May to fight on despite meltdown 

UK Prime Minister Theresa May says she will fight on after her bungling foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, resigned and ridiculed her handling of Brexit, as he has from within her cabinet. 

It remains to be seen if he will launch a leadership bid. 

Johnson followed Brexit “bulldog” David Davis and his assistant minister Steve Baker in leaving the cabinet after May had declared unity behind her soft-Brexit approach. 

Amid the turmoil, May told MPs her Brexit strategy was the best course, although Davis said Brussels would reject her demands. 

The enfeebled May then had to meet backbench Conservative MPs, telling them that failure to back her leadership could allow leftist opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn into power.

May’s office rejected suggestions her government was in “meltdown”.

Johnson has been replaced by Jeremy Hunt, whose job at the Ministry of Health has now been given to culture secretary Matt Hancock.

Brexiteer Dominic Raab was named as Davis’s replacement as Brexit minister.

Labour

Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson told BBC that he wanted to work to get the best Brexit deal. 

“Is the current meltdown in the government good for anyone? Obviously electorally it might help my party but we want a good deal because families out there require parliament to vote on a good deal,” he said. 

He said Johnson had “a career ahead of him on ‘love yourself island”, in reference to the trash TV show Love Island. 

Watson said it was conceivable that there was “no majority in parliament for any Brexit deal” and that Labour had not ruled out another referendum on the issue. 

“It is highly, highly, highly unlikely we would support a people’s vote but we haven’t taken that off the table because there are a rare set of circumstances where parliament just can’t make a decision. And so you keep your options open,” he added. 

But pro-EU Labour MP Chuka Umunna wrote in the Independent that another referendum was the only way resolve the Brexit crisis. 

“This whole sorry mess today simply illustrates that you will not be able to resolve Brexit in Westminster. It took the cabinet two years to agree a common position last Friday, and now that is falling apart. 

“It does not meet the Labour frontbench’s tests for what would amount to a good deal so there will not be a consensus in the Commons on a way forward – parliament is not of one view nor is it likely to be at the end of this process. 

“This is why more and more people are calling for a  people’s vote on the final Brexit. We cannot leave a decision with such far-reaching consequences to the circus that passes for this government – it should rest with the people.”

 

Two of the four Brexit architects have resigned since Sunday. Picture credit: Eurasia Times