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This 'Brexit Britain' tour costs more than £4,000 and never leaves London

The New York Times’ pricey ‘Brexit Means Brexit!’ tour includes visits to Parliament and City Hall – and a pub lunch 

Julia Buckley
Tuesday 09 May 2017 17:01 BST
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The NYT's tour of Brexit Britain includes afternoon tea and a traditional pub lunch – but never strays from the capital
The NYT's tour of Brexit Britain includes afternoon tea and a traditional pub lunch – but never strays from the capital

Tea, scones, and a trip to the Houses of Parliament for a cool £4,600: that’s the schedule for a new tour of Brexit Britain that doesn’t set foot outside London.

The “Brexit Means Brexit!” tour – organised by New York Times Journeys, the US newspaper’s travel arm – promises visitors a six-day trip to the capital with tours and talks to help them understand the UK political situation. It promises to “examine the historic implications of a historic vote.”

But the idea has been mocked on social media since the itinerary – which costs a cool $5,995, or £4,642, per head – consists of little more than tours of Westminster and expert lectures in the capital.

Those prices are based on double occupancy, however – flying solo, the same tour will cost $7,930, or £5,725. Breakfast and dinner are included, but flights are not. Participants will stay in the swish St Ermin’s Hotel, once used as MI6 headquarters and still a stomping ground for MPs – the Westminster Division Bell, summoning MPs to vote, sounds in the hotel, handily calling them in from the bar to important business.

If the heavy stuff doesn’t sway you, the itinerary also includes a “typical pub lunch and a pint” and a “traditional afternoon tea” complete with scones and clotted cream. There’s no word on whether the cream’s from Cornwall or Devon, though since the tour won’t leave London, participants will likely be none the wiser.

While participants are given walking tours of Westminster (given by an LSE graduate, no less), the City (including a glimpse of the “colloquially known Gherkin”), City Hall and the Supreme Court, there’s little chance of them feeling mollycoddled – if they want to attend a debate in Parliament, they’ll have to queue up, along with everyone else.

The first tour takes place in October, four months after the General Election. It will be followed by two more, in April and October 2018 respectively.

For those who’ll have had enough of Brexit Britain by then, other New York Times trips include “Chernobyl 30 Years Later” and “Greenland is Melting”.

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