May apology quietens MPS
BRITAIN: British Prime Minister Theresa May has bought herself a stay of execution by apologising to her MPS for the election debacle, as she prepares to meet Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionists to secure the votes needed to prop up her minority government.
May told Conservative MPS she took full responsibility for the disastrous result, which cost the party its majority, and would stay on only for as long as she was wanted. She also signalled she was willing to rethink her approach to Brexit.
At a private meeting with rank-and-file MPS yesterday, May pledged to consult the party more over policy and said she would seek a national consensus on Brexit, in a bid to heal divisions over the best approach to leaving the European Union.
‘‘I’m the person who got us into this mess and I’m the one who will get us out of it,’’ May said, according to two MPS who were present.
May called the snap election when she had a 20 percentagepoint lead over the opposition Labour Party as she sought an increased majority and thus a freer hand in the Brexit talks.
After a campaign marked by policy and presentational blunders, she emerged needing to do a deal with the DUP to get legislation through the House of Commons. Thirty-two Tories lost their seats.
May will meet DUP leader Arlene Foster in London today as she seeks to thrash out an agreement for the party’s 10 MPS in the House of Commons to vote to back the Conservatives’ programme for government.
May acknowledged the need for a broader consensus in the party on Brexit and recognised a range of views, a pro-eu MP said on leaving the meeting.
May’s office later announced that Joyce Anelay, a member of the House of Lords who voted to stay in the EU, has been appointed as a minister in the Brexit department, while David Jones, who favoured leaving the bloc, will leave. George Bridges, another Brexit minister, quit the department, leaving Brexit Secretary David Davis with a new team just a week before negotiations with the EU are due to start.
May will visit Paris for talks with President Emmanuel Macron today as she tries to give the impression of business continuing as usual in spite of her troubles at home. The two leaders will later attend a football match between their two countries.
With speculation swirling around Parliament about how long she could cling to her job, May forced a smile as she entered the showdown with MPS.
She left to cheers after a 75-minute session of questions and answers, described by MPS as assured.
‘‘I’ve not had anyone say let’s have another election,’’ pro-brexit lawmaker Anne-marie Trevelyan said after the meeting. ‘‘Once she’d made that concession, that mea culpa, the room really warmed up.’’
The embattled 60-year-old prime minister said she had served the Conservative Party since she was 12 and would continue to do so as long as she was wanted. She said she’d spoken to all those who lost their seats, and the party was going to help them find new jobs.
One person her performance contained none of the ‘‘Maybot’’, a reference to May’s robotic stump speeches in which she repeated the same slogans again and again.
– Bloomberg