Mountain to climb, PM
At last... May has a summit success but envoy warns of hard trek ahead
Theresa and Philip THERESA May does not often look cheerful at summits...but she managed to smile in the Welsh mountains.
The beleaguered Prime Minister has swapped the chaos of Brexit – and a string of humiliating showdowns in Brussels – for an Easter walking break.
Mrs May and her husband Philip, who were shadowed by protection officers, were not blessed with the best of weather. But they pulled out packed lunches and tucked into a picnic as they took shelter behind a massive rock. She said: “Shame about the mist. I can’t see the view of Barmouth we were promised.”
The couple took just over two hours to reach the 2,930ft Cadair Idris peak in Snowdonia National Park. Meanwhile, 230 miles away in Westminster, Britain’s former EU ambassador warned Tory leadership hopefuls pledging to tear up Mrs May’s Brexit deal that they will “wreck any prospect” of a future trade pact with the EU.
Sir Ivan Rogers issued the alert as potential candidates for the Conservative crown jostle for position ahead of a race for No 10.
The ex-envoy, who quit in January 2017, said: “If candidates make pledges as to the future direction of the Brexit talks, about what they would do in phase two, that will essentially wreck any prospect of phase two succeeding.
“So if people give commitments, saying ‘When I’m in power, if you give me this job, I will reopen the Withdrawal Agreement’ and indicate we can’t possibly accept the Backstop and take a much more robust position with Brussels, that leads to a breakdown of the talks.”