Theresa May was brave but failed as a leader, now it’s time to bring on a Brexit Prime Minister
THERESA MAY’S decision to step down and leave Downing Street will be the hardest of her three tortured years as Prime Minister.
This is the job she fought for with astonishing tenacity all her adult life.
Having succeeded David Cameron against all the odds in July 2016, this devout Christian must have believed it was preordained.
Even her staunchest critics will give her credit for her diligent sense of duty, endurance in adversity, her triumph over daunting ill-health and her stubborn determination to deliver what she saw as the will of the people.
There will also be many who point out her own self-inflicted, unforced errors.
She will be judged harshly on both sides of the Channel and on both sides of the Brexit debate.
WAKE UP TO REALITY
But in the end, it will be the manner of her going that will decide her legacy as Prime Minister during the most tumultuous period in modern peacetime history.
She decided with good grace last night to leave once “Brexit is delivered”.
We must hope this will prove enough to rally the numbers to push her deeply flawed Withdrawal Bill over the line with the support of most sceptical Brexiteer MPs.
Without a shadow of a doubt, this is the Tory Party’s only hope for salvation.
MPs need to wake up to reality. Remainers dominate Cabinet, Tory MPs and parties of all shades in the Commons and the House of Lords.
But nothing can erase the stunning verdict of the 2016 Referendum. Britain is a Brexit nation. Voters will severely punish the Tories if they do not honour their clear and explicit verdict.
A resurgent Brexit Party led by Nigel Farage would soak up votes in both Labour and Tory seats.
Disappointed Tories would sit on their hands rather than vote again for a party they believe betrayed them.
The only winners would be Loony Leftie Jeremy Corbyn, his sinister Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and the vengeance-seeking, economically destructive Momentum mob.
Sure, Mrs May has her admirers. They are impressed by her courage under fire.
Even at this moment of crisis and turmoil, she is still the person most rated to be Prime Minister.
Without a shadow of a doubt, this is the Tory Party's only hope for salvation
But there is no doubt she brought this crisis and turmoil upon her own head and upon the country.
Leaders are meant to lead, not to remain stony-faced and infuriatingly silent under TV spotlights.
Politicians who aspire to the highest office need powers of articulate persuasion.
They need imagination, flexibility and adroit negotiation.
They also need to be tough and determined when needs be, and subtle when smooth words are required to calm rattled nerves.
Sadly, for all her sterling qualities, Theresa May is conspicuously lacking in all these precious talents.
When the history of Brexit’s many cock-ups comes to be written, she will be blamed for triggering the two-year countdown without a plan and for offering the EU £39billion with nothing in return.
Sadly, for all her sterling qualities, Theresa May is conspicuously lacking in all these precious talents
She will carry the can for her catastrophic 2017 General Election, which saw her remarkable 20-point lead wither and die as her “strong and stable” image turned into a national embarrassment.
In the end, though, it will be her and — especially — Chancellor Phil Hammond’s refusal to prepare for No Deal that will destroy her reputation as both Prime Minister and national leader.
Nothing proved this more than last week’s panic in Brussels when, for one brief and mistaken moment, EU leaders believed No Deal was suddenly possible.
Their scramble to get the PM off the hook said all that needs to be said about the criminal waste of this trump negotiating card.
Even without the benefit of hindsight, this was a battle Britain should have won hands down.
All we needed was a leader with at least some belief that the 17.4million people who voted Out were not thick and stupid racists.
BUMBLING BORIS
That they had good reason for wanting to wave goodbye to an unaccountable, undemocratic and bullying EU superstate.
For that we cannot blame Mrs May alone — a declared Remainer who listened only to fellow Remainers.
The blame lies disastrously with the leading Brexiteers themselves — bumbling Boris Johnson, back-stabbing Michael Gove and limply futile Andrea Leadsom.
Any one of them could and should have been Prime Minister before Theresa May.
MOST READ IN OPINION
Even now, they still can’t get their act together.
Instead they stumbled over each other like Keystone Cops, ruling themselves out — possibly forever — as future Brexit leaders.
And yet, at this crucial moment in British history, this country desperately needs a Brexit premier to succeed Theresa — whatever our disgraceful rabble of squabbling MPs might think.
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