Car recommendations

[rooster59]

UK's May isolated ahead of Brexit talks as key aides quit

By Kate Holton and Amanda Ferguson

 

Britain's Primer Minister Theresa May leaves Downing Street on her way to Buckingham Palace after Britain's election in London, Britain June 9, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah Mckay

 

LONDON/BELFAST (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May appeared increasingly isolated after a botched election gamble that left her severely weakened and plunged Britain into a political crisis, days before the start of talks to leave the European Union.

 

May's two closest aides resigned on Saturday, paying the price for the failure to crush the opposition Labour Party under its radical left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn.

 

Labour stunned even its own supporters by winning more parliamentary seats than expected and, although it lost the election, its performance was widely seen as a moral victory for Corbyn.

 

May called the vote three years early in the hope of scoring a sweeping win to strengthen her hand in the challenging Brexit talks, which are due to start in nine days' time.

 

That calculation backfired spectacularly on Thursday as voters stripped her Conservative Party of a parliamentary majority and forced her to turn to a small political party from Northern Ireland to prop up a minority government.

 

May's aides, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, announced on Saturday that they had quit following sustained criticism of the campaign within the party.

 

Timothy and Hill had worked for May when she was interior minister, before she became prime minister in July last year in the chaotic days that followed the Brexit vote, and their influence had increasingly angered senior ministers.

 

Since the election, most of the members of her cabinet have kept quiet on the issue of May's future, adding to speculation that her days as prime minister might be numbered.

 

"SHE'S STAYING - FOR NOW"

 

Britain's typically pro-Conservative press questioned whether she could remain in power with the clock ticking on the two-year EU divorce process.

 

The best-selling Sun newspaper said senior members of the party had vowed to get rid of May, but would wait at least six months because they feared a leadership contest could propel Labour into power under Corbyn, who supports renationalisation of key industries and higher taxes for business and top earners.

 

"She's staying, for now," one Conservative Party source told Reuters. Former Conservative cabinet minister Owen Paterson, asked about her future, said: "Let's see how it pans out."

 

A senior Conservative lawmaker was in Belfast on Saturday for talks with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), whose 10 seats in the new parliament could give May just enough support to pass legislation.

 

A source close to the DUP said the party was seeking more funding for the province and concessions for former British soldiers in exchange for supporting May.

 

But the wooing of the DUP risks upsetting the political balance in Northern Ireland by aligning London more closely with the pro-British side in the divided province, where a power-sharing government with Irish nationalists is currently suspended.

 

The crisis also increases the chance that Britain will fall out of the EU in 2019 without a deal. May called the snap election to win a clear mandate for her plan to take Britain out of the EU's single market and customs union in order to cut immigration.

 

GROWING UNCERTAINTY

 

But her party is deeply divided over what it wants from Brexit, and the election result means British businesses still have no idea what trading rules they can expect in the coming years.

 

EU Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said it may now be possible to discuss closer ties between Britain and the EU than May had initially planned, given her election flop.

 

"For instance, if London were to stay in the customs union, then it would not have to renegotiate all trade agreements," he told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper.

 

The British pound tumbled on Friday against the U.S. dollar and the euro before stabilising, down 1.7 and 1.4 percent against the two currencies respectively.

 

After confirming on Friday that her top five ministers, including finance minister Philip Hammond, would keep their jobs, May must name the rest of her team, who will take on one of the most demanding jobs in recent British history.

 

May has said Brexit talks will begin on June 19 as scheduled, the same day as the formal reopening of parliament.

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she assumed Britain still wanted to leave the EU and talks should start quickly.

 

But Elmar Brok, a German conservative and the European Parliament's top Brexit expert, told the Ruhr Nachrichten newspaper that the talks would now be more complicated.

 

"May won't be able to make any compromises because she lacks a broad parliamentary majority," he said.

 

ANOTHER ELECTION?

 

If she is to succeed in delivering the wishes of the 52 percent of voters who opted to take Britain out of the EU last year, she must find a way to bridge the differences within her party to pass legislation preparing for and enacting the departure.

