May meets Northern Irish ‘kingmakers’

UK PM wins stay of execution

LONDON, June 13, (RTRS): Prime Minister Theresa May sought to strike a deal with a Northern Irish Protestant party to save her premiership on Tuesday as she came under intense pressure to soften her approach to Brexit days before formal EU divorce talks.

May’s botched election gamble, which saw her lose her parliamentary majority, left her so weakened that supporters of closer ties with the European Union publicly demanded she take a more consensual and business friendly approach to Brexit. In an attempt to avoid a second election that could deepen the worst political turmoil in Britain since last June’s shock vote to leave the European Union, May apologised to her Conservative Party’s lawmakers, who said they would leave her in power — for now.

“She said: ‘I’m the person who got us into this mess and I’m the one who is going to get us out of it’,” said one Conservative lawmaker who attended Monday’s meeting. “She said she will serve us as long as we want her.”

To stay in government, May must strike a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), a small eurosceptic Northern Irish party with 10 parliamentary seats.

DUP leader Arlene Foster arrived for talks with May. She waved but did not say anything as she went into Downing Street. She looked at her watch and ignored a question from a reporter who asked: “What is your price?”

“The deal will be done,” said Jon Tonge, professor of politics at Liverpool University. “Basically it will be Theresa May signing cheques for the foreseeable future or a monthly direct debit, as it were, into Northern Ireland’s coffers.”

“The DUP may never have the political arithmetic so favourable again so like the Conservatives, the DUP will want to avoid another election and will want to keep drinking in the political free bar that is available to it,” Tonge said.

But a deal with the DUP would risk destabilising the political balance in Northern Ireland by increasing the influence of

Strike

pro-British unionists who have struggled for years with Irish Catholic nationalists who want Northern Ireland to join a united Ireland.

Meanwhile, giving a “stonking” performance, May won a stay of execution from her Conservative Party on Monday, winning support from disillusioned lawmakers after losing a parliamentary majority at last week’s national election.

The prime minister was described as “contrite” at a meeting of Conservative members called the 1922 Committee, apologising to those politicians who lost their seats in an election she did not need to hold and promising to clear up “the mess” she made on Thursday by working more widely with her party.

For some who attended, it was a performance strong enough to convince doubters

over her future.

DUBLIN: Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny formally announced his resignation on Tuesday, capping six years in power and paving the way for Leo Varadkar to be elected his successor to defend Ireland’s interests in upcoming Brexit talks.

Kenny stepped down as leader of governing party Fine Gael last month and was replaced by Varadkar, who will become the once-staunchly Catholic country’s first gay premier and the youngest person ever to hold the office on Wednesday.

Taking office months after Ireland was forced to accept a humiliating international bailout, Kenny oversaw its turnaround to become Europe’s fastest-growing economy.

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