UK's landmark postwar elections: When Boris Johnson sought and got a mandate to 'Get Brexit Done'

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s upcoming general election is widely expected to lead to a change of government for the first time in 14 years. Many analysts believe it will be one of the country’s most consequential elections since the end of World War II.

Ahead of the July 4 vote, The Associated Press takes a look back at other landmark U.K. elections since the war.

When former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called an election in December 2019, it was essentially about one issue: Brexit.

General elections in the U.K. are typically held in the spring or early summer. But in the fall of 2019, the recently-appointed Johnson gambled on holding one on December 12, when most people just want to get ready for Christmas and would rather think of anything but politics.

For Johnson, desperate times called for desperate measures. The June 23, 2016 Brexit referendum, won narrowly by those backing an exit from the European Union, triggered a chaotic period in politics.

Former Prime Minister David Cameron, who had campaigned for Britain to remain in the EU, had resigned immediately after his side lost the referendum.

His successor, Theresa May, tried but failed to find a Brexit formula that a majority in Parliament would back. Everyone seemingly had a different idea as to what post-Brexit deal the U.K. should have with the EU, and the original day of departure — March 2019 — was delayed.

Parliament was in chaos, and Johnson, who succeeded May, pledged that he would get “Get Brexit Done.”

With Labour’s Brexit policy unclear and its left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn deeply unpopular, Johnson’s Conservatives won their biggest majority since 1987 under Margaret Thatcher. Labour suffered its worst election result in terms of seats since the 1930s.

Johnson prevailed largely because his message was clear, especially in parts of the country that voted Brexit but had for decades voted Labour. The U.K. left the European Union on Jan. 31, 2020.

Any celebrations were short-lived, however, with a deadly coronavirus pandemic soon spreading around the world.

Johnson was forced to resign in the summer of 2022 after he was found to have lied to Parliament over lockdown-breaching parties at his offices in Downing Street. The 49-day tenure of his successor, Liz Truss, was even more chaotic after she unveiled unfunded tax cuts that roiled financial markets and sent borrowing costs for homeowners surging.

It's a dual legacy that their successor Rishi Sunak has had to contend with ahead of Thursday's election.

FILE - Protestors are reflected in a large puddle as they wave European flags to demonstrate against Brexit in front of the Parliament in London, Dec. 3, 2018. The U.K. election in December 2019 was basically about one issue: Brexit. General elections in the U.K. are typically held in the spring or early summer. But in the fall of 2019, the recently-appointed Prime Minister Boris Johnson gambled on holding one on December 12, when most people just want to get ready for Christmas and would rather think of anything but politics. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)

FILE - British Prime Minister Theresa May waits for the arrival of European Council President Donald Tusk prior to their bilateral meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Belgium, Oct. 20, 2017. The U.K. election in December 2019 was basically about one issue: Brexit. General elections in the U.K. are typically held in the spring or early summer. But in the fall of 2019, the recently-appointed Prime Minister Boris Johnson gambled on holding one on December 12, when most people just want to get ready for Christmas and would rather think of anything but politics. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, Pool)

FILE - Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson drives a JCB through a symbolic wall with the Conservative Party slogan 'Get Brexit Done' in the digger bucket, during an election campaign event at the JCB manufacturing facility in Uttoxeter, England, Dec. 10, 2019. The U.K. election in December 2019 was basically about one issue: Brexit. General elections in the U.K. are typically held in the spring or early summer. But in the fall of 2019, the recently-appointed Prime Minister Boris Johnson gambled on holding one on Dec. 12, when most people just want to get ready for Christmas and would rather think of anything but politics. (Ben Stansall/Pool via AP, File)

FILE - Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron walks past a map of Europe on a screen as he walks away after making a speech on holding a referendum on staying in the European Union in London, Jan. 23, 2013. The U.K. election in December 2019 was basically about one issue: Brexit. General elections in the U.K. are typically held in the spring or early summer. But in the fall of 2019, the recently-appointed Prime Minister Boris Johnson gambled on holding one on December 12, when most people just want to get ready for Christmas and would rather think of anything but politics. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)

FILE - London Mayor Boris Johnson makes a statement outside his home in London, Feb. 21, 2016, announcing his support for the Leave campaign. The U.K. election in December 2019 was basically about one issue: Brexit. General elections in the U.K. are typically held in the spring or early summer. But in the fall of 2019, the recently-appointed Prime Minister Boris Johnson gambled on holding one on December 12, when most people just want to get ready for Christmas and would rather think of anything but politics. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland, File)

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's Federal Police have indicted former President Jair Bolsonaro for money laundering and criminal association in connection with undeclared diamonds the far-right leader received from Saudi Arabia during his time in office, according to a source with knowledge of the accusations.

A second source confirmed the indictment, although not for which specific crimes. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly.

Brazil’s Supreme Court has yet to receive the police report with the indictment. Once it does, the country’s prosecutor-general, Paulo Gonet, will analyze the document and decide whether to file charges and force Bolsonaro to stand trial.

This is Bolsonaro's second indictment since leaving office, following another in March for allegedly falsifying his COVID-19 vaccination certificate. But this indictment dramatically raises the legal threats facing the divisive ex-leader that are applauded by his opponents but denounced as political persecution by his supporters.

