Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Second ally deserts May in rift over EU exit
LONDON — British Prime Minister Theresa May was battling to save her government Monday after her foreign secretary quit over the country’s exit from the European Union, deepening a mood of crisis just eight months before the country is due to leave. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was the second minister to leave her Cabinet in 24 hours as May pushed ahead with a proposal that would keep Britain more closely tied to the EU than hard-line conservatives want.
Just last week, she appeared to have won the full Cabinet’s agreement on keeping Britain’s economy closely anchored to the European Union. But the resignations reopened speculation about a challenge to her leadership, something that May’s official spokesman said she would fight.
But with the exit backers in the party in revolt, Conservative insiders predicted further resignations unless and until May drops her plan.
The turmoil comes days before a scheduled visit by President Donald Trump, a champion of the kind of sharp break with the EU that May has deemed unworkable. She is nevertheless expected to seek assurances from Trump that the United States is ready to enter negotiations on a bilateral trade agreement.
Yet, in recent weeks, several major British employers have issued warnings over the risks of the exit. Most prominently, Jaguar Land Rover said that a chaotic exit deal would threaten to derail more than $100 billion worth of investment plans in Britain and force the closure of some factories. Airbus and BMW also questioned whether they could continue to keep manufacturing facilities in the country under those conditions.
The public face of the 2016 campaign that persuaded Britons to quit the EU, Johnson is perhaps the most high-profile advocate of leaving the bloc.
After the surprise resignation of David Davis, Britain’s chief negotiator in withdrawal talks, there was silence Monday morning from Johnson, who was scheduled to host a diplomatic meeting in London to discuss the western Balkans.
Then, around 3 p.m., May’s office issued a statement that said simply: “This afternoon, the prime minister accepted the resignation of Boris Johnson as foreign secretary. His replacement will be announced shortly. The prime minister thanks Boris for his work.”
Johnson quit with a resignation letter accusing May of flying “white flags” of surrender in negotiations with the EU. He said “the Brexit dream is dying, suffocated by needless self doubt.”
“The government now has a song to sing,” he said. “The trouble is that I have practiced the words over the weekend and find that they stick in the throat.”
Later that evening, May named Jeremy Hunt to the job. Hunt, who had been the health secretary, is considered one of May’s most loyal ministers.
Johnson and Davis advocate a clean break with the EU, known as “hard Brexit.” Hunt, who backed the “remain” side in Britain’s 2016 EU membership referendum, favors keeping close economic ties to the bloc after the U.K. leaves next year.
The pound dropped against the dollar as news of the resignation broke and Conservative lawmakers appealed to their colleagues not to demand a confidence vote in May’s leadership.
Such a move could be set off by just 48 of her party’s lawmakers — although it would take many more to dislodge her. Earlier, Davis told the BBC that he was not encouraging a challenge to May and ruled himself out as a contender if there were one.
With Britain due to leave the 28-nation bloc on March 29, 2019, EU officials have warned Britain repeatedly that time is running out to seal a deal spelling out the terms of the divorce and a post-split relationship.
Addressing Parliament on Monday, May said the options presented so far by EU negotiators were unacceptable to Britain.
“If the EU continues on this course, there is a serious risk it could lead to no deal and this would most likely be a disorderly no deal,” she said. “A responsible government must prepare for a range of potential outcomes.”
As a result, she said, the Cabinet agreed Friday to step up preparations for such an outcome, although she acknowledged that a sudden, hard exit without any agreements on trade, customs or migration “would have profound consequences for both the U.K. and the EU,” and should be avoided.
The resignation of Davis revealed the intensity of the split in the Cabinet, although he did not appeal to other ministers to follow him.
Davis said that he could not accept the approach that May demanded in the meeting with top officials Friday, contending that Britain was giving away too much too easily in negotiations with Brussels and that he was leaving his job because he could not, in conscience, argue for the Cabinet’s exit position in public.
Davis specifically cited concerns about any agreement that would leave Britain in a customs union and the single market.
“The general direction of policy will leave us in, at best, a weak negotiating position, and possibly an inescapable one,” he wrote in a letter to the prime minister that was released publicly. “The Cabinet decision on Friday crystallized this problem.”
May disputed Davis’ assessment of the situation, saying that whatever deal is reached would “undoubtedly mean the returning of powers from Brussels to the United Kingdom.”
Information for this article was contributed by Stephen Castle of The New York Times, and by Jill Lawless and Danica Kirka of The Associated Press.