May’s resignation

Theresa May, the embattled British Prime Minister, has resigned following a political revolt in her beloved Conservative Party over her failure to steer the United Kingdom through its divorce with the European Union.  With no end in sight at the moment, the Brexit saga has officially consumed May, her predecessor and in many ways her party. The prime minister may have finally given up on her tumultuous premiership of nearly three years and her promise to deliver Brexit, but Britain’s troubles are far from over. May’s exit has cleared the way for a notoriously vicious Conservative Party battle to select her successor. May’s resignation perhaps also increased the prospects of a no-deal Brexit. Now all eyes are set on the next recipient of the Tory crown, Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary, who is likely to win the support of his party’s Eurosceptic base. With the October deadline to leave EU looming and patience running dry in Brussels, May’s successor will have to move quickly to define Britain’s position on the exit deal. And the options are limited.

The next British prime minister will have to win parliamentary support for the exit treaty or risk a no-deal Brexit. Looking back at Theresa May, there are lessons for the incoming leader. She set an impossible task for herself by promising to deliver Brexit and she made that immeasurably difficult by her inability to convey her strategy. She started as a domineering figure and ended up arguing for compromise while her party was in no mood to bargain. In her final days, May boxed herself in a situation where she had no friends. Her talks with the opposition Labour Party ended in failure and support within her own party dwindled. While the leader may have changed in Britain, the political and parliamentary complexities have not. It remains to be seen if May’s successor would be any better at solving Brexit and Britain’s complex political equation. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26^th, 2019.

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