Bolsonaro did not immediately comment, but he and his lawyers have previously denied any wrongdoing in both those cases, as well as other investigations into the former president. One is probing his possible involvement in inciting an uprising in capital Brasilia on Jan. 8, 2023 that sought to oust his successor from power.

Last year, Federal Police accused Bolsonaro of attempting to sneak in diamond jewelry reportedly worth $3 million and selling two luxury watches.

Police said in August that Bolsonaro received cash from the nearly $70,000 sale of two luxury watches he received as gifts from Saudi Arabia. Brazil requires its citizens arriving by plane from abroad to declare goods worth more than $1,000 and, for any amount above that exemption, pay a tax equal to 50% of their value.

The jewelry would have been exempt from tax had it been a gift from Saudi Arabia to Brazil, but not Bolsonaro’s to keep for himself. Rather, it would have been added to the presidential collection.

The investigation showed that Mauro Cid, Bolsonaro’s former aide-de-camp who allegedly falsified his COVID-19 records, in June 2022 sold a Rolex watch and a Patek Philippe watch to a store in the U.S for a total $68,000. They were gifted by Saudi Arabia’s government in 2019. Cid later signed a plea bargain with authorities and confirmed it all.

Flávio Bolsonaro, the former president’s eldest son and a sitting senator, said on X after Thursday's indictment that persecution against his father was “blatant and shameless.”

In addition to Bolsonaro, police indicted 10 others, including Cid and two of his lawyers, Frederick Wassef and Fábio Wajngarten, according to one of the sources. Wassef said in a statement that he didn’t have access to the final report of the investigation, and decried selective leaks to the press of an investigation that is supposed to be proceeding under seal.

“I am going through all of this solely for practicing law in defense of Jair Bolsonaro,” he wrote.

On X, Wajngarten said police have found no evidence implicating him. “The Federal Police knows I did nothing related to what they are investigating, but they still want to punish me because I provide unwavering and permanent defense for former President Bolsonaro,” he said.

Bolsonaro retains staunch allegiance among his political base, as shown by an outpouring of support in February, when an estimated 185,000 people clogged Sao Paulo’s main boulevard to protest what the former president calls political persecution.

His critics, particularly members of his rival President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s political party, have cheered every advance of investigations and repeatedly called for his arrest.

Psychologist Deborah Santos watched news of Bolsonaro's indictment in a bakery in Sao Paulo's up-market Vila Madalena neighborhood.

“This is great, because it breaks a pattern. Bolsonaro supporters love to say how honest he is; everyone else is dishonest, but them," said Santos, 52. "There you have it: the police think he steals diamonds. That should end any politician’s career.”

The 69-year-old former army captain started his political career as a staunch advocate of Brazil’s military dictatorship, and was a lawmaker for nearly three decades. When he bid for the presidency for the first time, in 2018, he was widely dismissed as an outsider and too radically conservative. But he surprised analysts with a decisive victory, in no small part due to his self-portrayal as an upstanding citizen in the years following a sprawling corruption probe that ensnared hundreds of politicians and executives.

Bolsonaro insulted adversaries since his earliest days in office while garnering critics with his divisive policies, attacks on the Supreme Court and efforts to undermine health restrictions during the pandemic. He lost his reelection bid in the closest finish since Brazil’s return to democracy in 1985.

Carlos Melo, a political science professor at the Insper University in Sao Paulo, believes Brazil’s Supreme Court and the justice overseeing several investigations targeting Bolsonaro, Alexandre de Moraes, will not risk sending the former president to prison or imposing other harsh measures with any haste. The objective, he said, is to avoid instigating supporters of the far-right leader and so make cases against him more politically sensitive to prosecute.

“This is a year of mayoral elections. Moraes and his fellow justices know that prosecuting a former president who remains a popular man would be even tougher in a year like this,” Melo said. “This indictment is another piece of the puzzle. It gives one more problem to Bolsonaro. There will be more.”

Last year, Brazil’s top electoral court ruled that Bolsonaro abused his presidential powers during his 2022 reelection bid, which rendered him ineligible for any elections until 2030. The case focused on a meeting during which Bolsonaro used government staffers, the state television channel and the presidential palace in Brasilia to tell foreign ambassadors that the country’s electronic voting system was rigged.

Bolsonaro is expected to meet Argentinian President Javier Milei this weekend at a conservative conference in Balneario Camboriu, in Brazil’s south.

FILE - This photo provided by Brazil's Federal Revenue Department shows jewelry, part of an investigation into gifts received by ex-President Jair Bolsonaro during his term, seized by customs authorities at Guarulhos International Airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the week of March 24, 2023. Brazilian police indicted Bolsonaro on Thursday, July 4, 2024, for money laundering and criminal association, sources say. (Brazil's Federal Revenue Department via AP, File)

FILE - Former President Jair Bolsonaro addresses supporters during a rally in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Feb. 25, 2024. Brazilian police indicted Bolsonaro on Thursday, July 4, 2024, for money laundering and criminal association, sources say. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)