However Brexit transpires, Britain will continue to be a significant world power – one of the world’s largest economies, NATO’s second military power, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and one of the world’s leading cultural and scientific centres. It is also one of South Africa’s most important friends and partners. Nevertheless, there are serious questions to be asked about the constitutional future of the United Kingdom, its future political and party structures and the future development of its economy.
Robert Jackson was born in South Africa (1946). After Oxford he went into British politics, in which he served as a Member of the first directly elected European Parliament (1979-84) and as an MP (1983-2005), including a time as Minister for Higher Education and Science. He is a former editor of “The Round Table” and of the Chatham House journal, “International Affairs”. Robert Jackson addressed the branch last year on “The meaning of Brexit”. He and his wife (also a former MEP, 1984-2010) are regular visitors to the Cape, where they have a home.