James Forsyth James Forsyth

Theresa May’s Brexit minefield

If you think it looks complicated from here, try an international summit

issue 03 September 2016

When David Cameron resigned, the Conservative Party Board pushed back the planned date for the election of a new leader until after the G20 summit had taken place. The official reason was to give the new Prime Minister time to read into the job and save him or her from having to fly off to meet world leaders directly after moving into Downing Street. More cynical members of the board, though, suspected Cameron had another motive: he wanted the chance to say a proper goodbye to Obama and Co. Thanks to Andrea Leadsom’s withdrawal from the leadership race, however, Theresa May now heads to the summit this weekend with almost two months in No. 10 under her belt.

She will be a main focus of interest in Hangzhou, China. The other attendees will be keen to find out what she means when she says ‘Brexit means Brexit’, and what her vision for Britain’s post-EU global role might be.

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