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Cleo Davies

@cleodavies.bsky.social
2.5K followers 610 following 349 posts

Assistant Professor in Politics and International Relations at Forward College in Paris. Formerly with PAIS Warwick Uni on project ‘Living with the Neighbours: the UK, the EU and wider Europe' - UK in a Changing Europe.

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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Yep. It was. This was the selfie shared by Scholz on twitter at the time... Happy days. What a political survivor Sanchez is! And he has had the opportunity to celebrate many a 🇪🇸 ⚽ victory since he became PM back in June 2018.
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Reposted by Cleo Davies
Dr Anna Clark @drannaclark.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
When two artists paint the same view: Rue de la Chausée à Argenteuil, painted on the same day in 1872 by Claude Monet & Alfred Sisley, friends and founding figures of French Impressionism, who set up their easels side by side en plein air. Private Collection | Musée d’Orsay
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Reposted by Cleo Davies
Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
This piece on the "load-bearing internet people" and how AI-code writing is overwhelming the web's unheralded maintainers by @samlearner.bsky.social is absolutely terrific: brilliantly accessible without being patronising:
ft.com
Who cleans up after the vibe-coding party?
Our obsession with AI code-writing tools is overwhelming the web’s unsung human caretakers
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Soooooooooo much has been written about Brexit and the 🇬🇧, far less on the 🇪🇺 and Brexit. So do read the short piece I write for @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social Political Insight. And here is a 🧵 on the main points I make: bsky.app/profile/cleo...
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Unless I am mistaken, there is still a missing study on the racists & colonial tropes in relation to 'the Irish' (language of Patel & others, including Frost) + how these not only are astonishing & so flippantly used, but also how these tropes led to massive policy & strategic failure in Brexit nego
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
It is worth remembering the 🇬🇧 as a land bridge for trucks on their way to Ireland and back via Holyhead. Brexit has a geographical impact too, and for that part of Wales, Brexit has been bad + the expected increase in jobs for customs & veterinary checks may now be redundant with an SPS deal with 🇪🇺
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Since the departure of the UK, Eurosceptics have shifted their focus to challenging the EU from within. They push back against the EU’s economic and rights-based liberal order, rather than call into question the existence of the Union itself. END 🧵
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
However, Brexit did not spur the deep thinking about the European project that some 🇪🇺 heads of states and governments were calling for a decade ago. Nor did it lead to a 'federating moment' around integration that Commission Pdt Junker had hoped for in his state of the Union 2017 speech. 🧵4/5
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
For EU member states, the Brexit negotiations cemented their political understanding of single market ‘club’ membership as the source of the EU’s power, and as a unifying principle. 🧵3/5
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
The Union was able to draw on its substantial resources to generate particularly effective collective action and unity, in large part thanks to the bespoke collaborative governance architecture it created for the negotiations. The EU's unified approach survives today in relations with the UK. 🧵2/5
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
For anyone interested in how the 🇪🇺 managed to avert the disaster that Brexit could have turned out to be for the Union, I have covered this in a piece for @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social Political Insight magazine published this month. Some points 🧵 1/5 journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
journals.sagepub.com
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Reminds me of language in 2021/2022 about the EU having to wake up to become a geopolitical actor and stop being 'naive', discover that is must exercise it's power... As if other parts of the world had not already been perceiving the EU as closed to competition
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Un article intéressant et détaillé sur les perspectives de rapprochement entre le Royaume-Uni et l'Union européenne par Agnès Rotivel de La Croix et qui est construit autour de l'expertise des chercheuses Marie-Claire Considere-Charon, Laetitia Langlois et moi-même. www.la-croix.com/internationa...
la-croix.com
Brexit : dix ans après, le Royaume-Uni et l’UE sur le chemin d’un timide rapprochement
Le 23 juin 2016, le Royaume-Uni décidait de quitter l’Union européenne. Dix ans plus tard, une majorité de Britanniques regrettent les conséquences du Brexit. À l’initiative du premier ministre démiss...
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
good 🧵 on what is coming out of @ukandeu.bsky.social conference today on what relationship between 🇬🇧 &🇪🇺 might look like and trade-offs
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
He wants to run for President of France 🤔 a way of re-establishing his 'international' credentials
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Reminds me of this one from Pompei
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
As European leaders pay genuine tribute to Starmer, I am reminded of piece I wrote on his👌qualities as a diplomat for 🇬🇧 across Europe: 'Starmer may have proven himself a good diplomat, but so far, this is not a quality that has endeared him to the British public'. Let's hope his successor does both
encompass-europe.com
The good diplomat: Starmer’s bilateralism with EU member states
Barely two weeks go by without a bilateral meeting between Keir Starmer and a leader from a European capital. He hosted his Irish and Spanish counterparts in Downing Street on 12 September…
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
🇬🇧-🇪🇺 summit now postponed, which makes sense. President of the Council @eucopresident.consilium.europa.eu announced the summit will be postponed and also thanked 'his friend Keir'.
