IT’S TIME MRS MAY TOOK A LEAF OUT OF TRUMP’S BOOK
DONAlD trump and theresa May could hardly be further apart in their character as national leaders.
Whereas trump is seen to be decisive, theresa May dithers. trump is flamboyant and May is dull. While the British Prime Minister tends to seek out compromise, a headstrong U.s. President wants everything on his own terms.
And recently these huge differences in personality and style have been more evident than ever.
While Mrs May has inched forward very carefully with Britain’s negotiations to leave the eU, Mr trump has ripped up the rulebook by arranging a meeting with North Korean despot Kim Jong-un.
the move is pure trump — a bombastic, boastful and arrogant man who conducts high- stakes diplomacy by twitter and is contemptuous of the advice of the Washington establishment, which despises him and is determined to destroy him.
Yes, it’s very early days, but the dramatic news that trump is to meet Kim brings hope of an end to the threat of nuclear war which has hovered in that part of the globe for years and defied the best efforts of the world’s best diplomats.
If a deal is struck, it will be an extraordinary vindication of the Donald’s way of doing politics. his bravado, aggression and brinkmanship will have paid off.
remember that when Barack Obama was in the White house, the liberal media applauded his judicious approach to North Korea. But it did absolutely nothing to stop the Pyongyang regime building missiles with the reported capability to reach California.
I’m not suggesting in any way that Mrs May copies trump, but there are lessons from his leadership style.
Generally, the consensus has been that the Prime Minister’s calm and self- effacing approach has been the right one for a Government with a wafer-thin majority to handle historic negotiations. Nevertheless,
it’s time to ask whether in her dealings over the eU, Mrs May ought to take a leaf or two out of the trump Book Of International Diplomacy. to date, she’s behaved in the opposite way to trump.
she’s played by the rules. she’s been careful not to cause offence to Brussels. she’s always ready to offer compromise. she habitually does what Whitehall civil servants tell her.
In the early days of her premiership, Mrs May was tougher, saying about Brexit that no deal is better than a bad deal. she was right.
however, she has backtracked and there has been none of that resolute language recently. Quite the reverse, in fact.
true, her measured speech at london’s Mansion house eight days ago was pragmatic and sensible — setting out her government’s position while also handing out olive branches to Brussels.
so what was the result of being reasonable? the Prime Minister was put down by contemptuous eU leaders. they made clear that they have no intention of striking a deal with Britain except on their own terms.
the european Parliament’s Brexit chief, Guy verhofstadt, with leaden sarcasm, insultingly spoke of Mrs May’s goals as ‘vague aspirations’ and said he hoped that ‘serious proposals have been put in the post’.
the preening Donald tusk, President of the european Council, sneeringly said it was not in the eU’s interests to give way to what he called her ‘pick-andmix’ approach.
And with his own bucket of cold water was the eU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, whose office lectured the British Government that it should not be allowed to ‘cherry-pick’ a bespoke Brexit deal. It’s easy to guess how trump would respond to such pipsqueaks. this is the man, remember, who called the North Korean leader ‘little rocket Man’ and who tweets scathing ripostes to his critics at 5am.
Mrs May, of course, disdains twitter — unlike her predecessor in No. 10, David Cameron, who was an oh- so trendy social media obsessive.
(Indeed, on the evening of the eU referendum he was foolishly busy tweeting: ‘Just 1 hour left to #voteremain — and keep Britain stronger, safer and better off in europe.’)
Without resorting to such gimmicks, Mrs May could start tearing up the diplomatic textbook and making her own ultimatums.
For the truth is that Britain has aces to play. If the Brussels bullyboys try to pull up the drawbridge, we must retaliate.
A bankrupt Brussels is desperate for the billions we have offered as a divorce settlement. If they cut up rough, we should threaten to withdraw our offer.
these eurocrats need to be forcefully reminded that German and French manufacturers would be severely damaged if there was no deal.
Certainly, an area where Mrs May ought to be more trump-like is on UK fishing rights.
In recent days, two ministers — Philip hammond and George eustace — shamelessly signalled to eU negotiators that Britain might be happy to sell out this country’s fishermen and allow boats from the remaining 27 eU nations into our coastal waters if we can secure a better deal for some sectors of our economy such as the City.
Wa shabby betrayal of the democratic wishes of the 17 million who voted for Brexit (and, I wager, of many who voted remain who also care for the protection of British fisheries).
Fishing rights are a deeply emotive issue, like immigration. Mrs May would be justified to do a trump and threaten to walk away from the negotiating table if Brussels tries to con us on that issue.
she needs to make absolutely clear that any border arrangement between Northern Ireland and the Irish republic cannot be allowed to damage the constitutional integrity of the UK, and if she needs to use brinkmanship to secure this, so be it.
let’s never forget that it was the unequivocal resolve of Margaret thatcher and ronald reagan — another leader unconscionably sneered at by the liberal classes — who out- stared the russian bear, resulting in the collapse of Communism.
timidly and limply following the advice of diplomats never achieves much in the face of obdurate foes.
It’s time for theresa May to be bolder, put eU negotiators in their place — and win a really good deal for Britain.