PM May makes tentative deal with party in Northern Ireland
British Prime Minister Theresa May struck a deal in principle with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party on Saturday to prop up the Conservative government, stripped of its majority in a disastrous election.
The result has demolished May’s political authority, and she has also lost her two top aides, sacrificed in a bid to save their leader from being toppled by a furious Conservative Party.
The moves buy May a temporary reprieve. But the ballot-box humiliation has seriously — and possibly mortally — wounded her leadership just as Britain is about to begin complex exit talks with the European Union.
May’s office said Saturday that the Democratic Unionist Party, which has 10 seats in Parliament, had agreed to a “confidence and supply” arrangement with the government. That means the DUP will back the government on key votes, but it’s not a coalition government or a broader pact.
Downing St. said the Cabinet will discuss the agreement on Monday.
The announcement came after May lost Downing St. chiefs of staff Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, who resigned Saturday. They formed part of May’s small inner circle and were blamed by many Conservatives for the party’s lacklustre campaign and unpopular election platform.
May’s party won 318 seats, 12 fewer than it had before May called a snap election, and eight short of the 326 needed for an outright majority. The main opposition Labour Party surpassed expectations by winning 262.
May announced later that Gavin Barwell — a former housing minister who lost his seat in Thursday’s election — would be her new chief of staff.
Conservative legislator Nigel Evans said the departure of the two aides was “a start,” but there needed to be changes to the way the government functioned in the wake of the campaign.
He said the Conservative election manifesto — which Hill and Timothy were key in drafting — was “a full assault on the core Tory voters, who are senior citizens.” “It was a disaster,” he said. Martin Selmayr, senior aide to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, responded to the resignations by tweeting the word “bauernopfer” — German for the sacrifice of a pawn in chess.
May called the early election when her party was comfortably ahead in the polls, in the hope of increasing her majority and strengthening Britain’s hand in exit talks with the EU.
Instead, the result has sown confusion and division in British ranks.
The arrangement with the DUP will make governing easier, but it makes some Conservatives uneasy.
The DUP is a socially conservative pro-British Protestant group that opposes abortion and samesex marriage and once appointed an environment minister who believes human-driven climate change is a myth.
DUP Leader Arlene Foster recently denied the party was homophobic.
“I could not care less what people get up to in terms of their sexuality. That’s not a matter for me,” she said.
“When it becomes a matter for me is when people try to redefine marriage.”