BREXIT and Donald Trump could end the career one of Scotland’s most glamorous, handsome and dangerous men – Commander James Bond.
The new world order heralds restrictions on travel and sharing intelligence which will make the job of 007 almost impossible, according to academics.
Professors Klaus Dodds of Royal Holloway University, London, and Lisa Funnell of Oklahoma University make their startling warning in an academic magazine.
Bond has previously crossed borders by car, foot and even skis, but the pair say strict international borders as a result of Britain leaving the EU could see him queuing up at passport control.
They also argue that US president-elect Donald Trump’s promise to “Make America Great Again” could mean colluding with the likes of the CIA’s Felix Leiter becomes impossible.
The academics even suggest that Bond may be forced to cast aside his Scottish heritage after Scotland’s overwhelming vote to remain in the European Union.
In “How Brexit and Trump will affect James Bond”, they write: “Brexit will certainly have an impact on Bond’s mobility.
“In most of the films featuring airports, including the earliest Dr No Bond is depicted as walking through them with brio, as a man untroubled by the “petty sovereigns” who administer and police airports.
“Travel could become more complicated for a post-Brexit Bond. His ability to glide through customs and border inspections airports and seaports would certainly diminish. European partners might react badly to Brexit and tell the UK to rely on the United States.”
The pair add: “Working with the United States might be tricky, though. Recent Bond films have suggested a more ambivalent relationship with the former “special partner”.
“The CIA’s Felix Leiter was helpful in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace but did not feature in the two most recent films. The warm relationship that Bond enjoyed with earlier incarnations of Leiter has long gone.
“This sense of unease with the UK-US relationship is sure to only increase with Trump as president. He may prime his administration to insulate and isolate the United States from forms of globalisation that are antithetical America’s recovery to “greatness”.”
Speaking specifically about Bond’s relationship with Scotland, they explain: “Skyfall is overwhelmingly a celebration of a United Kingdom. Bond’s Anglo-Scottish heritage is integral to his movement from London to Scotland and back again.
“But given a divisive Brexit vote in June, might Bond’s identity shift and become a more English in the wake of Scotland’s overwhelming vote to remain in the European Union?”
But Conservative MSP and Leave campaigner Graham Simpson disputed some of the claims made by the professors
He said: “If anything Bond will travel the world with even greater pride knowing he is serving a country which had broken free from the shackles of Brussels.
“He will be in 00-heaven when we are free to make renewed friendships in the world.”
Profs Dodds and Funnell have previously written about Bond before, and intend to publish their findings in a book, The Geographies, Genders and Geopolitics of James Bond, in 2017.
Dodds’ previous work mainly centres on the areas of geopolitics, media and security, whilst Funnell lectures in Gender Studies.
It has been widely reported that the next James Bond film is set for release in 2018.
