The Independent (July 23)
“Cultural history offers no ready cliche for a mesmerically unimpressive travelling salesman, going from town to town, selling something that’s already well-known to be broken beyond repair. This is because, it is probably safe to assume, no one has yet been daft enough to try it. Theresa May’s “Chequers agreement”, the thing which she will spend the summer selling to the country, only actually has one potential customer, and that is the European Union. That customer could not have been more unambiguous about the fact that it will not buy it.”
Tags: Broken beyond repair, Chequers agreement, Daft, EU, May, Salesman, Unimpressive
LA Times (July 12)
“A visit from The Donald is the last thing England needs right now.” There’s a heat wave, wild fires, Britain’s loss in the World Cup, but most of all, it’s the ongoing turmoil over Britain’s departure from the European Union that will set the backdrop to the Descent of the Donald; an event which, for our embattled prime minister, Theresa May, must seem distinctly hellish.”
Tags: Brexit, England, EU, Heat wave, May, Ongoing turmoil, The Donald, Wild fires, World Cup
The Guardian (July 8)
“Theresa May’s fragile deal would be a disaster for Britain.” The Prime Minister secured “a fragile domestic political compromise only by confecting a solution that no one thinks the EU will accept. And even in the unlikely event that the EU were to sign on the dotted line, there is no disguising that while it may be better than dropping out with no deal, the Chequers agreement would be a terrible outcome.” Britain would no longer have a say “in shaping the rules of the world’s most successful trading bloc…in exchange for becoming a rule-taker in whatever scrappy free trade deal we can negotiate.”
Tags: Compromise, Deal, Disaster, EU, Fragile, May, Negotiate, Outcome, Rule-taker, Trading bloc, UK
The Guardian (December 2)
Though Prime Minister “Theresa May is reviled for her weakness,” no other “British prime minister has found the strength to condemn an American president as she condemned Donald Trump since the Anglo-American alliance began in the Second World War.” Nothing the previous Prime Minister’s “said matches the forcefulness of May’s out, loud and proud denunciation of Trump for sharing the ‘hateful narratives’ of British fascists.”
Tags: Anglo-American alliance, Condemn, Denunciation, Fascists, May, Strength, Trump, U.S., Weakness, WWII
The Independent (November 26)
“Brexit has been a long, slow process in accepting the reality that should have been better understood before the referendum. In the next three weeks, some things will become brutally clear that should have been obvious long ago.” Theresa May’s path to the next EU Council on December 14 will be “strewn with unpalatable truths.” The £40bn exit bill and continuing sovereignty of EU law during the transition are just the beginning. “As it turns out, it may be that the more difficult intrusion of reality into the Brexit negotiations is the question of the Irish border.”
Tags: Brexit, EU Council, EU law, Irish border, May, Reality, Referendum, Sovereignty, Transition, Unpalatable
The Economist (October 28)
Unlike Theresa May’s losing gamble, Shinzo Abe’s snap election “paid off handsomely.” The result of the gutsy move was hardly certain. “Rarely has such an unpopular leader won a free and fair election so lopsidedly. Only about one-third of Japanese people approve of Shinzo Abe” while “a whopping 51% disapprove. Yet on October 22nd his Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner kept its two-thirds majority in the lower house.” For this unusual outcome, he owes the opposition, which “imploded,” a debt of gratitude.
Tags: Abe, Coalition, Election, Imploded, Japan, LDP, Lopsided, Majority, May, Opposition, UK, Unpopular
The Guardian (October 23)
“Weak, depressed and despondent” describes the government benches as Prime Minister Theresa May made her “now-ritual update” to the Commons “on the continued lack of progress in the Brexit negotiations.” The update has “become as painful for the Conservative party as it has for the prime minister.” That said, it should be noted that some “deranged Brexiters” found a chance to roar “their approval at Britain becoming worse off than Mongolia and Mauritania.”
Tags: Brexit, Commons, Conservatives, Depressed, Deranged, Despondent, Government, Mauritania, May, Mongolia, Progress, Update, Weak
Reuters (June 9)
“Despite her dramatic electoral upset, British Prime Minister Theresa May appears determined to stay in office. In the short term, she could yet manage it. But the longer-term consequences may well be disastrous for her country.”
Tags: Consequences, Determined, Disastrous, Dramatic, May, Prime minister, UK, Upset
The Guardian (June 5)
Theresa May “has made an art of avoiding public confrontation with the US president.” Nevertheless, “enough is enough.” The Prime Minister “should make clear to Mr Trump how offensive and unhelpful his extraordinary intervention was, and rescind the invitation that has been extended to him for a state visit later this year.”
Tags: Avoidance, Invitation, May, Offensive, Public confrontation, Rescind, State visit, Trump, U.S., UK, Unhelpful
Financial Times (May 26)
“A few weeks ago Donald Trump set a record that I assumed was unassailable; Theresa May has since sailed past it with ease. The leaders of the US and the UK have become so proficient at changing direction that ‘U-turn’ no longer seems adequate. Donald and Theresa are spinning policy doughnuts.”
