UK PM Theresa May says she will leave disappointed after Brexit failure

 

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May delivers a speech at headquarters of Joint Forces Command in Northwood, London, Britain July 8, 2019. Matt Dunham/Pool via REUTERS/Files

 

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said she will leave her job this month with a mixture of pride and disappointment after failing in her central pledge to lead the country out of the European Union and heal its divisions.

 

May, who endured several crises in her failed effort to find a compromise Brexit deal that parliament could ratify, said she underestimated lawmakers' opposition.

 

"I think it’ll be a mixture of pride at having done the job but also a degree of disappointment because there was more that I wanted to do," she told the BBC on Friday.

 

"There were moments when I sat here and thought I wish we’d got Brexit over the line - you know I wish we’d managed to achieve that."

 

Citing parliament’s decision to trigger Article 50, the mechanism which began the process of the UK’s leaving the EU, May said she assumed that parliament would come together and agree a deal to leave.

 

“What I had underestimated was that there were people who were in entrenched positions,” she said. “I'd underestimated the extent to which parliament was not willing to just deliver what people wanted in the referendum.

“I sacrificed my job in order to try to get a deal.”

 

When asked whether the front-runner to replace her, Boris Johnson, understood the seriousness of the office of prime minister, May said she thought that both he and Jeremy Hunt understood the job’s responsibility - although she did not endorse either candidate.

 

With May’s premiership being dogged by leaks and cabinet in-fighting, she pointed to the need for a future return of collective ministerial responsibility, the convention whereby ministers support the government’s line in public.

 

“Good cabinet government depends on collective responsibility and on what is said within the cabinet room ... staying there," she said. "I think once we have left the EU ... collective responsibility needs to return.”

 

(Reporting by Freddie Hayward; editing by Stephen Addison)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-07-15

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you don't say!

She did a marvelous job for the EU. She stifled the EU negotiations, appointed a staunch EU supporter as chief negotiator. She came up with a stupid and ridiculous Withdrawal Agreement that saw parliament kick it out 3 times. She continued to pretend she cared and shed a few tears on the steps of 10 Downing street. She has done a great job for the EU and no doubt will get her reward in the future. At worst a job in the house of lords or even on the EU commission.

 

A disgraceful PM for the UK and people should not forget that.

Theresa May you are an absolute disgrace, you are by far the worst ever prime minister.

You never wanted the UK out of Europe, and did your upmost to achieve your aim.

You were chosen as PM not by the people, but the blue rinse brigade of the tory party, most of them now regretting their stupidity.

Never mind your still rich now off to the Cotswolds to write your memoirs and don't forget a chapter on foodbanks and universal credit ????

41 minutes ago, colinneil said:

You were chosen as PM not by the people, but the blue rinse brigade of the tory party, most of them now regretting their stupidity.

This post should be filed, in order to be able to been copy-paste again. 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, colinneil said:

Theresa May you are an absolute disgrace, you are by far the worst ever prime minister.

You never wanted the UK out of Europe, and did your upmost to achieve your aim.

You were chosen as PM not by the people, but the blue rinse brigade of the tory party, most of them now regretting their stupidity.

Even though it's only the constituents of a leader's constituency who directly vote for them, I agree that she has achieved her aim.

30 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

Even though it's only the constituents of a leader's constituency who directly vote for them, I agree that she has achieved her aim.

Her final words will be Hunt Boris uttered at speed????

Her deal, not a deal we wanted.  Deliberately misled the public to meet her own ends.

how on earth did this brain dead person get to be PM, (sorry i will rephrase that) this DEVIOUS person. hoodwinked 17+ million voters, pro EU, never listened to a word people said, democracy out the door, 3 wasted years, she is a disgrace, the list goes on, her new title THERESA THE APPEASER.

Can,t really see why she should feel that much disappointed when she herself had voted against Brexit !

"disappointed" I do love British understatement. really

4 hours ago, rooster59 said:

“I'd underestimated the extent to which parliament was not willing to just deliver what people wanted in the referendum.

