WE HAD A PEOPLE’S VOTE, NOW LET’S DELIVER ON IT
IF THESE are Theresa May’s final days in Downing Street, she seems remarkably sanguine about it. Despite intense pressure from all sections of her party to cancel Tuesday’s momentous Commons vote – or risk a humiliating defeat which could sink her political career – the Prime Minister exudes a calm humour as she talks in her No10 study.
Her allies say this is testament to her steely temperament and patriotic sense of duty; her detractors describe it as a stubborn refusal to change her mind in the face of overwhelming opposition.
As carol singers strike up in the street outside, Mrs May expresses the forlorn-sounding hope that she can bring the war with her party to a close in time to enjoy her traditional roast goose for Christmas.
Her determination finds an echo on her writing desk, which boasts a mug declaring that she is ‘proud to be a bloody difficult woman’ – and, more prosaically, a hole-punch which is labelled: ‘Please do not remove from office.’
In her exclusive and wide-ranging Mail on Sunday interview, Mrs May:
Warns Tory MPs planning to revolt over her deal that they would be risking the double whammy of Jeremy Corbyn entering Downing Street and the UK cancelling Brexit;
Tells how she has received thousands of messages of personal support from ordinary voters;
Reveals that she soothes herself after stressful days by wolfing down spoonfuls of peanut butter direct from the jar;
Jokes that she can’t have nightmares over her predicament because ‘armed police’ would storm her bedroom;
Says her best Christmas presents from husband Philip are handbags, while he regards Mrs May herself as his perfect gift;
Discloses that she relaxes by watching the BBC’s MasterChef: The Professionals;
Says her proudest achievement over her political career is the work she did on modern slavery.
With the number of Tory MPs opposed to Mrs May’s Brexit deal now estimated to have reached triple figures, the Prime Minister tries to quell the rebellion by weaponising the threat of Mr Corbyn and his predominantly pro-EU party.
‘I’m not somebody who is normally a doom-monger [but] I genuinely am concerned that we would see greater division and greater uncertainty,’ said Mrs May.
‘The Labour Party see this as a way of trying to engineer a General Election. They are not looking at the national interest.
‘They are playing party politics for their own short-term political gain, and frankly that would lead to long-term national pain.’
She tells her rebellious MPs: ‘If you want Brexit, make sure you get it, and that’s about this deal.
‘When I say if this deal does not pass we would truly be in uncharted waters, I hope people understand this is what I genuinely believe and fear could happen. It would mean grave uncertainty for the nation with a very real risk of no Brexit or leaving the European Union with no deal.
‘We have a leader of the Opposition who thinks of nothing but attempting to bring about a General Election, no matter what the cost to the country. As someone who cares passionately about my country and my party, I believe Jeremy Corbyn getting his hands on power is a risk we cannot afford to take.’
Although multiple sources say that a growing number of senior Government figures were urging Mrs May to delay the Commons vote until after another attempt to extract further concessions from Brussels, the Prime Minister was maintaining the line that her Cabinet was united behind the idea of holding the vote this week.
‘I have obviously talked to my Cabinet colleagues as well as I talk to other colleagues. I think we all recognise that this is a good deal,’ she insisted.
Mrs May is privately furious that the Brexit ‘ultras’, including Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson, are so determined to crash her deal that they will topple a line of dominos which could lead to a vote of no confidence, the end of Mrs May’s leadership, the suspension of Article 50, a General Election ushering in a Labour-SNP Government and a second referendum to attempt reverse Brexit. As one ally says: ‘We would go to hell in a handcart.’
But while large sections of her parliamentary party remain unconvinced by her deal and her determination to put it to a vote, Mrs May says she has been cheered by more than 3,000 personal messages of support from ordinary voters.
‘I’ve had a lot of letters, a lot of emails, a lot of support from people,’ she says. ‘It really has been encouraging. The overwhelming message from people is: let’s get this deal done and then we can focus on the future. People say, “Look, we just wish you the best because we really want to see Brexit and we want to get on with this.”’
Mrs May – one of the most effective stonewallers in Westminster – deflects all questions about whether she will resign if she is defeated over the deal or go back to Brussels to demand more concessions.