 

Anand Menon, professor of politics at King's College London, said her lack of a parliamentary majority made it far more likely that Britain would leave the EU without a deal.

 

"Imagine she survives until autumn of next year," he said. "You will have a very fractious parliament. It is far from guaranteed to vote the deal through."

 

A failure to get legislation through parliament could eventually trigger another election.

 

Conservative Party insiders are also wondering how long May will last. "Theresa May is certainly the strongest leader that we have at the moment," lawmaker David Jones told the BBC.

 

The Times newspaper's front page declared "May stares into the abyss". It said Britain was "effectively leaderless" and the country "all but ungovernable". Its cartoon depicted May in a coffin with her feet sticking out and a speech bubble saying "Nothing has changed", a line she repeated several times as she reversed a key policy on social care during the campaign.

 

"The Conservatives have not yet broken the British system of democracy, but through their hubris and incompetence they have managed to make a mockery of it," it said in an editorial. "The task of restoring orderly government in order to make sense of Brexit is now a national emergency, and it falls to them."

 

The Telegraph newspaper said senior Conservatives including Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, interior minister Amber Rudd and Brexit minister David Davis were taking soundings over whether to seek to oust May.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-06-11

[brewsterbudgen]

May sought a "mandate" for Brexit. She didn't get it. An all party Brexit negotiating team needs to be put together to ensure a consensus on the terms of Brexit is achieved.

[oxo1947]

Fancy going into government with a bunch of racist, bigoted right wing homophobic thugs.

.

But I suppose the Democratic Unionist Party will just have to put up with the  Conservatives......

[darksidedog]

She is in trouble for sure. Boris is undoubtedly rubbing his hands together, sensing that maybe his time is coming after all.

[John1012]

The stupid woman had a majority, she did not need an election, which she totally screwed up. She dithered on invoking article 50 , instead of doing it immediately, dither,dither, now destination F*cked looms. She has dramatically shown she is not capable of making strategic decisions on her own,she needed a pair of brown nosers to help her, as the leader of a country must be able to do, so she must be relieved of her position asap before she digs the UK deeper into the sh*t. Rees-Mogg would be a respected and safe pair of hands, Johnson has a little too much public exposure, whilst being highly intelligent, can be a little erratic at times, Davis , while competent and a staunch supporter of Brexit is somewhat of an unknown, Amber Rudd, another non-entity in the mode of Sharia May. One great advantage of an alliance with the DUP will be a hardening of the attitude towards the entitled  easily offended cult of Islam. Not before time.

[NanLaew]

I think she's well shot of those two weasels. Did anyone pick up on Fiona Hill's short but pretentious farewell speech where she claimed it had been "an honour to serve in government"?

 

Excuse me sunshine, but last time I checked, only elected members of parliament serve in government. You were just a pin-headed, part-time lobbysist, opportunist, wannabe play maker cum sh!t stirrer that May had the misfortune to listen to even after she was forced to sack you when she was at the Home Office under Cameron's tenure.

 

Bugger these bloody spin doctors.

Edited June 11, 2017 by NanLaew

[nontabury]

26 minutes ago, John1012 said:

The stupid woman had a majority, she did not need an election, which she totally screwed up. She dithered on invoking article 50 , instead of doing it immediately, dither,dither, now destination F*cked looms. She has dramatically shown she is not capable of making strategic decisions on her own,she needed a pair of brown nosers to help her, as the leader of a country must be able to do, so she must be relieved of her position asap before she digs the UK deeper into the sh*t. Rees-Mogg would be a respected and safe pair of hands, Johnson has a little too much public exposure, whilst being highly intelligent, can be a little erratic at times, Davis , while competent and a staunch supporter of Brexit is somewhat of an unknown, Amber Rudd, another non-entity in the mode of Sharia May. One great advantage of an alliance with the DUP will be a hardening of the attitude towards the entitled  easily offended cult of Islam. Not before time.

MAY was never in favour of Brexit, she voted against it in last years referendum.

