‘JAW JAW’ OVER GIB
Theresa does a Winston
THERESA May quoted Sir Winston Churchill as she waded into the row over the future of Gibraltar.
The squabble over the Rock’s future was sparked by draft Brexit guidelines published by Eurocrats.
They said any issues affecting the British territory would be run past Spain first.
It could potentially give the Spanish a veto over Gibraltar on any EU-UK deal and allow them to take control of it.
War
After former Tory leader Lord Howard suggested the PM would be ready to go to war to defend the outpost, Mrs May said it was just “jaw jaw”.
Speaking to reporters on a flight to Jordan for a three-day visit to the Middle East, the Prime Minister said: “What we are doing with all European countries in the European Union is sitting down and talking to them.
“We are going to be talking to them about getting the best possible deal for the United Kingdom and for those countries, Spain included. “It’s definitely jaw, jaw.” In 1954, legendary British leader Sir Winston famously said during a lunch at the White House: “To jaw-jaw is better than to war-war.”
Gibraltar’s chief minister Fabian Picardo urged European Council president Donald Tusk to remove the draft’s reference to the British Overseas Territory.
He said: “Mr Tusk, who has been given to using the analogies of the divorce and divorce petition, is behaving like a cuckolded husband who is taking it out on the children.”
Mr Picardo told the BBC it was “very helpful of Spain to have put this front and centre this early on in the process”, rather than waiting until the final moment to throw a spanner in the works, as some had expected.
“I think Spain has made a huge error of judgment not just in putting this early on, but in effect denying their own citizens the application of that deal if they work in Gibraltar going forward.”
Speaking at a conference in Madrid, Spain’s foreign minister Alfonso Dastis said the government had been “surprised” by the UK’s response.
He added: “The Spanish Government is a little surprised by the tone of comments regarding Gibraltar coming out of Britain, which is a country known for its composure.”