Strong, stable — and short on detail

In Brussels and at home, Theresa May is being worryingly vague

ON MAY 3rd Theresa May gave what began as a speech to mark the start of the general-election campaign and ended up sounding more like a declaration of war. “Threats against Britain have been issued by European politicians and officials,” she warned. “All of these acts have been deliberately timed to affect the result of the general election.”

That is doubtful. But if this week’s war of words between Britain’s prime minister and the European Union does affect the vote, it will be in her favour. Mrs May’s Conservatives were already the racing favourites to win a big majority against a feeble Labour opposition. A frosty exchange with foreigners over Brexit will only reinforce the image of strength that she has been trying to project to voters. The snag, for Britain and the EU alike, is that the needless deterioration in relations will worsen the chances of the two parties signing a good — or perhaps any — Brexit deal.

The episode is doubly worrying for Britons because it seems to exemplify Mrs May’s approach to the election campaign. Rather than explain in detail what she wants from Brexit, as the European side did this week, she has given little away, instead simply urging voters to trust her to get the best possible deal. It is a similar story on domestic matters. The weakness of Labour and its hapless leader, Jeremy Corbyn, have persuaded the prime minister to turn the campaign into a contest about leadership and little else.

With a lead of nearly 20 percentage points, Mrs May might calculate that she has more to lose than to gain by committing herself to detailed policies. She even seems reluctant to risk much interaction with voters. Last weekend she held a closed event in a hall in a remote Scottish woodland. Previously she attended a rally at a company in Leeds, whose employees tweeted that they had been sent home before things kicked off. Cornish journalists were shut in a room and forbidden from filming her on a visit to a factory. Mrs May has refused to take part in televised debates; nowadays Britain is rare among democracies in not having them as a matter of course.

This tight-lipped campaign is troubling. The Conservative Party’s catchphrase of “strong and stable leadership” is already wearing thin, though there is more than a month to go. Its position on everything from Brexit to the National Health Service seems to be simply that Mrs May is the leader who will do the best job. The EU spat was more of the same: the episode was treated as just another reason to ask voters to strengthen her hand in Brussels by giving her a bigger majority. Never mind the details; put your faith in the negotiator.

Power in need of a plan

A bigger majority would indeed improve Mrs May’s position, chiefly by allowing her to ignore the wackiest of her own Europhobe backbenchers, some of whom actually want a “no deal” outcome. But an essential part of strong and stable leadership is explaining what you are going to do with it. Britain deserves a proper debate about the trade-offs involved in its grand bargain with the EU. The government’s reply — that such a discussion would give away its secret negotiating position — betrays its lack of experience cutting such deals. A successful outcome is likeliest when both sides lay out their objectives clearly. In any case, this week’s episode bears out what those with experience of the EU have long been telling Mrs May: that private talks with Brussels immediately leak.

The party manifestos will be published soon. Mrs May has already shown plenty of steel. Britons must hope that she has more ideas up her sleeve than she has so far let on, on Brexit and much else.

Reuters With a lead of nearly 20 percentage points, Theresa May might calculate that she has more to lose than to gain by committing herself to detailed policies.