Then she employed two brown noses, to put together a suicide manifesto. Now we hear that she has installed as her chief of staff, another prominent Remoaners in the person of Gavin Barwell. This can only lead to the conclusion that the electorate have been well and truly screwed by the establishment.

Edited June 11, 2017 by nontabury

[nauseus]

Should read key aides fired!

[Usernames]

2 hours ago, nontabury said:

MAY was never in favour of Brexit, she voted against it in last years referendum.

Then she employed two brown noses, to put together a suicide manifesto. Now we hear that she has installed as her chief of staff, another prominent Remoaners in the person of Gavin Barwell. This can only lead to the conclusion that the electorate have been well and truly screwed by the establishment.

Sound as if the Conservatives in the UK are like the Republicans in the US. Both would rather lose than see their precious global agenda broken by a bunch deplorable voters.

[sujoop]

6 hours ago, darksidedog said:

She is in trouble for sure. Boris is undoubtedly rubbing his hands together, sensing that maybe his time is coming after all.

Only AFTER May expires from a dreadful campaign and upcoming handling of the poisoned Brexit chalice (which Boris all but 'won'  -  then promptly ran away from.... ) and now here we are:

 

 

 

Edited June 11, 2017 by sujoop

[Basil B]

6 hours ago, rooster59 said:

If she is to succeed in delivering the wishes of the 52 percent of voters who opted to take Britain out of the EU last year, she must find a way to bridge the differences within her party to pass legislation preparing for and enacting the departure

 

As I recall the Exit-tears were promoting the Norway model...

 

A lot of people fell for that Hook, Line & Sinker. therefor the majority is now looking for a soft exit, remaining in the single market and customs union and some tweaking of the freedom of movement..

[Jonmarleesco]

'Timothy and Hill had worked for May when she was interior minister ...' There's no such title in British government. She was home secretary. 

[Jonmarleesco]

'... May must name the rest of her team, who will take on one of the most demanding jobs in recent British history ...' What, exactly, does that mean? 'Team 'is collective plural; 'one of' is singular, meaning only one job. 

[Basil B]

14 minutes ago, Jonmarleesco said:

'Timothy and Hill had worked for May when she was interior minister ...' There's no such title in British government. She was home secretary. 

 

Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department, normally referred to as the Home Secretary.

[Basil B]

FAKENEWS...

Teresa is going for another walk on Snowdon this afternoon for some more inspiration. 

 

 

Edited June 11, 2017 by Basil B

[Krataiboy]

(Sorry this is such a lengthy read, but  the devil is in the detail!)

 

Call me a conspiracy theorist if you must (and a lot will!),  but I am beginning to wonder whether the extraordinary sequence of events since the Brexit vote is not part of a devious and subtle plot to keep us shackled to Europe.

 

The more I see and hear from the robotic Teresa May, the more I believe she is the willing or unwitting tool of the Tory grandees and their Establishment chums who could not believe the Brexit referendum vote – and will never accept it.

 

Here are some of the reasons for my suspicions.

 

In the run-up to the referendum, May toured the country with David Cameron urging us all to vote “Remain”. She warned that leaving the EU could have “seriously damaging” consequences to the economy, leave us more exposed to crime and terrorism and be “fatal” for the Union with Scotland.

 

Yet when her side lost, the then Home Secretary declined to follow the Prime Minister’s honourable example and fall on her sword. Instead, she slid discreetly into his seat and promptly morphed from Remainer into a Brexit proponent determined to implement “the will of the people”.

 

“Out means out!” she thundered, to applause from Tories beginning starting to see this mild-mannered, middle-aged vicar’s daughter as a reincarnation of their beloved Iron Lady. The comparison was enhanced by her stoic refusal to rule out ending up with a “hard” Brexit (an option she had rejected while crusading with Cameron!).

 

But barely having warmed the seat at No. 10, the new PM had an ever bigger Thatcher-style U-turn up her designer sleeve.The decision to call this month’s snap General Election was out of the blue - and completely out of synch with her earlier insistence that there was no reason to go to the polls. Her lame excuse was that she needed “support” for her Brexit stance. Yet the referendum result was already in her pocket along with February’s overwhelming Commons vote to trigger formal disentanglement from the EU.

