ABSTRACT
As millions of people were deeply concerned about the adverse effects of Brexit, the British government faced an acute blame risk after deciding to leave the EU. In this chapter, I identify the discursive strategies by which the top officeholders who led Brexit tried to avoid blame for their divisive policy. I analyse their public statements to show how they used language to minimise the perceived agency of the government, downplay the contentiousness and harmfulness of their policy, present the UK in a positive and the EU in a negative light and deal with charges of inconsistency.
