LONDON — It happened — the United Kingdom has walked away from the world's largest political and economic club.
After 47 years of membership — and more than three years of political uncertainty, rancor and division — the United Kingdom officiallyleft the European Union on Friday.
TheBrexitdivorce was made official at the stroke of 11 p.m. local time (6 p.m. ET), with the image of a countdown clock projected onto Prime Minister Boris Johnson's official residence, No. 10 Downing St.
With a population of more than 513 million, the E.U. has its roots in the years afterWorld War II, created partly from a desire to ensure no such conflict could ever happen again. It is one of a handful of institutions that have come to define the postwar consensus and even the West itself — but a pact that in recent years has been put under extreme strain.
For the U.K., a powerful empire stretching across the world less than a century ago, Brexit is a historic milestone in its modern history, set to define its new alliances in a rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape. But even some supporters see it as a huge gamble.
In a recorded speech, the prime minister sought to help heal a deeply divided nation.
"Our job as the government — my job — is to bring this country together and take us forward," said Johnson, the leader of the Conservative Party. The party's decadeslong internecine battle over Britain's membership in the E.U. precipitated the 2016 Brexit vote.
"This is the dawn of a new era in which we no longer accept that your life chances — your family's life chances — should depend on which part of the country you grow up in," he added, a likely reference to the Conservatives' recent success in wooing voters from the north of England who had traditionally voted for the opposition.
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