May’s days at helm ‘running out’
– Whether her Brexit deal passes parliament or not this week, British Prime Minister Theresa May’s days are numbered, experts have said.
The Conservative leader has in the past won praise for her ability to survive what has often felt like one long political crisis since the 2016 EU referendum. But her approach to the Brexit endgame, seeking changes to the deal she herself negotiated with under three weeks to go until exit day, has prompted anger on all sides.
London
Pro-European ministers are in revolt over the risk of a “no deal” exit, while Brexit hardliners are livid her promise of a decisive divorce appears to be receding.
At the same time, criticism of May’s legacy from six years as interior minister is growing following a surge in knife crime and an ongoing row over the treatment of migrants.
“At first she appeared to be a unifier, but she turned out to have too little courage, imagination or skill to lead the Brexit negotiations,” said an editorial in the Spectator magazine. It urged MPs to back May’s divorce deal on Tuesday, but only so Britain could “turn the page on this unhappy chapter of our political history”.
The split in May’s Conservative party became a serious problem after a snap election in June 2017, when May lost her parliamentary majority. She struck a deal with Northern Ireland’s pro-Brexit Democratic Unionist Party and since then has battled to keep her party and its allies together. – AFP