 

As voters scrambled to the polls, the tight-lipped Tory leader who had steadfastly refused to divulge the kind of Brexit agreement she would settle for, suddenly and inexplicably showed her hand – or was it the joker in the pack?

 

Unless she got a satisfactory outcome, she told a TV interviewer as millions looked on agog, she was prepared to leave the negotiating table empty-handed. “No deal is better than a bad deal,” she declared, sending the public, press and most of her parliamentary colleagues into a frenzy of speculation about the consequences of such a reckless and militant tossing down of the gauntlet.

 

Anxious Brits on both sides of the Brexit divide could hardly believe their ears - neither, I’ll wager, could the majority of Members of the Commons who support a “soft landing”. One can only imagine how the news went down with our EC partners patiently waiting to open formal talks with May’s hand-picked team of negotiators.

 

The shockwaves from May's bombshell were still being felt as a confused and divided nation softened up by a relentless Establishment-orchestrated media campaign of non-stop Brexit-bashing tottered to the polls.

 

The result - a stinging rebuke for the anti-EU leadership and hugely-increased support for Labour under Remainer Corbyn – told the conspirators that their cunning strategy to undermine the unexpected and bitterly-controversial referendum result had succeeded admirably.

 

That the strategy of using an apparently unhinged May and the largely pro-Establishment mass media to scare the living daylights out of all but most rabid Brexiters had worked was clear from the election outcome. The new Iron Lady may not be for turning, but the softened-up British public she purported to represent definitely was.

 

Where do we go from here?

 

Expect, after the post-election dust has settled, May to make an exit of her own – from Downing Street. Her replacement will be a “moderate” prepared to mouth platitudes of compromise and conciliation -  music to the ears of a jittery electorate convinced that Armageddon could be just around the corner.

 

Like another Tory leader in the Thirties, one can picture him or her emerging - after months of “tough negotiation” and endless media scare stories drummed up to feed the national paranoia  - waving a piece of paper and offering the 21st century equivalent of peace in our time.

 

The final offer could be deal enabling us to stay in the EU on slightly modified terms or one allowing us to leave and retain some access Single Market - subject to lots of nasty strings and the whims of the Brussels bureaucrats.

 

One thing is looking certain: we will not get what 52 per cent of Brits thought they were voting for on June 23, 2016. 

 

But as any Tory grandee will tell you today, between celebratory sips of champagne, a year is a long time in politics.

 

 

 

FOOTNOTE:  My six penn'orth was penned yesterday. I see that today UK papers running stories about Tory plots to unseat May sooner rather than later.  With the Brexit talks due to start in eight days time, this is not surprising. Turbulent times ahead!

[Retiredandhappyhere]

Krataiboy should write another  book as a follow up to this one.  Again, fiction of course!  

[the guest]

I would love to be present at the negotiation table, witnessing the UK's pathetic attempt to get the EU to bend their rules, just because the country got caught with it's pants down. 

[Grouse]

A deal will be done

 

Remain in free market

 

Remain in customs union

 

Comply with modified "free movement" clauses agreed with the 27

 

Keep environmental regs

 

Stay out of Schenghen

 

Stay out of Euro

 

Officially outside of EU

 

No seat at the top table

 

slight reduction in fees

 

 

It's the obvious solution to the great benefit of all while keeping the dunderheads quiet.

[brewsterbudgen]

A deal will be done
 
Remain in free market
 
Remain in customs union
 
Comply with modified "free movement" clauses agreed with the 27
 
Keep environmental regs
 
Stay out of Schenghen
 
Stay out of Euro
 
Officially outside of EU
 
No seat at the top table
 
slight reduction in fees
 
 
It's the obvious solution to the great benefit of all while keeping the dunderheads quiet.

Far too sensible! But maybe the shock of the election result and the obvious national feeling against hard Brexit might common sense prevails. For a change.

