Union has been ‘doomed for over a century’ says historian who predicted Brexit

The union has been “doomed for over a century” according to a historian who predicted Brexit.

Dr James Hawes suggested that the “tipping point” for the collapse of the UK will come more quickly than expected.

The bestselling author, whose satirical novel Speak For ­England, published in 2005, won praise for foreshadowing the rise of Nigel Farage and Brexit, added that it will be because of something which initially appears “quite small”.

Dr Hawes made the comments while speaking in an interview with Sunday National columnist John Drummond on Independence Live’s TNT: The Nation Talks show last week.

He said: “The USSR collapsed, the British Empire collapsed for crying out loud.

“When my mother was born, we still owned India and half of Africa. All that has gone so why should not the UK and GB go too?

“My contention essentially is the UK is not only doomed, but it has been doomed for over a century.

“In a sense one of my prize exhibits in the book is none other than Winston Churchill, who in 1912 was MP for Dundee at that stage, trying to hold his beloved UK together.

“He put his finger on the fact that the force that was going to blow it apart was actually England.

“The dominance of the southern part of England within England and its refusal to let go would make impossible his dream.”

‘Fascinating’ 

He said how the collapse of the UK will happen was a “fascinating question”.

“I believe it will come more quickly than we now expect and that the immediate cause of that will be something which appears quite small initially and is certainly impossible to predict,” he said.

“When I was at university in Ireland in my first job as a lecturer of German studies, half my colleagues there were experts in East German literature and culture.

“And none of use foresaw in the summer of 1989 that within a year, Germany would be completely united again. We thought it was completely impossible.”