The ‘Then’ and the ‘Now’ in Brexit Discourse: A Discourse-Historical Approach Case Study

The present paper investigates three speeches about Brexit delivered by the British Prime Minister Theresa May over the time span (2016-2019) from a discourse historical approach perspective. Brexit has been the most debated concern in British politics and media for almost three years now. In fact, voting for leaving the European Union was the main reason behind the resignation of the former British prime minister David Cameron, and the present one Theresa May coming in office. The present paper examines the Brexit discourse to highlight the similarities and differences in the discursive strategies employed over the past few years which led to what is now described as a (U turn) in Brexit process. The speeches are examined in the light of Wodak (2009) Discourse Historical Approach (DHA). DHA defines discourse as “a cluster of context-dependent semiotic practices that are situated within specific fields of social actions” (Wodak et al, 2010, p.89). It can be concluded that the discursive strategies of nomination, predication, framing as well as argumentation have been manipulated differently at different points of time to achieve varying goals. Brexit is once framed as an opportunity in the first speech, a challenge in the second speech, then finally a heavy duty in the third speech.