Do you know why Theresa May chose June 7 as her departure date? It means she will avoid being the shortest-serving prime minister in the UK – by eight days.

As ever, her resignation drama has been entirely about Theresa May’s ego – and nothing to do with the good of the United Kingdom.

Some media commentators – most notably the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg – have tried to make Mrs May look heroic, giving up after a long and hard fight for what she believes. But members of the public have been quick to point out that what Mrs May believes isn’t worth the fight:

And Ms Kuenssberg herself attracted criticism for attempting to defend the worst prime minister of the last two-and-a-half centuries:

https://twitter.com/Wirral_In_It/status/1131950400100294657

Still, she wasn’t the only one.

Here’s the appropriate response:

And what are we supposed to make of this?

It is deeply disturbing to hear such words, from the national leader of a church that is supposed to be about love, about a woman whose policies were so filled with hate.

The general reaction has been far more realistic – although the following may be satirical:

The simple fact is that, as Mrs May herself was fond of saying at often-inappropriate moments, nothing has changed:

https://twitter.com/TonyLelliott1/status/1131966479493214209

On the subject of Grenfell, the comment from the Fire Brigades Union is revealing:

“Many of the underlying issues at Grenfell were due to unsafe conditions that had been allowed to fester under Tory governments and a council for which Theresa May bears ultimate responsibility. The inquiry she launched [into the Grenfell Tower disaster] has kicked scrutiny of corporate and government interests into the long grass, denying families and survivors justice, while allowing business as usual to continue for the wealthy. For the outgoing Prime Minister to suggest that her awful response to Grenfell is a proud part of her legacy is, frankly, disgraceful.”

Right!

Getting back to Ms Kuenssberg’s comments, here are some more responses:

Particularly inflammatory has been her decision to claim that she has been influenced by Nicholas Winton, who saved hundreds of children from the Nazis in the months leading up to World War Two.

And Mrs May never compromised on anything. That’s why her negotiations with Labour failed. When she did claim to have made a deal with other politicians, she reneged. Ask the so-called Tory rebels who agreed to support her Brexit legislation after coming to an agreement with her that she renounced immediately after getting the support she wanted. Or ask the DUP.

Observer journo Sonia Sodha has it right:

But the prize for having the most to say must go to Owen Jones. It is as though he started storing up vitriol back in 2017 when Mrs May lost the Tories their Parliamentary majority, and has finally been able to open the floodgates and let it all out.

In a Guardian article entitled Feel no pity for Theresa May. She has been the worst prime minister in modern times, he stated: “May is the worst prime minister – on their own terms – since Lord North’s reign in the late 18th century, when the US colonies declared their independence.

“May did indeed inherit a terrible hand. She then proceeded to douse it liberally with petrol and set it alight.”

On Brexit: “May had no meaningful plan at all, other than undeliverable red lines. She couldn’t negotiate a deal with her own party, let alone with 27 foreign governments.

“The official leave campaigns, and their vitriol about migrants and refugees, merely built on the foundations laid by a home secretary who sent “go home” vans around mixed communities, who spread pernicious myths of being unable to deport illegal migrants because they owned a pet cat, and under whose watch gay refugees felt obliged to film themselves having sex to avoid deportation. There is only one discernible consistency in May’s ideology – and that is bashing migrants.”

On political discourse: “Her allies in the media set about monstering her opponents, poisoning the well of political discourse: the notorious “ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE” Daily Mail front page was penned by James Slack, who promptly became her press secretary. The May premiership will be remembered for creating an environment where terms like “traitor” and “saboteur” became commonplace. She, too, deliberately stoked a culture war that threatens to consume Britain, most notoriously in her demagogic “If you believe you are a citizen of the world, you are a citizen of nowhere,” speech. She appointed Boris Johnson as foreign secretary, antagonising the EU states with whom she needed to strike a deal and reducing Britain further to the status of a laughing stock. For purely domestic partisan gain, she repeatedly made inflammatory speeches about the EU that achieved nothing but fostered bad will.”

On domestic policy: “She declared war on the “burning injustices” she correctly identified had paved the road to Brexit. And then, in the subsequent three years, she oversaw the biggest jump in child poverty for three decades; a housing crisis which has only worsened; the rollout of a universal credit system which is a life-destroying disaster. The Grenfell fire will endure as a reminder of a social order built by Toryism which prioritises money over human life. The Windrush scandal – in which British citizens were denied medical care, kicked out of their homes and even deported from their own country – will remain a salutary lesson of where the migrant-baiting May promoted leads. The surge in violent crime will always testify to the disastrous consequences of the austerity May herself championed.”

On foreign policy: “Whether it be selling weapons to Turkey’s murderous regime, or arming and backing a Saudi dictatorship that has rained British weapons on Yemen, slaughtering thousands of innocents and creating the world’s worst humanitarian disaster… If you wish to spend a moment expending valuable human sympathy, do it not for May – do it for them.”

At the very start of his piece, Mr Jones wrote that people might say, “Oh, wasn’t she given such a terrible hand!”, “is it her fault that her backbenchers are such a bunch of Neanderthal extremists?”, and “it’s not her fault Brexit is such an undeliverable mess, is it?”

To the best of my knowledge, nobody has done so. Nobody worth mentioning, anyway.

Not satisfied with the written word, Mr Jones then took to the airwaves, much to our national enjoyment:

And when Thicky Nicky (Morgan) tried to slap him down for daring to comment on the leadership contest that will follow…

… Mr Jones had the right answer:

And he took his criticisms to Sky News, much to the dismay of Adam Boulton:

https://twitter.com/iknowplacesmp6/status/1131977960444108802

No doubt the execration of Theresa May will continue for some time to come. I’m going to need another article to discuss the tears she she during her resignation speech.

Afterword: I apologise. There was one voice other that had something nice to say about Mrs May – and was quickly stifled:

https://twitter.com/stavvers/status/1131892795495636992

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/

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