The week Mrs May came out fighting

AFTER another turbulent week – with two ministerial resignations, the ‘Pestminster’ affair rumbling on and the EU’s Brexit negotiators as intransigent as ever – you might expect Theresa May to be wilting under the strain. But not a bit of it.

Indeed, the Prime Minister is turning out to be a true fighter, determined to stamp her authority on the Government and focus on the job that matters most.

Take her handling of Priti Patel’s venture off-piste, when the ex-International Development Secretary foolishly took it into her head to conduct her own private foreign policy through unauthorised meetings with Israeli politicians and officials.

A weaker prime minister might have allowed this clear breach of the ministerial code to pass with a rap on knuckles. As it was, Mrs May insisted on Miss Patel’s resignation – while commendably replacing her with another committed Brexiteer.

Her message was clear. Though the Tories may have lost their overall majority, she will not allow mavericks to exploit her perceived vulnerability and distract from the vital task of getting on with Brexit.

Now she has rammed the message home, by announcing she will enshrine the time and date of withdrawal in law: 11pm on March 29, 2019 – no ifs, no buts.

True, it is debatable whether this will jolt the EU’s pig-headed negotiators, still issuing unmeetable demands over cash and the Irish border. Contemptibly, Michel Barnier even threatens that unless we capitulate in two weeks, he will delay trade talks until spring.

But as a statement of purpose, Mrs May’s move leaves no room for doubt – no matter how often the BBC may wheel out europhiles such as Lord Heseltine and ex-ambassador Lord Kerr to undermine her.

Meanwhile, it becomes ever clearer that the more the EU bullies her, the more the fair-minded public swings behind her. Polls show two-thirds of voters now believe Brussels is engaged in a petty campaign to punish the UK for choosing to leave.

With manufacturing and services forging ahead, there’s also a growing perception that Britain is fighting fit to face the world after Brexit, deal or no deal.

Isn’t it hugely significant that, after such a week as this, Mrs May’s personal poll ratings have actually improved, putting her ahead of Jeremy Corbyn as the public’s preferred choice of prime minister?

In the midst of the turmoil, some commentators have suggested Mrs May could be gone by Christmas. But on the evidence of her performance this week, and with no convincing candidate to challenge her, this paper believes reports of her demise could prove decidedly premature.