EDITORIAL –
Shortly, Theresa May will walk out of 10 Downing Street for the last time as Prime Minister. The beleaguered leader, who had her premiership consumed by Brexit, will now leave office failing to accomplish her main goal and will return to the backbenches to observe what is to come next. It’s funny to think that Theresa May, known for her cold demeanor, has had a spring in her step since announcing her resignation. Focusing on climate change and other issues she hoped to tackle as PM, her last month in power has given us a glimpse of what her time in office would have been like if negotiations with the EU and parliamentarians did not beguile her tenure. Sadly, we will not get to see what could have been. Instead, let’s look back at what did occur over the last three years of the UK’s second female PM.
HIGH EXPECTIONS FOR A SEASONED POLITICIAN
When Theresa May became PM after the Brexit referendum in 2016, she was widely popular. Front-runner in the leadership ballot with a strong track record, May was seen by many as the only person to fix the Brexit debacle. Becoming known for her short sayings that would come to haunt her like “Brexit means Brexit”, she was much more popular than Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, and her team catered to all sides of the Conservative Party, with Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary and David Davis as Brexit Secretary.
Yes, the PM was walking the tight rope of Brexit politics very carefully, but her electoral gamble in early 2017 did not pay off and her house of cards quickly tumbled. Backtracking on her pledge to call an early election, May lost her governing majority and had to rely on the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party for supply and confidence. In addition, her Brexit red lines caused much tension in negotiations, angering the EU, her opposition in Westminster, and even fellow Tories. Her wavering between soft and hard Brexit left a sour taste with many colleagues. This all came to a head with the Chequers Agreement in July 2018, the white paper about the UK’s future relationship with the EU. Johnson and Davis both resigned and May was left in a precarious position. Davis’ successor as Brexit Secretary, brexiteer Dominic Raab, also resigned after the finalisation of the deal due to his dissatisfaction with various softer aspects.
The nail in coffin of May’s premiership came after three failed attempts to pass her Brexit deal. This included issues with the Irish backstop (the arrangement keeping Northern Ireland in the Customs Union till a trade deal was inked), the £39 billion divorce bill, the rights of EU citizens in the UK, and the future economic relationship with Europe. Her failure, although getting closer on every attempt, meant she was unable to satisfy a majority of parliament and end the impasse. This resulted in the greatest compromise of her term, Brexit extended till 31 October 2019.
Unable to get a fourth vote on her deal, with another failure looming, resignation seemed the only plausible option for a leader who could not satisfy the House of Commons.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN
May had always been a strong operator. Since announcing her resignation on 24 May, the outgoing PM gave us a glimpse of what her premiership may have been like if she wasn’t bogged down in Brexit negotiations.
May has been featured since her resignation pledging to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. She also advocated further mental health awareness and that new programs would be required to tackle this growing issue, further pledged her support for the outgoing UK Ambassador in Washington after the Tweet storm from President Trump, and a £2 billion funding increase for the public sector.
We have also seen the behaviour of a more ‘human like’ May who has been more open and seen more boisterous, dancing in public and meeting with the UK Cricket World Cup Team. Without the pressures of Brexit, the once very tense PM has shown her true colours to the world.
Now May wouldn’t have been perfect even without Brexit. During the election in 2017 she acted somewhat presidential, not attending debates and hiding from constituents. After the fall of the Grenfell Tower, the government’s inaction was denounced by both sides of politics. And lastly, the Windrush saga, which cost Amber Rudd her job as Home Secretary, was handled in a somewhat critical manner.
Theresa May would have been a stronger leader to say the least without Brexit. If she remained true to her pragmatic style of politics during an extended tenure beyond July 2019, May would have likely been what the UK and even what the Western world needed – a steady hand during stormy seas. However, the failure to find a majority means we will not get to see this sort of leadership by her.
WHAT NEXT?
May will return to the backbenches and leave Downing Street for offices in Portcullis House. Her and her staff will be housed in offices belonging to her deputy who is vacating so she will have larger premises. If all goes to plan, her successor will not be scrutinised by Parliament until the Summer recess ends. They will still have a great deal of work to do on order to deliver Brexit. They are now in a more difficult position than May ever was to deliver Brexit in just over three months.
Her final words at Chatham House were a reflection over her own failure. May warned her successor with the following statement:
“Persuasion, teamwork and a willingness to make mutual concessions are needed to achieve an optimal outcome. That is politics at its best. The alternative is a politics of winners and losers, of absolutes and of perpetual strife – and that threatens us all.”
Theresa May at Chatham House
17 July 2019
May might be gone, but the Parliament is still fragmented and no Brexit deal is yet to gain a majority. For any deal, May’s successor will have to do what she couldn’t – find a majority. Although she did not achieve a majority in the House of Commons, she negotiated a deal that received the agreement of the other 27 members of the EU. Her time in office will be analysed negatively by many historians and political analysts due to her various failures, but we should not forgot the difficult position May was in. In this time of polarising politics, achieving a deal to appeal to all is a difficult feat to accomplish and we should not forget that.
