Birmingham Post

PM doesn’t need any more distractio­ns from Brexit priority

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because of Brexit, let alone all the problems of running a minority government composed of ministers with differing views.

Although she constantly talks of having a united cabinet, it is very evident that this is just not so.

For starters, having Michael Gove and Boris Johnson at the same table will always ensure nobody nods off during meetings.

So to lose loyal and powerful allies must for Mrs May have been personally painful.

I wonder if, as a society, we are becoming too judgmental and intolerant of what some perceive to be misbehavio­ur.

Certainly, standards have changed since the Sixties, for then, what was acceptable behaviour, is today frowned upon.

We seem to have moved into an age where the male of the species is always at fault and that there is no such thing as a predatory female.

Certainly anybody in public life has to be very circumspec­t, ensuring that no action that they take can be twisted and misinterpr­eted.

This year is going to be a very difficult year for our government as it endeavours to secure the very best deal for our long-term future with Europe.

Michel Barnier and his team of EU negotiator­s are making it very plain that there are no easy terms available to the UK, for Brussels is very well aware that other members of the union are under electoral pressure to consider their own future. Now that could be very damaging for the EU as a whole.

So I do hope that, if nothing else, Mrs May will not be hit with any more resignatio­ns in the months to come, for such distractio­ns waste valuable time. To get the deal that UK business needs means total concentrat­ion. Perhaps it would also help if society was a little more relaxed about standards of behaviour. We all have a past, and there may be some areas that perhaps in today's world, we would not wish to have closely examined.

So with the decoration­s put away for another year, it's back to real work for another year. Russell Luckock is chairman of Birmingham pressings firm

AE Harris

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