Theresa May's Brexit Plan Looks Like Prime Minister's Plan

LONDON – It can be painful to watch, sneers and mockery clutter the lonely Prime Minister – and yet, she fights again and again. Because that's his Brexit. No matter what happens next, good or bad, in this remarkable British moment, it will be because of Theresa May.

Over the past few weeks, as she unveiled and defended her EU exit compromise plan, May has been accused of lying, double smuggling, and a traitor to the cause, even as her friends condemned his plan for Brexit as a humiliation.

The daughter of the curate of Maidenhead says that she "does what is good, not what is easy". May insists that she will "succeed".

Those who have looked at it over the years say that it is May's style of government, his character, his way of seeing the world that produced this version of Brexit, as much as the red lines drawn by the European negotiators.

Can be both stubborn or stubborn, you choose, as well as secret and hard, according to the allies and critics. She can be a wooden activist, an uninteresting speaker who sticks to a scenario. She is not flamboyant or flamboyant outside of her leopard-print shoes. She can not agree to talk about her feelings, especially on the BBC. She listens, studies, decides and then she can not be moved. She's all about the details, the process.

May is not a great person.

And so, this thoughtful, cautious and practical Brexit looks a lot like the Prime Minister himself.

It is miles away from the "Britain" genre of cinematic Brexit that former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson had claimed.

That's why May's Brexit is anathema to the hardcore Tory Brexiteers who threatened last week with a parliamentary coup, a vote of no-confidence that would seek to deprive her of power – because May's vision Britain attaches to EU rules and regulations for years.

And even. The plot against her seems to have failed, at least for the moment, with her patrician leader in tailored double-breasted suit, Jacob Rees-Mogg, now considered dumb.

Rees-Mogg and his followers have "apparently managed the impossible," observed the writer of the Guardian political skit, John Crace. "In less than a week, they made Theresa May appear vaguely plausible, while letting herself go to an embarrassing and overdue music hall number."

Describing Rees-Mogg's uncrowded event, adorned with signs stating "Global Britain," concluded Crace, "Global Britain turned out to be seven old white men waiting for the opening of the golf club bar."

Since her disastrous performance in the general election campaign of 2017, in which she lost the majority of conservatives and had to be supported by a single unionist party in Northern Ireland, May has been appointed – by peers in the House of Lords and colleagues who sat in the office of 10 Downing Street, next to her – as a "walking dead woman" and "the worst prime minister of recent history".

And yet, May remains.

His contract with Brexit has survived the past two tumultuous weeks. That is to say something.

The withdrawal agreement of nearly 600 pages, which sets the conditions for the exit of Britain from the European Union. on March 29, the leaders of the remaining 27 US are expected to vote. Member States Sunday in Brussels.

Europeans should adopt the plan within 90 minutes, unless there is a derailment for fishing rights or the future status of Gibraltar.

Then the withdrawal agreement would come back for a vote in December in the British Parliament, where its critics again say that May's plan is doomed.

But is it really?

After her contract was broken last week in Parliament – where almost no one could support her – May confessed to the Daily Mail that it had been "very difficult for two days".

The 62-year-old premier said her husband, Philip, had made "toast" on his "rock" and poured him a big Welsh whiskey – and then continued.

Alan Duncan, a Conservative Party MP who went to Oxford University with May, told the Premier that he did not know how she could handle the abuses she was going through. was a victim in the House of Commons.

"And she just shrugged and said," Well, let's move on, "said Duncan to the Washington Post.

"She is steadfast and she does not let down, and I think her hardness is incredible," he said. "She may not be the most exciting big character in the world, but, oh my God, these big characters would not have the same qualities that she demonstrated."

Tim Shipman, the political editor of the Sunday Times and author of the bestseller "All Out War" on the Brexit, said that there was "a gender dynamic absolutely here, but it's not that of which Theresa May is the victim ".

Shipman said he saw a cabinet minister earlier this week who had told him that any man would have resigned had he lived what she had experienced.

"Their ego would not be able to take it," Shipman told The Post. "But his lack of ego and his desire to show these people, fashionable people, intellectuals, that she is better than them? That's part of his motivation: do the right thing, in the practical English way. "

Shipman added, "What we do not know is whether she cleverly guided the country to a safe position or whether, by being secretive and stubborn and annoying of the entire wings of her party, she sank herself and the rest of us with. "

May testified of her motivations Thursday in her speech in Parliament. "During these difficult and complex negotiations with the European Union," she said, "I had only one goal in mind: to honor the British people's vote and to achieve to a good agreement on Brexit. "

Its most persistent competitor, Johnson, resigned from the government in July over the May Brexit plans. Johnson recently wrote that the agreement proposed by the Prime Minister – under the title "a frightful sale" – "does not hide the embarrassment of our total defeat".

Johnson was only one of 20 government officials to have abandoned May to his fate.

His brother Jo Johnson, who voted to stay in the EU in the June 2016 referendum, stepped down as Minister of Transport this month, warning that May had imposed a terrible choice on the country: "vassal" to Faceless Brussels bureaucrats or the economic "chaos" of non-agreement, the "doomsday" scenario threatens the empty shelves of grocery stores, drug shortages and recession.

His former Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab, who also stepped down abruptly, said Friday that the May deal was "even worse" than staying in the EU.

Those who know May best, including former high councilors, say that the Prime Minister has never subscribed to the idea that Brexit could be a glorious renaissance.

Instead, it sought to mitigate disaster risk after the British voted between 52% and 48% of Britons to leave the richest free trade area in the world.

May, who voted to stay in the European Union, said Thursday that her agreement "restores control of our borders, our money and our laws. And that while protecting the jobs, safety and integrity of the UK. "

His language reveals a defensive Brexit, a less bad Brexit, an anxious Brexit, a Brexit better than nothing.

"At least, that puts an end to the damaging uncertainty," said a Financial Times column.

This may be the best available deal that Europeans would give him, but no one seems to be very inspired by that.

Nick Timothy, one of May's former key collaborators, opposed May's deal as a "capitulation" in the pages of the Daily Telegraph.

Timothy was never far from May's camp until he was expelled when May stumbled in the last election.

"If you believe that people voted for Brexit in order to control immigration and that you fear that it only brings economic disadvantages, you might consider the draft agreement as the least bad result for Great Britain, "wrote Timothy. "If you believe that Brexit can restore surrendered sovereignty, reform our economy and change the country, you will see that it is a horror show."

Whatever the case may be, Timothy warns that "there is no chance in the Commons".

But he would not be the first to be wrong about May.

Rosa Prince, author of "Theresa May: The Enigmatic Prime Minister," said that May's uncompromising style did not always win over Westminster colleagues, but that the public came to admire him.

May "seems reassuring and mature," said Prince. "Finally, someone who is willing to take responsibility for certain things and to show leadership."

His biographer said that May was not "insensitive, blind, or robotic" to the critics who were addressed to him. "She just has a strong ability to go beyond that kind of thing," she said.

What May wants is respect, which is more important to her than being loved, Prince said.

When conservative lawmaker Ken Clarke called May a "tough bloody wife" – he did not know the camera was turning – Prince said May "took it as a sign of honor because he treated her as an equal."

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