PM CLOSING IN ON BREXIT DEAL
Defiant May dismisses leadership threat from Boris and vows to deliver what is best for Britain
THERESA May yesterday brushed aside Tory leadership plotting and promised she would deliver the Brexit deal that Britain voted for.
In a defiant message to Boris Johnson and other Eurosceptic critics in the ranks of her squabbling party, the Prime Minister insisted she will stay in her job “for the long term” and will not be forced out of Downing Street.
And signalling growing optimism that an agreement with Brussels is within her grasp, one of her senior officials yesterday declared: “We are closing in on a deal.”
Mrs May, left, fired her broadside at Conservative Brexit rebels in her first public remarks since returning from her walking holiday in Switzerland.
Speculation about her future has raged over the summer months following attacks on her
EU departure plans by Mr Johnson and other Brexiteers.
Speaking in a television interview in Cape Town yesterday at the start of a three-day visit to Africa, the Prime Minister said: “I am here for the long term because I want to deliver for the British people.
“That is delivering on the Brexit vote, doing that in a way that protects jobs and livelihoods, maintains the UK, means no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.
“But also deliver for the British people on the concerns that they have.”
Mrs May also dismissed speculation about a possible leadership challenge by Mr Johnson when she was questioned by journalists during her flight to South Africa on Monday evening.
She said: “I’ve been asked before if it’s my intention to lead the Conservative Party into the next election and I have answered that question before – I’m in this for the long term.
Rejected
“What I’m focused on is doing what the British people want.
“The British people voted for us to leave the EU and I, and my Government, will be delivering on that.”
She also rejected suggestions that her position was threatened by a surge in Eurosceptic voters joining local Tory associations in the hope of wrecking her Chequers blueprint for a customs deal and backing a Brexiteer candidate in a future party leadership contest.
She said party chiefs had been working from the start of the year to raise membership and had achieved “a steady increase”.
Some of her allies fear Mr Johnson, the former foreign secretary, could be preparing a leadership challenge following his resignation from the Cabinet in protest at the Brexit proposal agreed by ministers at her Chequers country retreat.
But Mrs May simply said: “I’ve said before that I’m in this for the long term.”
She also rejected warnings that she could face a hostile reception from grassroots members at the Tory conference in Birmingham in October. She added: “I will be going to the conference with important messages about what we as a Government are doing – not just in relation to Brexit issues and delivering a good deal, but on the domestic agenda.”
As the Prime Minister began her visit to South Africa, a senior Government source hailed the progress made in the Brexit talks with Brussels.
Ahead of fresh talks between the two sides reconvening in Brussels today, the official said: “We are closing on a deal.
“A significant amount of the withdrawal agreement is now agreed and we remain confident we can make progress by October.
“But, as we have set out, ‘no deal’ planning is taking place and the purpose of that is to make sure that the UK continues to thrive and succeed outside the EU in whatever scenario.”
SO THERE we have it: a picture of post-Brexit Britain is beginning to take shape. And the Prime Minister is to be congratulated: as well as gamely showing off a few dance moves, Mrs May has sealed a new co-operation deal to protect £10billion worth of trade with southern African nations. That is what the people voted for in the referendum: to escape the red tape and bureaucracy of Brussels and be free to trade with the rest of the world.
For too long the naysayers have been dominating the conversation with one final stab at reviving Project Fear in recent months. This is the truth, however: that a brilliant future awaits the UK, which for centuries has been a proud trading nation and can once again control its own destiny with the rest of the world. As someone once said, we have nothing to fear but fear itself.