Surely after all your years as a politician, you would have learnt that, once they are ensconced, MPs don't give a <deleted> about voters.

Well at least we are not disapointed ,that you are going that is .

She won't be disappointed by her pension though.

Theresa May you are an absolute disgrace, you are by far the worst ever prime minister.
You never wanted the UK out of Europe, and did your upmost to achieve your aim.
You were chosen as PM not by the people, but the blue rinse brigade of the tory party, most of them now regretting their stupidity.

What leader of any political party has ever been chosen by the people?

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4 hours ago, colinneil said:

Theresa May you are an absolute disgrace, you are by far the worst ever prime minister.

You never wanted the UK out of Europe, and did your upmost to achieve your aim.

You were chosen as PM not by the people, but the blue rinse brigade of the tory party, most of them now regretting their stupidity.

Lied, and was found out.

 

A vicars daughter - that proved to be a cynical construct didn't it...

4 hours ago, colinneil said:

Theresa May you are an absolute disgrace, you are by far the worst ever prime minister.

You never wanted the UK out of Europe, and did your upmost to achieve your aim.

You were chosen as PM not by the people, but the blue rinse brigade of the tory party, most of them now regretting their stupidity.

Well, in fairness (goodness, what am I saying) she was confirmed - by the skin of her teeth - in a general election. 

 

In all other respects your post is an accurate summary.

1 minute ago, JAG said:

Well, in fairness (goodness, what am I saying) she was confirmed - by the skin of her teeth - in a general election. 

 

In all other respects your post is an accurate summary.

Yes but look at the alternative..... Corbyn.

Nobody with a functioning brain would want him as PM.

Her biggest mistake was not to tell the cake, cherry and unicorn seeking brexiters that those things are not available and will never be available. It's like having a referendum where we all decide we want to be richer than everybody else and 52% want that. Who will realize it? Obviously nobody. But many brexiters still dream about Great Brittan and want to see it great again. It won't happen! And it especially won't happen outside of the EU. "Best" case you will become Trumps little European island - and that is best case. 555

An expat Yanks ( of Highlander descent) view and yes its likely contentious.

May, as the Prime Minister before her, made politics only from London. No Western democracy is so centrally controlled as Britain. May did not break that, she did not even think about reaching consensus in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales. Although she used the impoverished regions of northern England as a backdrop for her Brexit appearances in front of the cameras.  That London is responsible for the misery of the impoverished population - and not the EU - did not occur to her at all. Thus, the Brexit advocates confirmed their conviction that only withdrawal from the EU would bring about a change for the better. This conviction makes it almost impossible today to find a way out of the impasse even in a new referendum.

31 minutes ago, colinneil said:

Yes but look at the alternative..... Corbyn.

Nobody with a functioning brain would want him as PM.

Yes, little choice isn't there!

 

I am fascinated by the depth of the opposition in the media to Boris Johnson's candidacy to lead the Tory party, and thus become Prime Minister. Perhaps the media/"common purpose" brigade are concerned at the emergence of a Tory leader with a proven record in winning difficult elections in territory regarded as the left's?

 

I don't think Boris would be a Prime Minister in the mould of Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair (whatever you think of their politics), but he will at least try to lead. I used to read The Spectator when he was editor, it was funny, challenging, informative and tolerant, spanning a wide range of views. I have also read a number of his books. They are also, informative, witty and well written - and again not always leading to a predictable conclusion. 

 

He would at least be a leader about whom the wider electorate will be able to make up their own mind, rather than just be informed by the "Westminster bubble". That, I suspect, is what motivates much of the concern displayed at that prospect by that "Westminster bubble"!

 

A comment I read somewhere springs to mind (I can't remember by whom, it might have been Michael Gove when he was a journalist): "They used to shout 'Boris you Tory bastard' at him as he rode his bike past their vans in the London traffic, but they voted for him when the election came round". That is a worry for some circles...

The chicken house (House of Commons) rejected her offer & they will reject any other offer that comes along as they are all looking after their own <deleted> rather than what is good for the UK.

