Trump piles on pressure ahead of UK visit
President says meeting with Putin may be easier
DONALD TRUMP has piled further pressure on Theresa May ahead of his visit to the UK this week after claiming the country is in “turmoil” and it is “up to the people” whether she remains Prime Minister.
The US president suggested he may have an easier time talking to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Helsinki next week than with Mrs May, who faces a crisis in her leadership after the resignation of her two most senior Brexiteers, during his visit to Britain beginning tomorrow.
Speaking as he prepared to depart for a European trip in which he will meet Mrs May at the Nato summit in Brussels before his first visit to the UK as US president, Mr Trump insisted he got along with her “very well”.
But he suggested that he might take time during his UK visit to speak with former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who he described as “a friend of mine”.
Answering questions from reporters on the lawn of the White House as he and his wife Melania prepared to board the Marine One presidential helicopter, Mr Trump said that the UK “certainly has a lot of things going on”.
“I have Nato, I have the UK – which is in somewhat turmoil. And I have Putin. Frankly, Putin may be the easiest of all.”
Asked whether Mrs May should be replaced as Prime Minister, the US president replied: “Well that’s up to the people. I get along with her very well, I have a very good relationship.”
The Prime Minister convened her new-look Cabinet yesterday morning for the first time since the resignations of Boris Johnson and David Davis. But her hopes of achieving a Tory consensus around the plan for the UK’s relations with the European Union agreed at Chequers last week were dealt a blow by the resignations of vice-chairs Ben Bradley and Maria Caulfield.
Mrs May was given a boost from Brussels after the chief Brexit negotiator for the European Union declared that 80 per cent of a Brexit deal with the UK was agreed. Michel Barnier’s comments raised hopes that a full agreement can be sealed before the October deadline set by the EU.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the EU27 would present a common response to the UK’s White Paper on post-Brexit relations, telling a London press conference: “We are looking forward to interesting discussions, but we will also have these discussions inspired by the spirit of friendship and the wish to have good relations in the future.”
THERESA MAY appeared to have stemmed the flow of Cabinet resignations yesterday but remained on shaky ground as two Tory vice-chairs quit and Leavers expressed anger at her Brexit plan.
Senior Ministers rallied around the Prime Minister as she convened her new-look Cabinet for the first time since the sensational resignations of Boris Johnson and David Davis.
A Brexiteer split emerged as Michael Gove said he was “100 per cent” behind Mrs May’s Chequers plan, which provoked the walkouts of her Foreign Secretary and Brexit Secretary.
But Mrs May was later hit by the resignations of Ben Bradley, a Remainer in a Leave constituency, and Maria Caulfield, a Leaver in a Remain seat.
Mr Bradley said he could not defend the plan for a “common rulebook” between the EU and UK on goods to his constituents in Mansfield, who voted 71 per cent to Leave.
Ms Caulfield, meanwhile, criticised plans for a “backstop” of regulatory alignment with the EU to maintain a soft Irish border and insisted the overall plan does not “fully embrace the opportunities Brexit can provide”.
While not senior figures, 28 year-old Mr Bradley and former nurse Ms Caulfield were hired as Tory vice-chairs in January as part of Mrs May’s efforts to freshen up the party.
Earlier, the PM gathered her new team at 10 Downing Street as shockwaves continued to reverberate in Westminster following the first day since 1982 when two Cabinet Ministers quit within 24 hours.
International Trade Secretary Liam Fox was seen to shake his head and mouth the word “No” when reporters asked him on his way out of Cabinet whether he was about to quit.
Jeremy Hunt, appointed the new Foreign Secretary as the Prime Minister carried out a hurried reshuffle of her top team, vowed that he would be “four square” behind her in driving through her Brexit plan.
And Mr Gove told ITV News he was “absolutely not” planning to resign.
Among backbench Tory Brexiteers there was deepening anger at the Chequers plan, which they branded “Brexit in name only”.
However, it was unclear whether they had the numbers to force a leadership challenge.
While a handful were believed to have submitted letters of no confidence in the PM, others backed her to remain in post for now, but vowed to create parliamentary headaches for the Government in an effort to change the Chequers proposals.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the influential pro-Brexit European Research Group (ERG) of Tory MPs, warned: “If the Government plans to get the Chequers deal through on the back of Labour Party votes, that would be the most divisive thing you could do.
“And it would be a split coming from the top, not from the members of the Conservative Party across the country.”
But he made clear that he had not submitted a letter of no confidence and expected Mrs May to remain at least until the official date of Brexit in March 2019.
In a sign of Eurosceptic splits, Andrew Bridgen did submit a letter of no confidence, which emerged online.
The North West Leicestershire MP warned in his letter Mrs May that negotiations had “deteriorated into a state of complete capitulation”. But a Brexiteer source revealed that there was little talk of a leadership challenge at the ERG meeting attended by about 80 MPs on Monday night.
They instead discussed tactics, such as putting down amendments to legislation or voting against the final deal, to try to get the Chequers plan changed.
Morley and Outwood MP Andrea Jenkyns told The Yorkshire Post: “The least that Brexiteers must do is put their strong thoughts forward to the PM to try and shape the policy.
“My concern is that it will fall on deaf ears.
“There have been several conversations before so I think Brexiteers need to be more robust if we want results, and the kind of Brexit people voted for.
“If she waters it down further then what is Brexit going to look like?”
IT APPEARED, for a few hours at least, that some calm had been restored at the heart of Government following a tumultuous two days for Theresa May when leading Brexiteers Michael Gove and Liam Fox confirmed on Tuesday morning they would not be following David Davis and Boris Johnson in resigning over her Brexit negotiating strategy.
But the pressure was heaped back onto the Prime Minister when US President Donald Trump announced the UK was in “turmoil” and that it was “up to the people” whether she remains in charge of the country – while pointedly adding that he considers Mr Johnson to be a friend.
The President’s comments, made as he prepared to depart for a European trip which will include a visit to the UK, preceded the resignation of two Conservative vicechairs over their opposition to Mrs May’s plans for Britain’s future relations with the EU. Ben Bradley and Maria Caulfield warned that Mrs May’s plans for close links with Europe after Brexit risked handing Jeremy Corbyn the keys to Downing Street.
Conservative divisions on the issue are swiftly descending into outright civil war. Earlier in the day, former leaders Lord Howard and William Hague criticised rebels, with the latter’s blunt assessment calling on Brexiteers to accept the “harsh truth” that pursuing a hard Brexit would likely fail to clear the Commons, risk thousands of job losses and threaten peace in Northern Ireland.
In a remark addressed in particular to Mr Johnson, Mr Hague said: “Being a romantic on this issue is all very well but is of no practical use to the country. It is an indulgence not a policy.”
While Mr Johnson may have spoken in his usual colourful tones about the death of the Brexit “dream” in his resignation letter on Monday, the situation is swiftly descending into a political nightmare for the Conservative Party.