But she is openly dismissive about moves by a cross-party group of MPs, led by Tory MP Sarah Wollaston, to call a second referendum – and withering about her predecessor Tony Blair’s call for one.
‘His view is that we should go for another referendum,’ she said. ‘We had a people’s vote, that’s what frustrates me when people talk about this, the second referendum being a people’s vote. We had a people’s vote, let’s deliver on the first people’s vote.’
The prospect of another General Election, particularly after last year’s fiasco, chills many Tory MPs, who argue that the party machine is not ready to fight a successful campaign, and that Mrs May is the wrong person to lead them into one. She isn’t exactly enthused by the idea either: ‘There isn’t going to be a General Election. As far as I’m concerned, the next General Election is 2022. Jeremy Corbyn is trying to engineer an Election but the last thing this country needs is the instability and uncertainty that would produce.’
Valiantly, Mrs May said she hoped the deal could be voted through by Christmas so she can enjoy that goose and ‘a nice glass of red’ chosen by Philip.
‘I think most people want us to do this, to get it done and get it all wrapped up by Christmas and actually focus on the future,’ she said.
How will she celebrate, assuming events allow it? ‘We like to have a quiet Christmas. We’ll have a couple of friends round on Christmas Day, and the churches in Maidento head have a lunch for people who would otherwise be on their own and so I go up and have a glass of sherry with them. Then we go home and we have our dinner.’
The Mays will be sticking to their usual meal. ‘It’s always goose, I’m afraid, yes. Most people always cook turkey, I always cook goose. With everything else that’s going on, it’s tried and tested. I try to do a slightly different recipe every year. I saw one in a magazine the other day.’
Her devotion to Philip, whom she married 38 years ago after meeting at Oxford, is obvious. The tight bond between the pair was forged in extremis when her father, an Oxfordshire vicar, died in a car
accident a year after the wedding. Her mother died the following year and she does not have any siblings.
Mrs May praises Philip’s Christmas present choices, saying he is particularly ‘good at handbags; he does pick a good handbag’.
What is the best present she has got him? ‘I think he would look me in the eye and say, “You, darling!”’
Even Mrs May’s fiercest critics admire her resilience in the face of what must be almost intolerable pressure, combined with official duties such as last weekend’s 14,000-mile round-trip to the G20 summit in Argentina.
It was former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke who delighted Mrs May by describing her as ‘a bloody difficult woman’.
But surely her husband must worry about the impact of the pressure on the diabetic, 62-yearold Prime Minister. ‘He is like any supportive partner is,’ she says. ‘He’s there and wants to help.’
She adds that she never takes out the strain on her staff. ‘I am not the sort of person who naturally loses their temper,’ she says, but confesses she does swear ‘sometimes’.
Does she ever wake up with nightmares? ‘If I woke up and went “Aaargh!” I’d probably have several armed police officers coming into the bedroom,’ she replies.
The most unexpected moment of the interview comes when she reveals how she comforts herself after a gruelling day dealing with Jacob Rees-Mogg et al. ‘One of my little indulgences, I have to confess, is peanut butter. Either on toast, or just a spoon. But I don’t spend the entire day doing it.’
Food has always been a passion for Mrs May: the woman who has more than 150 cookbooks says she is currently enjoying Ottolenghi Simple, by Yotam Ottolenghi, the Israeli-British chef. So although her workload means that she only sees ‘snatches’ of television programmes, she has enjoyed the ‘odd bit’ of the new MasterChef: The Professionals series: ‘They have been absolutely amazing, absolutely incredible.’ But she hasn’t been to the cinema since watching Skyfall six years ago.
Mrs May’s vicarage upbringing was imbued with the sense of public duty exemplified by her father’s work in the parish. ‘What my upbringing taught me was whatever you’re doing, put your whole self into it and do your best.
‘I am genuinely trying to do my best for the country. I suppose it is a sense of public service.’
Mrs May is keen not to strike a valedictory tone in the interview – but cites her work on modern slavery and establishing the National Crime Agency when Home Secretary as the greatest achievement of her political career.
And she laments the fact that Europe has suffocated the domestic agenda, with passions such as boosting technical education and her industrial strategy drowned out by the noise of Brexit.
But is she still the best person to lead the Conservative Party?
‘Yes I am.’