Brexit: The phoney war

Returning to the UK from North America is to encounter an air of unreality. Britain has embarked on the biggest constitutional change in nearly 50 years - but you wouldn't guess it.

Informed but incredulous Americans ask "you really had no plan?"
The much-quoted "Brexit means Brexit" is met with bafflement. A Washington Post columnist said it had as much meaning as a parent declaring "bedtime means bedtime". The French talk of "le grand flou de Theresa May", the great vagueness of the British PM.
In this period of seeming inactivity, the financial markets and the British consumer buy time and cover. The IMF declares the financial turmoil has subsided. UK manufacturing records the biggest month-on-month increase in half a century. The sense of crisis ebbs, or it does until the next month's figures appear. The prime minister warns of "difficult times" ahead.

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• Why hasn't the UK left the EU yet?
• Brexit: At-a-glance briefing
• Brexit: MPs to debate calls for second EU referendum

The politicians' phrases are more about buying time than delivering a plan. "Brexit means Brexit" is aimed primarily at preserving unity in the Conservative Party. The Brexiteers remain eagle-eyed for any backsliding and the mantra that "Britain is open for business" is an empty sound bite. It is unclear anyone believed the opposite.
And during this slow post-Brexit summer Europe has largely been a passive bystander, obdurate in its refusal to even talk about options before the UK invokes Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and the formal withdrawal process begins.