Theresa May has not only humiliated herself in Europe – she has humiliated us ALL. Politically, she is a dead woman walking
Not a stateswoman: The facial expression says it all.
I don’t think I have to comment much on this one. I’ll just let everybody else do the talking – starting with Donald Tusk:
European Council President Donald Tusk says EU leaders agree Theresa May's Chequers plan for #Brexit "will not work" because "it risks undermining the single market" https://t.co/UpHoAK94GG pic.twitter.com/H5FPZPUNN9
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) September 20, 2018
This is absolutely MASSIVE – Chequers is officially dead.
If Theresa May is unwilling to compromise, the only viable solution will be no deal. This will get voted down in Parliament, creating a constitutional crisis, and another General Election will have to be called. https://t.co/PELVWbUeKL
— Evolve Politics (@evolvepolitics) September 20, 2018
If you’re wondering what this means, here’s Paul Mason:
Theresa May's "perfidious Albion" strategy hasn't quite worked, has it. "Chequers is dead", apparently, means Chequers is dead. Make way for a Labour government that can turn our economy around, deliver a Brexit that does minimal economic harm, and stop wasting Europe's time!
— Paul Mason (@paulmasonnews) September 20, 2018
But let’s not take his word at face value. Theresa May had something to say about it:
“How can you credibly cling on to the deal you struck at Chequers with your cabinet?” asks @bbclaurak
“We are continuing to work for a good deal” replies @theresa_may https://t.co/0NBwWkYRLW #Brexit pic.twitter.com/Cv3PZ5LnB3
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) September 20, 2018
And this is what The Independent had to say about that:
It was the lowest moment of her premiership thus far, and that very much includes the time she was being openly mocked by a lord with a bucket on his head.
When [Theresa May] stands on stage at a press conference, her teeth gnashing, her eyes wide and wild, as if everything has gone utterly terribly wrong and she hasn’t got the first clue what she is going to do about it, then you can be absolutely sure it’s because everything has indeed gone utterly terribly wrong, and she hasn’t got the first clue what she is going to do about it.
https://twitter.com/sketchaganda/status/1042785122171465730
That Theresa May was reduced to a brittle husk of anger is because this kind of pure frustration emerges only when you know there is no one left to blame. No one else at whom the finger can be pointed, because the defeat is entirely your fault.
She had been humiliated, and then she was forced to humiliate herself. She had thought this informal summit of EU leaders in Salzburg would be the final breakthrough on an exit deal from the European Union.
But there has been no breakthrough. There is still a chasm of empty space between her red lines and the European Union’s. The question of the Irish border appears unresolvable.
Either Northern Ireland stays in the single market and the customs union, or the whole of the UK does, or there is no deal. None of these options are satisfactory for the UK.
A customs border in the Irish Sea, whilst humiliating in any circumstances, is simply impossible when your government depends on Northern Irish MPs because you squandered your parliamentary majority.
Of course, everyone had an opinion about it:
I have never seen a British prime minister more isolated & humiliated at a summit than Mrs May at Salzburg
Brexit is turning us into the laughing stock of Europe
— Andrew Adonis (@Andrew_Adonis) September 20, 2018
May thinks EU are bluffing
I think she hasn’t got a clue— Tom London (@TomLondon6) September 20, 2018
It seems the Chequers plan is deceased. Theresa May staked her reputation on this much-ridiculed plan, and said it’s the Chequers deal or no deal. So if we are heading for no deal, *now* is the time to call a general election, so a new government can step in a get a bloody grip.
— Rachael Swindon (@Rachael_Swindon) September 20, 2018
We need a #Generalelectionnow pic.twitter.com/Gm2fV2B5kG
— Paul Mason (@paulmasonnews) September 20, 2018
MEMO to the PM.
You've done your best re Brexit – you've tried to square the circle re your intransigent , obdurate RW.
You've indulged the ERG. & the DUP
Why not just accept that the entire Brexit gig is not worth a row of beans
AND CALL IT OFF.
And put Country BEFORE Party.— Clare Hepworth OBE (@Hepworthclare) September 20, 2018
And my opinion? What do I think?
I think it’s over.
Mrs May cannot devise a scheme that will reconcile the wishes of the hard Brexiters in her party with those of the DUP and the EU 27.
She has steered the UK up a cul-de-sac, and now she has run out of gas. There is no way back from this.
Her ministers will not accept anything she brings back from Salzburg, let alone Parliament as a whole.
Theresa May is finished. We will see a constitutional crisis this autumn – and maybe it will lead to a general election.
If it doesn’t – and you can bet Mrs May will do all she can to hold on to office – it will be worse for all of us in the long run.
In a more honourable age a Prime Minister whose #ChequersPlan was rejected by her caucus and the EU would resign as PM or call an election. Sadly, Theresa May has proven throughout her political career that she has no honour.
— John Smith (son of Harry Leslie Smith) (@Harryslaststand) September 20, 2018
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She had the gall to mock Labour by presenting the humiliating image of Corbyn “naked and alone” in the Brexit negotiations. How’s that going Tweezer?
What a horrendous botch job this party, and this PM, has done of trying to negotiate Brexit. They have proved beyond any reasonable doubt that they just haven’t got a clue, and they are simply unfit for high office. They’re not up to the job.
But what makes me really angry is that you just KNOW this truculent and incapable woman will not do the honourable thing and resign. She will not sit down and consider what’s best for this country – and that would be her resignation, so that someone else more capable, more personable, can take over and try to salvage something of this mess.
Instead she will cling on to power in a grotesque display of defiance. She has shown contempt for the people of Britain, and even for her own party. She is still insisting there is nothing else on the table – only what SHE believes is right is an option, nothing else counts. As pointed out above, she has made the whole situation worse because of being in hoc to the DUP and depending on them for votes. Now they can virtually dictate to her the stance she has to take on the Irish border, and she has no room for manoeuvre. She is being held to ransom by a tiny group of 10 MPs, and on that rests the future of our whole country.
The woman is not only delusional to an alarming degree, but she is scarily authoritarian, to the point of almost being a dictator within her party. Remember when she simply brushed Davis aside like an old rag when she decided her own white paper was better than anything he could offer? No wonder the man is seething with resentment.
The whole thing is a disgrace. I cannot believe that arguably the most important decision this country has ever made has been left to this shambles of a cabinet to sort out. She, and indeed her whole cabinet, should resign in disgrace. There should be a general election called. This is the honourable thing.
But she has NEVER been an honourable person.
She had lost her mandate in the 2017 election – the people of GB rejected her hard Brexit but she still carried on knowing the damage it would cause our economy – May deserves every thing she gets ”NOTHING….
It must come as an unpleasant surprise to these nasty Tories that their “divide and rule” tactic hasn’t worked. May has been a “dead woman walking” for a long time now, but she obviously either doesn’t realise it, or doesn’t want to accept it.
She should tell them if they can’t come to some amicable agreement that they won’t be getting any goodbye money out of us either.
No deal is better then the wrong deal. Just think about if you where sorting something for your household and family and you didn’t like the deal someone was offering. I know what I would say
Sorry not acceptable. NO DEAL
This is not quite the same. I think it would be more accurate to say no deal is just as bad as a bad deal.
Theresa May has not only let the EU down she has let this country and her own party down as her primary object is to find anyway to stay in control. It is time her own party realized this and got rid of her. What we need now is a Leader (hopefully Labour) who realizes the benefits of being part of a larger community which actually puts us in profit and acts with dignity and friendship.
It doesn’t matter whether the divorce settlement is 40 Billion or 40 Trillion the EU won’t compromise fundamental principles
May will drag the UK over a cliff.