May comes out swinging
BRITISH PM SEEKS TO ADDRESS CONCERNS CONSERVATIVES ARE BECOMING DIRECTIONLESS
Prime Minister Theresa May appealed to her bickering Conservative Party yesterday to unite in the ‘toughest phase’ of negotiations aimed at averting economic chaos once Britain leaves the EU in six months. May danced a little jig to the strains of ABBA’s Dancing Queen as she approached the podium at the party’s annual gathering in Birmingham. It was a self-deprecating dig at the ribbing she got for her robotic dancing during a visit to Africa. She mixed optimism with a show of determination in a sweeping address.
British Prime Minister Theresa May appealed to her Conservative Party yesterday to unite behind her plan to leave the European Union, warning critics their arguments could put Brexit in jeopardy.
On the final day of her party’s conference, May sought to rally members by addressing their concerns that the Conservatives are becoming increasingly directionless under the weight of Brexit, urging them to look to a brighter future.
Dancing onto the stage in the city of Birmingham to Abba’s Dancing Queen and a standing ovation, May poked fun at herself after her dance moves were mocked on a trip to Africa and after last year’s conference when her speech was disrupted by a coughing fit, a stage intruder and a collapsing background set.
It was a warm welcome for a leader whose fragile position at the helm of her party has come under further pressure after the EU rejected parts of her socalled Chequers plan and critics stepped up calls for her to ditch her strategy on Brexit, Britain’s most far-reaching policy shift for more than 40 years.
Promise to end austerity
With just six months before Britain is due to exit the EU, she has so far weathered the Brexit storm, shrugging off a barnstorming speech by her exforeign minister Boris Johnson that did little to hide his leadership ambitions. Yesterday, May was keen to show she was in charge of the Brexit talks.
“If we all go off in different directions in pursuit of our own vision of the perfect Brexit, we risk ending up with no Brexit at all,” she said, a rebuff to Eurosceptic lawmakers who have published their alternatives plan for leaving the EU.
“And there’s another reason why we need to come together. We are entering the toughest part of the negotiations ... If we stick together and hold our nerve, I know we can get a deal that delivers for Britain.”
She also tried to return to the message she gave when she was appointed prime minister in 2016, promising to help those who feel “left behind” and pledging to end her government’s austerity push.