Those that believe that the EU will bend to the UK wishes are in for a shock in particular as whoever out of these two clowns becomes PM have zero negotiating skills & patience as May.

They had a deal now gone ,,,,, The UK is doomed for 10 years

Am I right in thinking she only got anywhere because she was a women and not by ability? Achieved nothing as home secretary, apart from decimating the Police force and achieved even less as PM. Total failure and a useless time waster where brexit is concerned.

4 minutes ago, natway09 said:

The chicken house (House of Commons) rejected her offer & they will reject any other offer that comes along as they are all looking after their own <deleted> rather than what is good for the UK.

Those that believe that the EU will bend to the UK wishes are in for a shock in particular as whoever out of these two clowns becomes PM have zero negotiating skills & patience as May.

They had a deal now gone ,,,,, The UK is doomed for 10 years

And people vote(d) for those clowns.

But I am sure they will blame someone else when the clowns don't deliver what they promise.

Amazing - and so stupid.

49 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Her biggest mistake was not to tell the cake, cherry and unicorn seeking brexiters that those things are not available and will never be available. It's like having a referendum where we all decide we want to be richer than everybody else and 52% want that. Who will realize it? Obviously nobody. But many brexiters still dream about Great Brittan and want to see it great again. It won't happen! And it especially won't happen outside of the EU. "Best" case you will become Trumps little European island - and that is best case. 555

555 cobblers. All that was needed was a fair negotiation for a fair deal, even Article 50 seems to imply that this would be the case. Unfortunately for that to happen, fair mindedness was required from both sides. The EU seemed to be too concerned with other member states following suit, but if the EU is so wonderful, why would that be?

 

 

11 minutes ago, natway09 said:

The chicken house (House of Commons) rejected her offer & they will reject any other offer that comes along as they are all looking after their own <deleted> rather than what is good for the UK.

Those that believe that the EU will bend to the UK wishes are in for a shock in particular as whoever out of these two clowns becomes PM have zero negotiating skills & patience as May.

They had a deal now gone ,,,,, The UK is doomed for 10 years

Her (EU) 'offer' was crap. That's why the EU were so happy with it and also why the UK Parliament rejected it.

6 hours ago, Laughing Gravy said:

She did a marvelous job for the EU. She stifled the EU negotiations, appointed a staunch EU supporter as chief negotiator. She came up with a stupid and ridiculous Withdrawal Agreement that saw parliament kick it out 3 times. She continued to pretend she cared and shed a few tears on the steps of 10 Downing street. She has done a great job for the EU and no doubt will get her reward in the future. At worst a job in the house of lords or even on the EU commission.

 

A disgraceful PM for the UK and people should not forget that.

Totally agree, if her level of persistence had been used to get the UK out of Europe rather than befuddle the approach to try and stay in, we'd have left with a successful deal years ago. She was absolutely awful as a PM and awful for the country. She's still deluded and likely as you mention, to get a highly paid sinecure thanks to the civil service being in control over such things nowadays. Good riddance.

disappointed she did get the vote cancelled and we still half in the eu  and can never leave her club.

3 hours ago, nauseus said:

555 cobblers. All that was needed was a fair negotiation for a fair deal, even Article 50 seems to imply that this would be the case. Unfortunately for that to happen, fair mindedness was required from both sides. The EU seemed to be too concerned with other member states following suit, but if the EU is so wonderful, why would that be?

The EU was from the very beginning open to several options. And in a way they are still open to these options.

The UK can chose which option they want. The problem with the UK politicians, and the people who vote for them, is that they want to combine different options into something impossible. Like take the best of option A and combine it with the best of option B and avoid the parts which they don't like.

It's like going to a car dealer and looking at a truck wich can transport 2 tons and a sports car which can win a race. Which one do you want? The UK wants a cars which is can transport 2 tons, win a race, and is the cheapest car in the showroom. Guess what, something like that does not exist, and everybody with at least half a brain should be able to understand this...