Sunday, July 16, 2017

May wins 3rd place in unpopularity contest

After months of sloganeering Theresa May has dug herself, her party and the country into an ever deeper hole as she adamantly continues along the path towards Brexit.

May essentially seized control of the party by default as other potential candidates dropped out of the leadership battle after Cameron left the ship following the EU referendum. And since then she has continued to throw out one-line battle slogans.

Theresa May immediately maintained that Britain was going to leave the EU, that it was the "Will of the people". But what sort of Brexit would it be. May refused to give any more detail than to say "Brexit Means Brexit", a meaningless slogan which prompted much ridicule and incredulity. As the months passed her slogan changed as she declared she was to seek a "Red, White & Blue Brexit". The meaning was just as opaque. Then as it became clearer that a Brexiteer's vision of a "Having a cake and eating it" was not on the table May declared "No deal is better than a bad deal".

Attempting to consolidate power May declared an election soon after invoking Article 50 and less than a month after the Westminster Bridge terrorist attack. Running under the banner of "Strong and Stable" May saw her strength gradually drift away as she was instead accused of being "Weak and Wobbly".

"Enough is Enough" May chanted as terrorists once again launched another terror attack, this time targeting children and families at a pop concert in Manchester. Dreadful and appalling as it was, the slogan made her sound like a screeching head mistress rather than a leader. The statement also seemed to belittle previous attacks.

Within days soldiers were on the streets and security was beefed up at transport hubs while the terror threat level was raised from severe to critical suggesting an attack was imminent. It all seemed little more than a publicity stunt to get pictures in the papers of law enforcement and army soldiers protecting Britain.

However only days after the threat level was raised it was once again lowered to severe and security levels diminished. Then came yet another terror attack this time targeting Londoners and tourists on London Bridge and at restaurants near Borough Market. It was the third terrorist attack in Great Britain in just over two months.

While condemned by all sides of the house, there was also criticism of May for her police cutbacks during her time as Home Secretary.

May won the election, but there was certainly no mandate. The Tories lost a number of seats and May had to seek support from the DUP to prop up her minority government in what the opposition labelled a "Coalition of Chaos". Tory policies, austerity, May's stance on a hard Brexit and arguably a number of terror attacks and her police cutbacks had all played a part in her loss of support.

In little over a year May had taken a weak mandate for Brexit [52% was, after all, hardly a super majority that many democracies require for any major constitutional change] and doggedly sailed Britain towards what was looking like a more and more calamitous cliff edge.

Just weeks after the election and three months after Article 50 was invoked negotiations with the EU already seemed to be going somewhat awry.

Meanwhile May's first G20 didn't seem very welcoming. She looked somewhat isolated and appeared to hitch herself to President Trump [Business Insider]. But while he declared that he would be looking to secure a quick trade deal with the UK, he evidently seemed to be unaware that Britain could not actually sign anything until it had left the EU which won't be until March 2019.

Trump may seem to have a liking for Theresa May, but her popularity both at home and across Europe has dwindled significantly [Sky News].

While Trump and Putin were more unpopular in many European countries, May came a clear third place in unpopularity ratings of a YouGov poll. May had a negative rating in all European countries, with the Prime Minister viewed most unfavourably in Germany.

Among the 2,070 Germans surveyed, 62% had an unfavourable view of Theresa May with just 17% viewing her favourably, giving the PM an overall rating of -45 in the European powerhouse. May also had a negative rating in France, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway.

The unpopularity is growing not only in Europe, but also back at home, and within her own party.

There are clear disagreements within Tory ranks as to what direction Brexit might take. And there are warnings from outside the party that Britain risks far more than even so-called 'project fear' predicted.

Top former civil servants have warned Theresa May that squabbling cabinet ministers, unrealistic expectations and an overburdened administration risk derailing her hopes of a smooth Brexit [Guardian].

May's Red, White and Blue Brexit may well send Britain over the cliff, but according to one former PM, a Corbyn government could put Britain on it's back.

"If a rightwing populist punch in the form of Brexit was followed by a leftwing populist punch in the form of unreconstructed hard-left economics, Britain would hit the canvas, flat on our back and be out for a long count," former Labour prime minister Tony Blair wrote [Guardian].

While there are still a great number of eurosceptics and Leave voters who doggedly with to continue on their mission to drag Britain out of the EU, there is, at least according to some within Tory ranks, that perhaps wish there had never been a referendum and that the whole issue would just disappear.

"I think a lot of people will turn over in the night and think is there a way out of this" Alan Duncan said during a BBC2 documentary 'Brexit Means Brexit'.

With all the problems that Brexit is likely to create, the economic uncertainty, and the increased societal division, it is perhaps no wonder that people outside Britain are puzzled why the country is extracting itself from the single biggest trading block in the world.

May is unpopular, but Britain is fast becoming a laughing stock [Guardian].

tvnewswatch, London

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