After a nightmare EU Council summit, Theresa May attempted to put on a brave face in her summit press conference. The Prime Minister told hacks that despite the fact the EU had refused to agree to her request for a 12 month limit to the backstop, progress had been made. As for that heated exchange between May and Jean Claude Juncker in which she appeared to call the European Commission president out for describing her as nebulous, that was merely the type of ‘robust’ conversation good friends can have.
While there is reason to believe Juncker was being disingenuous in calling May ‘nebulous’ over her requests (the UK side insist the EU side know what it wants), this press conference did manage to fall into the nebulous category. May did her very best to insist that things were moving when it came to progress on the backstop. However when pressed on how, May repeatedly said she was being clear only to then offer little clarity. She said that conversations would be ongoing in the coming days as further ‘discussion’ and ‘clarification’ was possible. As for claims that she had been vague in her requests to EU leaders on Thursday eve, May insisted she had been ‘crystal clear’ about the assurances she needs on the backstop to get the deal over the line.
In the Q and A with the travelling press lobby, May refused to say whether she was willing to accept WTO terms – instead insisting only that a deal was preferable. Asked whether she was ever tempted to chuck her mobile phone in the bin, zone out, and leave someone else to clear up the mess, May insisted she was driven by a public duty and would persevere onwards.
So, what will her reception be back home? The problem is that no matter what May says she is coming back to the UK empty handed. No.10 aides weren’t expecting May to return with a way to junk the backstop, but they did expect supportive language and EU leaders to help. Instead, May had been embarrassed once again by European counterparts.
In order to win that confidence vote, May made three promises: (a) not to lead the party into the next election (b) to come up with a legally binding solution to the backstop (c) to work to get the party’s relationship with the DUP back on track. Judging by the events of the past 24 hours, promises (b) and (c) are on course to be broken. May’s lucky the confidence vote was so speedy – had it been scheduled for Monday, we could be looking at a very different scenario.
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