Jonathon Arnott, former British member to the European Parliament and leader in the British ending involvement in the European Parliament known as Brexit, was the guest speaker at a forum at Washington and Lee University sponsored by the College Republicans group earlier this month.
Arnott explained the efforts to unite Europe first were involved with trade and recovery after World War II but has continued to expand to the point the British voted to end involvement in the European Parliament.
He asked the audience to imagine that while the U.S. Congress passed laws for the United States and the Supreme Court ruled on law for the United States, they could be overruled by a parliament in another country like Belgium or those laws could be overruled by a court in another country like the Netherlands and the members of the parliament and court were made up of people from a variety of other countries.
He explained this is what the British had been experiencing and voted to end the involvement. He told about the large bureaucracy and conflicts he experienced during his term with the European Parliament and efforts to win the election to end British involvement.
Arnott is a noted chess master and is the youngest person to earn a master’s degree in mathematics from Sheffield University when he was only 15. He went on to be a teacher and math coordinator for a British school and managed a major political party operation in the Sheffield area before being elected to the European Parliament. He is currently the director for strategic communications for the Virginia Institute.
