I've just had a look into a parallel universe, which is identical to ours up until 23 June 2016. From then on, it diverged from ours in small but significant ways:
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24 June 2016: The UK government submits an application to (re-)join EFTA. PM Cameron spells out his vision for Brexit: The UK will leave the EU itself & the Customs Union, but remain in the EEA via the EFTA route "until further notice". The value of the £ immediatey bounces back.
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25 June 2016: A group of backbenchers revolt against what they call a "betrayal of the referendum result". The Daily Mail describes PM Cameron as an "enemy of the people". Demonstrations are held. Asked whether he plans to simply ignore this backlash, the PM replies: "Yes."
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12 July 2016: After a bit of horse-trading with Norway, EFTA accepts the UK's membership application. "Welcome back", says EFTA Court President Baudenbacher. "What took you so long?" The UK government triggers Article 50 on the same day.
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13 July 2016: The first meeting of the UK-EU Brexit negotiation team is uneventful. Since free movement of people will be retained, the status of EU-27 citizens in the UK, and of UK citizens in the EU-27, is unaffected. There is not much to talk about.
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14 July 2016: The UK agrees to keep paying into the EU budget for the remainder of the current budget period, and then make a discretionary one-off payment, mainly to cover outstanding pension liabilities. After this, UK contributions will come to an end. The EU grudgingly agrees
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15 July 2016: The first Brexit meeting between PM Cameron and the Irish Taoiseach, concerning the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, remains uneventful. The border will simply be like the Swedish-Norwegian border. There is not much to talk about.
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16 July 2016: The UK is still an EU member, so technically, it cannot conduct trade negotiations yet. But the UK government declares its intention to simply join a number of existing agreements, such as NAFTA and the Australia/New Zealand Free Trade Area.
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17 July 2016: Various major trading partners make positive noises about the possibility of the UK joining an existing free trade agreement. Informal working groups are established.
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18 July 2016: The UK government unilaterally extends free movement of people to Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand. From now on, citizens of these countries will enjoy the same legal status as EEA citizens. "We should have done this a long time ago", the PM explains.
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"We're leaving Europe mostly because we're re-joining the Anglosphere" should have been the basic platform.
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