Brexit: The Uncivil War (simply Brexit in the US) is a 2019 British television drama film written by James Graham and directed by Toby Haynes. It depicts the lead-up to the 2016 referendum through the activities of the strategists behind the Vote Leave campaign, that prompted the United Kingdom to exit the European Union, known as Brexit. Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Dominic Cummings, the Campaign Director of the officially designated Brexit-supporting group, Vote Leave. Rory Kinnear stars as Craig Oliver, one of the leaders of the officially designated Remain-supporting group, Britain Stronger in Europe.
It aired on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on 7 January, and aired on HBO in the United States on 19 January. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for its pacing, black comedy, and the depiction of the campaign as a thriller, and with particular praise for Cumberbatch's performance which was likened to his role in the TV series Sherlock. The film received a nomination at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Television Movie.
Plot
The film opens in 2020, at a future (fictional) public inquiry, where a frustrated Dominic Cummings attempts to explain to the panel that they have no understanding of the way in which technology is reshaping politics and therefore society in the United Kingdom.
In 2015, Cummings rejects an offer by UKIP MP Douglas Carswell and political strategist Matthew Elliott to lead the Vote Leave campaign due to his contempt for "Westminster politics", but accepts when Carswell promises him full control. Cummings uses "algorithmic database-driven micro-targeting tools" delivered via social media/internet, instead of a traditional campaign of posters/phone calls/leaflets delivered by local MPs. Cummings rejects an approach by Nigel Farage and Arron Banks of Leave.EU to merge campaigns, as his data shows Farage is an obstacle to winning a majority. Cummings' technology-driven approach causes friction with Vote Leave MPs and donors. John Mills, chair of Vote Leave, tries to fire Cummings to merge with Leave.EU, but finds himself instead fired.
Cummings and his Remain counterpart, Craig Oliver, lay out their strategies and opinion of each other to their respective teams. Both identify the one-third of undecided UK voters as the key. Oliver targets "Jobs and the Economy", while Cummings feels the "Loss of Control" and the possible accession of Turkey to the EU is a greater concern. Cummings invokes a strategy from Sun Tzu's The Art of War and avoids refuting "Jobs and the Economy" to instead focus on their own message – "Take Back Control" – that positions Remain as the "historical status quo" and Vote Leave as the "change" option. Cummings meets and hires Canadian Zack Massingham, co-founder of AggregateIQ, who offers to build a database using social media tools of voters who are not on the UK electoral register but are inclined to vote to leave. Arron Banks meets Robert Mercer, who discusses the potential of social media database tools.
Cummings, using the AggregateIQ database, brings MP Douglas Carswell to Jaywick, a part of his constituency he did not know existed, where a couple articulates the destitution of their position. Oliver, using the traditional focus-groups, realises that his campaign has failed to understand the concerns of many UK voters as one focus-group descends into a mass quarrel with one member breaking down crying: "I'm sick of feeling like nothing like I have nothing! Like I know nothing. Like I am nothing. I'm sick of it". Oliver's own staff becomes demoralised and angry.
In the final stages of the campaign, high-profile Conservative MPs Michael Gove and Boris Johnson join the Vote Leave campaign emphasising the need to "Take Back Control", while Penny Mordaunt raises concerns on BBC over the accession of Turkey. Gove and Johnson have some reticence over specific Vote Leave claims (e.g. £350 million for NHS, and 70 million potential Turkish emigrants) but overcome them. Oliver conducts an emergency Tory-Labour Remain conference call with the prime minister David Cameron and Peter Mandelson, but each side blames the other for the Remain campaign's decline. Following the murder of MP Jo Cox, Cummings and Oliver share a drink and discuss events, with Cummings comparing his campaign as having started a train that cannot be stopped, and Oliver replying: "Be careful what you wish for. You won't be able to control it either".