The perks of power, not principles, keep her hanging on
It was an uncharacteristically personal revelation in a speech that many believe has spelt the end for Theresa May’s political career. As she begged MPS to vote for her “new Brexit deal” on Tuesday, the candid one-liner provided a rare moment of insight from a Prime Minister renowned for keeping her cards close to her chest.
Insisting she had “tried everything I possibly can” to deliver Brexit, she was reduced to admitting she tried to turn her unpopularity to her advantage, imploring: “I offered to give up the job I love earlier than I would like.”
According to sources close to Mrs May, the desperate disclosure speaks volumes about why the 62-year-old has clung on for so long in the face of unprecedented humiliation.
The Daily Telegraph spoke to a number of impeccably placed insiders to try to understand the motivation for Mrs May’s dogged determination to remain in office despite the demeaning opposition she has faced from her own
party. “She behaves like a masochist but the quote about how she will give up the job she loves betrayed something about her,” said one.
“She’s much more into the status of having the job than most people would have thought about her. People think it’s all about duty and public service, but she does enjoy the trappings.”
Referring to the Prime Minister’s country house, the source added: “She enjoys Chequers far too much. She loves hosting people there.”
Another source agreed, describing how Mrs May “likes all the wining and dining and things being served on silver platters”. The insider added: “It comes from a past of having been looked down on by the likes of Cameron and Osborne and the feeling that she’s finally made it.”
Citing the 2017 Vogue photo shoot in which Mrs May was pictured in a £995 pair of leather trousers, another source called it “an opportunity to spend five hours feeling beautiful”, adding: “She loved every single minute and didn’t seem to care the optics were completely wrong.”
Her lifelong ambition of becoming Prime Minister – and what one source described as “vicar’s daughter syndrome” – has also played a big part in her reluctance to leave No10.
Mrs May’s Oxford contemporary and closest confidante Alicia Collinson, the wife of Tory MP Damian Green, once revealed that a young Theresa Brazier declared a desire to become PM during their first term together at St Hugh’s College in 1974.
According to a senior Tory MP who has known Mrs May for decades: “Theresa was annoyed when Margaret Thatcher became prime minister and beat her to it. What keeps her there?
‘She’s never done ideas. She does ambition. Everything was about her becoming Prime Minister’
This is the only place she’s ever wanted to be. It’s mattered more than anything else in her life.”
Pointing out that Mrs May lacks the “hinterland” of other interests that most politicians have, the source added: “Her whole political life has really been about her, not her political ideas. She’s never done ideas. She does ambition. Everything in her political life has been dominated by one thought – being Prime Minister.”
The reaction from Philip May when the 2017 election was called proved just how much being in Downing Street meant to the couple, according to another source: “Philip said, ‘We’ve just moved into the place where we’ve always wanted to be – we’re finally here.’ The idea of having to leave appeared unthinkable to them.”
One source described how Mrs May’s “arrogant virtuousness” had kept her going against all adversity, adding: “She has this view of herself which is that she has a morality others don’t understand. It’s vicar’s daughter syndrome.”
A former Downing Street colleague agreed: “The criticism will be like water off a duck’s back.
“Because of the upbringing she’s had, her father’s calling coming first, she feels it comes with the territory. There is certainly a moral superiority complex.
“She thinks she’s right about everything, she looks down her nose at everyone else. You’re either a believer or a non-believer – you’re with her or against her.”
After former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith described Mrs May as having “the sofa up against the door”, one source likened the “bunker mentality” inside No10 to Downfall, the 2004 film about Hitler’s final days underground.
“It’s a cliché to say it looks and feels like Downfall, but it really does. The sofa being against the wall – that’s exactly true. They’re in there still having meetings about domestic policy and stuff. They recognise the end is nigh, but they still want to make announcements connected to her legacy. What’s going on in Number 10 is that they are collectively detached from reality right now.”
A senior Tory source who has previously worked for Mrs May added: “The bunker mentality is understandable. I’ve seen it at Number 10 before and it’s not just about who is
‘She thinks she is right about everything. She looks down on everyone else with a moral superiority complex’
going to be sacked but the 100 people in Downing Street that go with her.
“It’s one thing to lose your job when the leader is overthrown, but when a leader is overthrown with their career in tatters – what does that say about your job prospects?”
Claiming that “vanity has also played more of a part than people realise”, the source added: “She does see herself as morally superior. There’s an air of martyrdom about her. But the parliamentary party and the Cabinet must take some of the blame. They’ve been spineless and allowed this to drag on for far too long.”
Has the Civil Service also played a part in keeping Mrs May in office? Describing her as “devoid of ideas”, the senior Tory MP described how the “policy vacuum PM” had been exploited by mandarins.
“She doesn’t have any ideas, so once she’s absorbed her brief she just doggedly decides that that is it,” the MP added. “The last cabinet secretary, Jeremy Heywood, was a smart guy, because he realised this was the Civil Service’s chance to take back control.”
Pointing out that the only MP Mrs May invited to her 60th birthday party two years ago was Mr Green – because of her friendship with his wife – the MP added: “She doesn’t like politicians full stop. When you sit and talk to her, she had no small talk.
“Theresa has never had the slightest interest in Europe. All the way up to the referendum, she said, ‘No one cares, no one’s bothered.’ The only reason she backed Brexit was because Nick Timothy was her chief of staff and he was a Leaver.
“Then Gavin Barwell took over, an arch Remainer, so she adopted his ideas. She adopts the ideas of others because she doesn’t have any of her own.”
Cabinet ministers and MPS may be queuing up to oust her, but it seems only Mrs May’s closest advisers will be able to persuade her to abandon the dream she has had since she ran through that wheat field as a little girl.