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Let's hope he has clear idea of kind of relationship he wants 🇬🇧 to have with 🇪🇺, that he has a close team that understands how Brussels works & a Comms team that knows Europeans read whatever declaration is in press & will puzzle over/pick up on discrepancies, especially because no one knows Burnham
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
And have a team that understands how Brussels works.
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Reposted by Cleo Davies
Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
This is an unpopular thing to point out on Europhile Bluesky, but *the UK opt-outs are still there*, in protocols attached to the Treaties which have not been amended or removed. So the obvious argument is that if the UK rejoined, the opt-outs would just be revived as far as the UK is concerned.
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Yes, the poverty of the British European debate, whether in the public debate or amongst politicians, including many of those advocating rejoin are calling to rejoin the 🇪🇺, is why the existence and work of @ukandeu.bsky.social is so essential!!!
theguardian.com
If the UK wants to rejoin the European Union, it first needs to understand it | Timothy Garton Ash
A full return will require a marathon of democratic persuasion, on the continent as much as in Britain. For one side holds most of the cards, says Guardian columnist Timothy Garton Ash
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
J'ai fait un entretien sur le 🇬🇧 10 ans après le Brexit dans la Revue politique & parlementaire. Voici un point : même si les brits sont favorables à une relation bcp plus intégrée avec l'🇪🇺 et même une réintégration, elle n'a pas encore saisie les 'trade-offs' entre autonomie et une relation + proche
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Just listened to @franceculture.fr programme on populism 20 years after Brexit in 🇬🇧. Always impressed at depth & professionalism of some french media 🇬🇧, which is vary rarely reciprocated in 🇬🇧 on anything European, including 🇫🇷. That said, no mention whatsoever of the politics in the devolved regions
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
It also means you can close the door on all those dishes and only attend to them and proper kitchen clea Inc after having enjoyed the meal.
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
😳 😳. Mayve they just found another way of having a dig at the French in a roundabout - and very distastefull - way. Whenever the national ego feels a little tender, they consciously or not 'frame the French'.
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
👇👌👌very much yes! In the future, it will also have an influence on how much the 🇬🇧 is able to get 🇪🇺 & 🇪🇺 member states'attention on all kinds of areas. Right now, 🇪🇺 really takes seriously 🇬🇧 requests for deeper cooperation but that should not be taken for granted. The 🇪🇺 has a lot of issues on its plate
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Yes! And this most definitely Tues in with how much attention the 🇬🇧 can expect from the 🇪🇺 & its member states going forward on a whole range of issues 👇https://bsky.app/profile/cleodavies.bsky.social/post/3mnysw6ycak2t
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
🇬🇧 is a major partner for 🇪🇺 + many of 🇪🇺 member states. But 🇬🇧 should not take for granted that 🇪🇺27 will forever engage in new political dialogue for deeper cooperation. Right now, 🇪🇺 has a system for generating common positions on 🇬🇧 & there is political will in capitals. But 🇪🇺 has a lot on its plate.
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
That, I agree with.
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Reposted by Cleo Davies
Simon Usherwood @simonusherwood.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
A summary of CTA provisions on movement of people across the UK-Irish border, to help inform some of the coming debates PDF: bit.ly/UshGraphic146
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UK in a Changing Europe @ukandeu.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
📆 23 June marks a decade since the EU referendum 💥 Join us, @policyatkings.bsky.social & @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social for an evening of drinks & discussion as we reflect on 10 years of Brexit 👀 And for a look at some exclusive new polling 📍In London or online Sign up 👉 ukandeu.ac.uk/events/10-ye...
ukandeu.ac.uk
10 years of Brexit: how the vote to leave changed the UK - UK in a changing Europe
Join UK in a Changing Europe, the Policy Insititute and Ipsos as we mark 10 years since the EU referendum.
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
🤣
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
So much wrong with David Frost's post! Another low for the man who cannot get over having been blindsided by 🇮🇪 in the Brexit negos. He seems to hold so much contempt for 'the Irish' as he refers to them in his post. It's shocking. He knows that the common travel area between 🇮🇪&🇬🇧 pre-dates 🇪🇺 stuff.
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
A new low for David Frost. So much is wrong in that post of his! But his use of the term 'the Irish' betrays his contempt and condescension for the Republic. He cannot - simply cannot get over the fact that 🇮🇪 was so much better at negotiating and at yielding diplomatic power than 🇬🇧 during Brexit.
