so, that would make it the first political assassination of a sitting MP since Irish nationalists murdered Ian Gow with a car bomb in 1990.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.