UK’s PM May names new foreign, Brexit ministers
LONDON: Prime Minister Theresa May sought to present a picture of normality on Tuesday by holding a meeting of her new cabinet after two top ministers– Brexit secretary David Davis and foreign secretary Boris Johnson – resigned in protest against her new plan on leaving the European Union.
David, who was secretary at the Department for Exiting the EU and the key interlocutor with Brussels so far, was replaced by Dominic Raab, while Johnson, whose tenure in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has been charitably described as interesting, gave way to Jeremy Hunt.
For now, May’s aides insist that she would vigorously contest a no-confidence motion, if the situation comes to that, but the buzz in Westminster is that there is no appetite yet for a leadership contest in the Conservative Party, let alone for a fresh election.
The resignations and political turmoil was triggered by the plan outlined by May on Friday, but more details are to be released in a white paper on Thursday.
Seen as a plan for ‘soft Brexit’, May insists continued alignment with EU rules after Brexit is the best way forward for the UK.
Johnson, who wrote to May in his resignation letter that the Brexit “dream is dying, suffocated by needless self-doubt”, was panned for inviting a photographer to record his signing the resignation letter before sending it to Downing Street.
There have been as many as eight top-level resignations in the May government since it came to power with support from the Democratic Unionist Party after the 2017 mid-term election, including Indian-orign Priti Patel, who is firmly in the ‘hard Brexit’ camp.