London: A jilted Europe wants the UK out sooner rather than later, as the European Union Commission president warned that Brexit was "not an amicable divorce".
It was the first sign Britain is in for a rocky end to its European marriage, despite promises from the UK's current, and probable next prime ministers of a slow and orderly separation.
And it comes as the country deals with internal political and economic mayhem, as the Brexit vote brutally reconfigured the nation's assumptions and prospects. Scotland and Northern Ireland, both of whom voted to Remain, have flagged moves to break away from a suddenly disunited kingdom in order to stay in the EU.
Resigning PM David Cameron promised to "steady the ship" in the short term but vowed to leave office by October, reportedly asking aides "why should I do all the hard s**t" in extricating Britain from its legal and trade ties to the continent.
Economists warned of years of dampened corporate investment, employment and consumer spending, as two ratings agencies – Moody's and Standard & Poor's, downgraded their assessments of the UK's credit outlook.
And Britons shared grimly humorous memes about a newly devalued pound, which hit a 30-year low as international markets weighed the probably economic effects of Brexit and found a lot not to like.
Some desperately speculated on Friday that the government, or parliament, might foil Brexit with a new referendum or by simply declining to act on the will of the people expressed in the vote.
Outside Number Ten on Friday, David Cameron insisted "The will of the British people is an instruction that must be delivered".
However he then declined to deliver it himself, saying it would not "be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination".
For Britain to leave the EU the government must formally activate 'Article 50', a hitherto-unused treaty power that sets off a two-year period of negotiation with the continent over the terms of divorce.
Mr Cameron said it was for the next prime minister to decide when to trigger Article 50. Behind the scenes, The Sun reported, he told aides ""Why should I do all the hard s**t for someone else, just to hand it over to them on a plate?"
But Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, said there was no reason to wait and he wanted to "get started immediately" negotiating the UK's new relationship with Europe.
"Britons decided that they want to leave the European Union, so it doesn't make any sense to wait until October to try to negotiate the terms of their departure," he told Germany's ARD television station.
The separation was "not an amicable divorce" from what "was not exactly a tight love affair anyway", he said. Mr Juncker has used this metaphor before – in January, as Mr Cameron tried to extract treaty concessions to head off Brexit, Mr Juncker said he was "against all forms of grovelling … it's easy to fall in love and more difficult to stay together".
The President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, said the EU would not let the UK re-join the single market. Mr Schulz added he did not want "a whole continent taken hostage because of an internal fight in the Tory party".
The EU's six founding members were due to meet in Berlin on Saturday to discuss the Brexit fallout, ahead of broader discussions with all EU states – except Britain – next week. The EU leaders' main concern is now to reassure remaining members the European project has a future.
They are likely to push for a hard line in negotiations with Britain, for fear of encouraging other national referendums – the internet has already prepared useful tags including Swexit, Grexit, Byegium, Czechout, Departugal, Italeave, Latervia and Finish.
On Friday, in a provocative move, the mayor of Calais called for the crowded and controversial migrant camps in his town to be moved to Britain, tearing up the 'Le Touquet' agreement which keeps border checks on the French side of the Channel.
"The British must take on the consequences of their choice," Natacha Bouchart said, backed by the president of the Hauts-de-France region who Tweeted "The English wanted to take back their freedom, they must take back their border".
But the UK faced more immediate problems.
Ratings agency Moody's announced it had downgraded the country's credit rating, predicting "the negative effect from lower economic growth will outweigh the fiscal savings from the UK no longer having to contribute to the EU budget" and adding the UK had one of the largest budget deficits among advanced economies.
It came after Standard & Poor's warned Britain would lose its last remaining triple-A credit rating, saying it was "untenable" in the face of Brexit.
On Friday rumours spread of big businesses already making plans to quit for the continent. The BBC reported that US investment bank Morgan Stanley had a plan to move 2000 staff out of London, to either Dublin or Frankfurt – though the company denied the story.
Airbus announced it would "review UK investment strategy, like everybody else will".
Labour's former foreign secretary Margaret Beckett said she feared major firms including Rolls Royce, train maker Bombardier and car giant Toyota would leave the UK. Indeed, an entire nation may leave.
Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon said a new independence plebiscite north of the border was "highly likely". It would be "democratically unacceptable" to drag Scotland out of the EU against its will, she said, after 62 per cent of Scots backed Remain.
And Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness called for a new poll on a united Ireland. His region receives considerable 'peace money' subsidies from the EU. However the call from Sinn Fein's McGuinness was rejected by both the pro-British first minister and the Irish prime minister.
Nearly 100,000 people have signed a petition calling on London mayor Sadiq Khan to declare the capital independent from the UK and apply to join the EU. London defied the rest of the country with a strong turnout and overwhelming Remain vote.
Within England, regions who had come out for Leave such as Cornwall sent querulous demands to the Leave camp seeking reassurance that their European subsidies would be re-funded by Westminster.
They will most likely be taking their case to former London mayor Boris Johnson, who is expected to stand for prime minister with justice secretary Michael Gove as Chancellor in a 'Brexit government' – though home secretary Theresa May is a possible moderate candidate, having kept quiet during the referendum campaign.
On Friday Mr Johnson addressed those in the UK and overseas "anxious" about the consequences of Brexit.
He also sought to reassure young Britons, who had voted strongly to Remain in the EU.
"This doesn't mean the UK will be in any way less united nor any less European," he said, denying the result was an isolationist "pulling up a drawbridge".
"We are part of Europe," he said. "Our children and grandchildren will continue to have wonderful future as Europeans. "Britain will continue to be a great European power. We can find our voice in the world again."
He promised a more prosperous future for the UK by taking back control of laws and policies, saying Britain would continue to be a "powerful, liberal, humane and extraordinary force for good in the world."
Michael Gove promised a calm and consensual approach to implementing the Brexit process.
The mission was to "secure the best possible terms for Britain" in the upcoming negotiations with Europe, predicting a "gradual divergence" from the EU.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell told Channel 4 he expected a general election to be called as soon as the new prime minister took office in the autumn.
Also on Friday a group of Labour MPs rose in open rebellion against Jeremy Corbyn, whom they blamed for not doing enough to energise the Labour base for Remain.
A motion of no confidence in Mr Corbyn was tabled by Labour MPs Margaret Hodge and Ann Coffey, though he was expected to survive the move with the support of the unions.
According to polling, almost two-thirds of Labour supporters were for Remain, while only 42% of Conservative voters were. Less than a third of the eventual Remain vote came from Conservatives.
