Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
PM... broken trust
Blow for May as leaked report claims she begged EU for help Enforcer they call ‘Monster’ Panic stations over Brexit aid
it up, Mrs May nervously shook her head. The unsourced account, published in respected German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine, suggested the Torychief appeared “anxious, despondent and disheartened”.
It said: “Everyone can see: the Prime Minister is marked by the struggle with her own party. She has deep rings under her eyes. She looks like someone who doesn’t sleep at night.”
The paper added: “She indicated back home friend and foe are at her back plotting to bring her down. May said she had no room left to manoeuvre. The Europeans have to create it for her.”
Mr Juncker insisted he was not behind the leak. Asked by BBC News if he had
FIREFIGHTERS who were the first on the scene of the Grenfell Tower inferno pulled out of a reception at No10 in protest over the public sector pay cap.
One, David Badillo, 44, said he held Mrs May in “complete contempt” and would be doing a second job at the time of the event to be able to put food on his family’s table.
Mr Badillo, of Brentford, West London, works on his days off as a labourer for £80 spoken to the German press, he said: “No, never. I am really surprised – if not shocked – about what’s been written in the German press, and of course repeated by the British press.
“Nothing is true in all of this. I had an excellent working dinner with Theresa May. She was in good shape.” The dinner was described by Mr Juncker as “no charm offensive but rather a cry for help”.
It follows a similar incident in April, when Mrs May accused some in the EU
a day, and missed the private reception for emergency services involved in Grenfell.
He said: “I did not join to become a millionaire, but I love the job and expect a decent wage. It beggars belief she has the front to invite us while cutting our pay.”
Matt Wrack, of the Fire Brigades Union, said: “This government is quick to lavish praise on firefighters, but reluctant to pay them properly.” of “meddling” in the general election campaign after details of a dinner between her and Mr Juncker appeared in the German press.
No10 said it had no comment on the latest reports and pointed out both sides felt the get-together had been “constructive and friendly”.
Earlier Nick Timothy, who was Mrs May’s chief of staff until he quit after the general election, pointed the finger at the European Commission.
In a reference to Mr Juncker’s chief of staff Mr Selmayr, he tweeted: “After constructive Council meeting, Selmayr does this. Reminder that some in Brussels want no deal or a punitive one.”
But Mr Selmayr said the claim was “false” and neither he nor Mr Juncker had any “interest in weakening” Mrs May.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson urged EU leaders to “get on with it” as they prepared for fresh Brexit talks without the UK.
Speaking at the Chatham House think tank, the Foreign Secretary said: “I suggest humbly to our friends and partners in Brussels to get on with it.
“They should grip it, go and get on with it and start thinking about the future.” NICKNAMED “The Monster”, Professor Dr Martin Selmayr is the chief of staff who serves as Jean-claude Juncker’s enforcer.
The German lawyer, 46, who claims to speak seven languages, oversees the President’s bid keep the EU united during Brexit.
Some blamed him for a leak in April that claimed Theresa May had a “disastrous” dinner with Mr Juncker. And when Vicepresident Kristalina Georgieva quit last year, she declared: “The combination with Martin Selmayr is just poisonous.” He insisted they had “good relations”.
A profile by Politico claimed he tried to ban EU officials emailing his boss unless he cleared it first.
One official told the website: “It’s only natural that once you are in power, you have enemies. The problem with Martin is he has no friends.”
ANDREW GREGORY
WHEN the PM flew to Brussels for dinner with Jean-claude Juncker on October 16, Downing Street insisted the dinner had been in the diary “some time”.
But it was not in Juncker’s diary. Mrs May’s dash to Brussels a week ago looked like a last-ditch bid to plead for help with progress on Brexit, three days before the crucial European Council summit.
Yesterday, a leaked report in Germany appeared to confirm it, claiming Mrs May had indeed “begged for help”. Denials from Brussels and Westminster quickly followed yesterday afternoon.
But they will not shift the public’s impression of panic at the heart of the Government.