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Reposted by Cleo Davies
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 09/06/2026
CNN: President Trump has said the the war will be over within days at least 37 times before
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Not exactly the stuff of dreams for a ballot paper for anyone thinking of making Brexit the centrepiece of an election manifesto in 🇬🇧. And a reminder of just how much of a waste the whole saga has been for the 🇬🇧.
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Martin Wolf @financialtimes.com on whether 🇬🇧 should/will rejoin 🇪🇺: will make unsatisfactory reading both for those who believe Brexit was a great democratic opp & for those who want to reverse Brexit. He suggests: 🇬🇧 to become a rule-taker + to incrementally get closer to 🇪🇺 to achieve🇨🇭like setup. 1/2
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
We all know that Boris works for Boris only (Seldon's book 'Johnson at 10' is scathing). But for all the elite education of Cameron & his successors, their understanding of the 🇪🇺 & its member states seems so parochial/caricatural. Not a good advert for PPE at Oxford 😬
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Here is the documentary (conversation about tennis match at 31:36): r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=Awr.pNj...
r.search.yahoo.com
The Cameron Years - Episode 1 - A Huge Fight on My Hands
Drawing on an exclusive interview with David Cameron, this series explores his leadership, the events that led to the EU referendum and his impact on our political landscape. The first episode looks at how David Cameron went from riding high following his successful 2015 election campaign to offering his own resignation to the British public on the steps of Downing Street just over a year later. Copyright (C) BBC, BBC News, BBC One, BBC Worldwide, 2019. If you would like me to remove this video, please contact me, not YouTube. Hey! It would be greatly appreciated if you could buy me a coffee in lieu of all the videos I have uploaded. Everything here is free, worldwide. It really helps, Thank You. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/politicaltv1
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Infamous tennis match between Cameron & Johnson early 2016 is mentioned by Cameron in BBC doc in 2019. When I first watched it, I was astonished at how casually Cameron recounted two old Etonians openly discussing Johnson being PM one day + how flippantly they spoke of relations with 🇪🇺
theguardian.com
David Cameron offered Boris Johnson senior cabinet role if he agreed not to push for Brexit
Johnson tells BBC documentary he played tennis in early 2016 with then prime minister to discuss EU referendum
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UACES (University Association for Contemporary European Studies) @uaces.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
📢 Very last opportunity: Early bird registration closes today for the UACES 56th Annual Conference 👉 Register now: www.conftool.org/uaces2026 This is your final chance to secure the lowest available rates and confirm your place in Prague. #UACES2026 #EuropeanStudies #AcademicConferences
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Such a weird piece. Seems like someone cannot quite quite accept the fact that it was not 🇪🇺 regulation that was causing 🇬🇧 lack of growth and productivity.... The 'Singapore on Thames' version of benefits of Brexit remains as elusive as all other fantasised versions... 👇
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Seems like someone cannot quite quite accept the fact that it was not 🇪🇺 regulation that was causing 🇬🇧 lack of growth and productivity. 👇👇
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
OMG! 🇬🇧 has not just sank to the lows of 🇮🇹 with its changing PMs, it is now actually more like France than 🇨🇦 or 🇦🇺!! 😨😨 Re-jointing the 🇪🇺 (an ‘academic question’ for Ganesh) is logical consequence of sinking to the lows of all those continentals, weak gvts, lethargic growth, bloated welfare states
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
I agree with you on this.
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Agree. Very interesting from @tom-clark.bsky.social . Did wonder about the lessons for the 🇬🇧 political system though: the need for proper decentralisation, and for overcoming entrechment of political polarisation between Westminster and Devolved governments. 👇 bsky.app/profile/cleo...
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
👌 @tom-clark.bsky.social. seems conclusion is (economic) policy & being straight with public. But comparison in piece is with 🇫🇷 4th Republic. It did take eco growth of 60s for 🇫🇷 to stabilise but also major change in political system (parliamentary to semi-presidential). Does 🇬🇧 need system change 🤔
theguardian.com
The ungovernable country? Why Britain keeps losing prime ministers
May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak, and now perhaps Starmer: each one was brought low for a reason. But what if the deeper problem is the office itself?
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
😃👌
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Cleo Davies @cleodavies.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
👌 tour d'horizon 👇. 3 points importants: 👉En nombre de voix, bipartisme a disparu depuis longtemps au 🇬🇧, mais masqué par mode de scrutin au nvx national &local (scrutin proportionnel en 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿&🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿) 👉La personnalité du PM (=charisme & communication) compte tellement 👉Degagisme envers partis traditionnels
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