[phantomfiddler]

Who said the circus has closed down ?

[dunroaming]

6 hours ago, Usernames said:

Sound as if the Conservatives in the UK are like the Republicans in the US. Both would rather lose than see their precious global agenda broken by a bunch deplorable voters.

Don't confuse Theresa May with the Conservative party.  Most of the senior people in the party are against her and may well unseat her.  Unlike the republicans who haven't got the guts to ditch Trump even though he too is making his party a laughing stock.

 

Dead woman walking is already becoming the mantra for TM.

[NanLaew]

This may stop her farting in church.

 

"Enda Kenny, the Irish prime minister, has said he is "concerned" about Theresa May's plan to cut a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to prop up a Conservative minority government.

 

Mr Kenny, who has served as Ireland's Taoiseach since 2011, said he feared the deal could put the peace process in Northern Ireland at risk."

[dunroaming]

Labour now has a six point lead over the Conservatives apparently.  Another election would almost certainly see a Labour victory (god help us!) but worry not because the Tories wouldn't risk it.

[dunroaming]

6 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

This may stop her farting in church.

 

"Enda Kenny, the Irish prime minister, has said he is "concerned" about Theresa May's plan to cut a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to prop up a Conservative minority government.

 

Mr Kenny, who has served as Ireland's Taoiseach since 2011, said he feared the deal could put the peace process in Northern Ireland at risk."

It is written in stone that the UK government must stay impartial concerning both Northern Irish parties but obviously May (through desperation) is throwing that out of the window.

 

According to the Conservatives a deal with the DUP has been reached but according to the DUP it hasn't!  They can't even get that far.   DWW

Edited June 11, 2017 by dunroaming

[beautifulthailand99]

10 hours ago, nontabury said:

MAY was never in favour of Brexit, she voted against it in last years referendum.

Then she employed two brown noses, to put together a suicide manifesto. Now we hear that she has installed as her chief of staff, another prominent Remoaners in the person of Gavin Barwell. This can only lead to the conclusion that the electorate have been well and truly screwed by the establishment.

Good only a fool would expect anything else. They are not the establishment for nothing after all. 

[dunroaming]

11 hours ago, nontabury said:

MAY was never in favour of Brexit, she voted against it in last years referendum.

Then she employed two brown noses, to put together a suicide manifesto. Now we hear that she has installed as her chief of staff, another prominent Remoaners in the person of Gavin Barwell. This can only lead to the conclusion that the electorate have been well and truly screwed by the establishment.

The two brown noses you refer to were her most trusted advisors when she was Home Secretary, before she became PM.  She has a lot of history with them

[Khun Han]

4 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

5 hours ago, Grouse said:

A deal will be done
 
Remain in free market
 
Remain in customs union
 
Comply with modified "free movement" clauses agreed with the 27
 
Keep environmental regs
 
Stay out of Schenghen
 
Stay out of Euro
 
Officially outside of EU
 
No seat at the top table
 
slight reduction in fees
 
 
It's the obvious solution to the great benefit of all while keeping the dunderheads quiet.

Far too sensible! But maybe the shock of the election result and the obvious national feeling against hard Brexit might common sense prevails. For a change.

 

I was going to take Grouse off my ignore list after a fairly sustained period of quoted posts I could see appeared to show him behaving in a fairly adult manner. But, oh dear, he's back at it in his playground again .

[Khun Han]

2 hours ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

Good only a fool would expect anything else. They are not the establishment for nothing after all. 

 

Apply your logic to second and third world countries and realise how foolish your opinion is.

[Khun Han]

3 hours ago, dunroaming said:

It is written in stone that the UK government must stay impartial concerning both Northern Irish parties but obviously May (through desperation) is throwing that out of the window.

 

According to the Conservatives a deal with the DUP has been reached but according to the DUP it hasn't!  They can't even get that far.   DWW

 

The tie-in between the Unionists at the Tory party has some history, with the Unionists helping out with tight votes on several occasions in recent decades. Not saying it's right or proper, just pointing out that there is some history there.