I’LL BE A BLOODY DIFFICULT WOMAN
May shrugs off Juncker furore and vows to be a thorn in EU’s side over Brexit
THERESA May vowed she will be a ‘bloody difficult woman’ if EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker tries to thwart a good Brexit deal.
The Prime Minister issued the defiant threat yesterday after a distorted account of a private dinner she hosted for the European Commission president was leaked by EU officials in an apparent bid to scupper talks.
As fury over the plot mounted, Mrs May pushed aside claims that she had repeatedly clashed with the EU chief, and denied he told her: ‘Brexit cannot be a success.’
Her rebuke came as Brussels officials openly mocked the Prime Minister and prepared to issue a fresh wave of hard-line negotiating demands today.
While Mrs May ducked direct questions about exactly what was said at the No10 meeting with Mr Juncker last Wednesday, she dismissed widely publicised reports about the supposedly tempestuous encounter.
But she made it clear she is prepared to take a hard line with EU officials in Brexit talks. Speaking on the campaign trail, she said: ‘During the Conservative Party leadership campaign, I was described by one of my colleagues as a bloody difficult woman. And I
‘It’s time to get real’
said at the time the next person to find that out will be Jean-Claude Juncker.’
The reference was made by the former Tory Chancellor Kenneth Clarke while he was being filmed without his knowledge.
Brussels continued to belittle the UK’s negotiating stance yesterday when Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator, mocked Mrs May’s ‘strong and stable’ election slogan.
‘Any Brexit deal requires a strong and stable understanding of the complex issues involved,’ he said. ‘The clock is ticking – it’s time to get real.’
The extraordinary row over the Downing Street dinner erupted after a German newspaper claimed that Mr Juncker was left furious when Mrs May rebuked several EU demands.
Despite publicly declaring the meeting as ‘excellent’, he allegedly told her that ‘Brexit cannot be a success’ and later branded the Prime Minister ‘delusional’. On the morning following the dinner, Mr Juncker allegedly phoned German Chancellor Angela Mer- kel, telling her that Mrs May was ‘living in a different galaxy’. But senior Tories said the detailed account of the meeting – thought to have been leaked by Mr Juncker’s notorious chief of staff Martin Selmayr – was an EU ploy.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd dismissed the report as ‘tittletattle’. Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson questioned the reliability of ‘tales that Jean Claude Juncker tells after a good dinner’.
Both Labour and the Lib Dems sought to capitalise on the reports, but Christopher Meyer, former British ambassador to the US, criticised those who readily accepted the EU’s depiction of the dinner.
He said: ‘I am revolted by the Remoaners’ assumption that Juncker’s leak was a true and unbiased account of his dinner with the PM.’
The row comes as the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, today produces a draft of its blueprint for negotiations. It is likely to spell out key demands, including calls for the 3million EU citizens living in the UK to be given wide-ranging benefits, and the terms of the estimated £52 billion divorce payment that Brussels will demand.
Britain’s manufacturers have clocked up their best month for three years as the weak pound boosts exports, figures showed yesterday.
Research group IHS Markit said its index of activity in UK factories – where scores above 50 show growth – jumped from 54.2 in March to 57.3 in April.