Theresa May: British Bulldog with a Brexit Bone (Posted November 25, 2018)



With her back against the ropes, Prime Minister Theresa May has been doing less boxing and more fighting this week as MP's on both sides of the House have peppered her with their criticisms of the draft EU Withdrawal Agreement. In the days following the announcement of the draft Agreement, May was faced with two resignations from her cabinet, calls for a vote of no confidence from members of her own party, threats from her DUP allies to abstain from their confidence and supply agreement, and predictions that MP's will vote down the deal if it is not renegotiated before it is brought before the House.

Through it all, May has persisted. During the 2016 Conservative Party leadership election, venerable MP Kenneth Clarke described her as a, "bloody difficult woman." Anyone in favor of Brexit should hope he was right. Indeed, Brexiteers should be grateful that they have a British Bulldog with a Brexit bone in her jaws going to Brussels on their behalf and standing by her work at home.

On Thursday Nov. 15, and again a week later, the PM delivered oral statements to the House on the progress of the EU negotiations, and spent three hours each day answering questions at the despatch box. If she had simply repeated the same lines over the course of six hours, observers might have thought she was in denial about the weight of opinion against her. Most, however, will be relieved, if not delighted, that she has taken a different tack. Critics of May's staid manner sometimes refer to her as The Maybot. Since her first outing at PMQ's, during which she was refreshingly free in her mannerisms, May has figuratively kept both hands on the wheel at 10 and 2, and made extensive use of several phrases including "strong and stable," "no deal is better than a bad deal," and "take back control of our money, laws, and borders." Last Thursday, that politically safe approach was replaced by a more engaging one. Having released the text of the draft agreement the night before, May took great pains that day to answer each question, even those that questioned her ability to continue as leader of her party, with a precise and carefully-worded response. Under the circumstances, that approach was absolutely necessary. By the following week, the Maybot had been garaged, and the PM's contemplative tone had evolved into a declarative one. Her performances this past Wednesday and Thursday were as free and redoubtable as any since her first PMQ's, almost Thatcher-like in their resolve and their bewilderment at the feebleness of the opposition (clips below).

Now that the tide of public opinion has started to turn in May's favor in response to the ad hominem attacks she endured since the release of the draft Agreement, Brexiteers, for their own sake, should fall in line behind her. If the deal in hand does not get through the Commons, the long-run outlook would tend toward Remain, either immediately if calls for a second referendum were to gain traction early next year, or soon after if a no-deal withdrawal were to lead to an economic shock. As opinions across the House accrete into voting blocs in the coming weeks, Brexiteers of every stripe should hope that an emboldened May continues in her current form so that, in spite of themselves, they see Brexit come to fruition in March.



Caroline Lucas' contribution to PMQ's, Nov. 21, 2018. Prime Minister Theresa May delivers a forceful response.





Prime Minister Theresa May is bewildered by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's comment about her commitment to the draft EU Withdrawal Agreement.





Prime Minister Theresa May asks a few rhetorical questions in a scene reminiscent of the arrival of the police officer in the movie Clue. The group replies "No!" to each question, but May responds with a calm but insistent, "Yes."





Tom Brake, in his characteristic style, asks Prime Minister Theresa May about the possibility of a People's Vote on the EU Withdrawal Agreement.





Prime Minister Theresa May assures former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Theresa Villiers that the backstop arrangement is not a trap.





Prime Minister Theresa May responds to Dominic Grieve's and Angela Eagle's critiques of the expanded outline of political understanding for the EU withdrawal agreement.






Tags | Tom Brake | Jeremy Corbyn | Angela Eagle | Dominic Grieve | Caroline Lucas | Theresa May | Theresa Villiers