‘Dancing May’ urges unity for Brexit talks
With a dance step and a pitch rising above factional politics, Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday blunted the attack on her Brexit plan by former foreign secretary Boris Johnson and called for unity ahead of the “toughest phase” of divorce talks in Brussels.
As critics continued to carp over her Brexit vision outlined at Chequers, May entered the stage on the final day of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham jiving to ABBA’s Dancing Queen, and held forth for more than an hour with a speech widely considered to be her best so far.
Insisting that “our best days lie ahead of us”, May did not mention the Chequers plan but reiterated her approach is the best option for the United Kingdom as it leaves the European Union on March 29, 2019, but warned that lack of party unity could reverse Brexit and harm national interest. Acknowledging that “there are plenty of prominent people in British politics – in Parliament and out of it – who want to stop Brexit in its tracks”, she dismissed demands for a second referendum – called the “people’s vote” – on the ground that people are now more aware of the cost of Brexit.
“We had the people’s vote - the people voted to leave. A second referendum would be a ‘politicians’ vote’: politicians telling people they got it wrong the first time and should try again,” she said, adding it would risk the people’s trust in politics by not honouring the outcome of the 2016 referendum.
May focussed most of her speech on domestic issues, not mentioning the challenge posed by Johnson, but also taking on the opposition Labour. She also signalled an end to the nearly decade-long austerity drive.