A prime minister gone rogue

The following is an excerpt from an editorial in the Guardian:

Prime Minister Theresa May has asked the European Council to extend the Brexit deadline to June 30, by which point she hopes Parliament will have stopped obstructing her deal. Donald Tusk, the council president, responded swiftly, confirming that a short extension was on offer, but only if Commons ratification comes first — next week. This ultimatum expresses personal frustration with May in European capitals.

May’s crass handling of the situation has revived the peril of no deal when MPs have three times declared it unacceptable. A chaotic Brexit is not the only alternative to the current deal, although May insists the choice is binary in order to apply pressure on anxious MPs. She hinted in the Commons on Wednesday that she would not continue as the prime minister of a country that was still in the European Union after June. She might also be forced to name a resignation date as the price for Tory endorsement of her deal next week.

Her political capital is all spent. She has no allies at home or abroad. Her only leverage in Parliament comes from the fear that her appalling management of the country provokes – the prospect that she is incompetent enough to allow the worst to happen. She long ago lost sight of diplomacy and strategy. Then she shed authority.

Now she has abandoned responsibility, completing the journey from bad prime minister to rogue prime minister.