Theresa May is a reckless tone deaf populist

Just when you thought Theresa May had lost the plot… she really loses the plot. At PMQs yesterday, she stood at the despatch box and reprimanded MP’s for failing to do their duty. Like a haughty prefect, she didn’t just scold the opposition, but the entire House of Commons. It was an extraordinary performance which led one of her own MPs, Dominic Grieve, to say that he’d never felt so ashamed to be a Conservative: “I could’ve wept,” he said. May was only just getting started.

When last night she gave her pre-announced speech from Downing Street, as well as repeating the same platitudinous bilge that we’ve come to expect, she added in infantile clichés and populist nonsense that reduced the complex workings of British parliamentary democracy to a “people vs politicians” line that supportive tabloids can run with. She doubled down on her attack on MPs.  With just eight days to go before Britain is due to leave the EU, she told the public that she was on “their side” and laid the blame for the crisis squarely at the door of parliament. This was the crude populism of Donald Trump, which is sadly what Brexit under May has descended into.

May has effectively portrayed Members of Parliament as enemies of the people. In our divided country and bitter political environment, this is reckless and morally reprehensible. Her government has already thrown civil servants under the bus and offered chief negotiator Oliver Robbins as a sacrificial lamb. Now she’s exploiting the tense atmosphere and low level of public trust in politicians for her own ends. It would also make a lot more sense if she wasn’t attacking people whose votes she needs, as it is it was breathtakingly counterproductive and stupid.

It’s yet another classic example of Theresa May’s baffling inability to ever strike the right tone. She does not appear to understand people. She has few skills in diplomacy or communication, and worst of all she appears to be lacking in humility. It’s as if she believes that none of this is her fault, despite her having been in charge and getting nearly everything wrong.

Becoming the prime minister in the wake of the 2016 EU referendum was a huge challenge, no doubt, but she could not have bungled it much worse than she has. She had a range of options in how to deal with the domestic politics and the EU and she has continually and repeatedly proven herself to be painfully incapable of making the right choices and inadequate when managing diplomatic relations.

Domestically, when faced with a 52/48 close result after a campaign that turned nasty Theresa May could’ve sought to be a unifying figure. She had a choice between pitching to UKIP voters and hardline Brexiteers (a minority) or building a coalition that crossed the narrow Leave/Remain divide (which she should have sought to make redundant) and building a broad political consensus for a new relationship with the EU and a reformed Britain. This would mean trying to address some of the major concerns of both sides, leaving the EU but conserving economic integration, protecting the rights of EU nationals and seeking to retain as many reciprocal freedoms as politically possible while investing in the forgotten regions of our country.

Instead, she specifically appealed to UKIP voters and set out a parochial vision based on her own insular outlook. She very deliberately snubbed, even poured scorn on, the “citizens of nowhere” that made up a significant element of the Remain vote. In doing so she made enemies of liberals, cosmopolitans and globalists. She set out to turn these “citizens of nowhere” against her own people, the “citizens of somewhere”. This just exacerbated the culture war and entrenched both sides, ensuring Brexit became an utterly intractable mess and compromise impossible.

Her dealing with European leaders and EU officials has been even worse. The vote for Brexit was met with dismay on the continent and seemed like a hostile act. What was needed was a huge charm and reassurance offensive. Having voted to leave, Britain had to extend immediately the hand of friendship and reconciliation and promise a willingness to negotiate in good faith and minimise the fallout for both sides. Instead, May sought to make it an adversarial confrontation from the beginning and played the EU against British public opinion.

Reports of her tone-deaf inability to relate to her fellow leaders on a personal level have been a constant embarrassment. She tends to re-read speeches and letters rather than speak naturally as one human being to another. Again, and again, her demeanour has been met with bewilderment and astonishment.

It is indeed true that parliament, and especially her own Party, has not made her job easy in Brussels, but she is far from blameless. May has failed to keep her word and has often addressed parliament and the public as if her words would not be heard in Europe. The icing on the cake must surely be when she rejected her own Withdrawal Agreement that she had spent two years negotiating and insisted she could get through parliament. She is not reliable or trustworthy.

Of course, MPs have not covered themselves in glory, neither has the civil service. The whole system has been found wanting. The ultimate failure however belongs to Theresa May. Her litany of mistakes and misjudgements have led us to where we are today. She can forget her legacy beyond Brexit. Her legacy is being one of the most appalling Prime Ministers this country has ever had. A failed leader.

Her approach to diplomacy failed. The domestic choices she made were all wrong. She humiliatingly bungled the 2017 general election and lost her majority. She has proven herself to be a constitutional vandal, reneging on promises to the House, flouting conventions, attempting to ignore the rules of the Commons and trying to ignore the will of Parliament.

She is a specialist in failure. Her key policy, her vision for Brexit and the Withdrawal Agreement that sets it in motion has been rejected twice in parliament by the biggest margins in history. Yet she has shown not even a tiny bit of contrition or willingness to change course and build alliances.

Nothing has changed. That’s why they call her the Maybot. Every time one hopes for personal response, she returns to her Downing Street bunker and comes back with sloganistic tripe. Nothing changes.

Despite all this, she had the gall to lecture her MPs last night and to pose as a champion of the people, apparently not even realising she was in the process of making her latest disastrous mistake.

Earlier in the day Donald Tusk had made his speech where he said a short extension would be granted if the deal could be passed. He explicitly did not rule out a longer extension and was clearly attempting to help her along. Immediately one could see how the Prime Minister could play the politics to get the votes she needs from Labour MPs in leave areas and Tory waverers.

Instead, she insulted every single person who she needed to support her. It was yet another totally unnecessary podium speech, but she managed to destroy her own deal and put the nail in the coffin of her premiership. It could not have been more badly misjudged.

Today, what little remained of the portrayal of Theresa May as a determined and dutiful political survivor cornered by Brexit is in tatters. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom launched an explicit attack on the supremacy of parliament and placed MPs in opposition to the public like a petty demagogue. This all stemmed from an apparent inability to understand that she cannot impose her will. Parliament is not obliged to do what she wants, and when a Prime Minister is unable to lead a parliament, they are generally obliged to call an election or resign. Instead, we are witnessing an authoritarian without authority lashing out in all directions. It’s an ugly spectacle and sad to watch.