The Brexit vote was only 52%, which proved the need to compromise from the start. It didn't take a great visionary to understand that.
97
@Blair Such a slim, no-mandate percentage is exactly why America needs a parliamentary system, not our idiotic winner-take-all presidential game show.
2
Putin is smiling down on all of this. His tampering [the Brexit vote was the trial run for the 2016 presidential election] got the Brits to vote for a no-win situation. There is no way that Britain can exit the EU now. It's technically impossible in a way that would please anyone and it makes no economic sense. The thing needs to be put to another vote and be done with.
Candidates count. Campaigns count. Theresa was terrible on both counts. Yes, she was dealt an incredibly bad hand. But she made a total hash of it.
It will be easy for Boris Johnson to pretend a hard brexit is no problem in order to get elected. Now taking full responsibility for the outcome will be another thing entirely.
2
She should have walked out a long time ago.
3
The problem the next PM faces will be the same as May faced: there is no majority support for any position on Brexit. not for leave, not for remain, not for any compromise on leave and remain, and not for a second referendum. And as for May, what a despicable performance in office, what a pitiful simpering resignation. The referendum result was indica NJtive of nothing, it was based on misinformation and lies. It supported leave, which was the result May and her party wanted, so she tried to push it through rather than call another referendum when an informed vote could be taken, and she did it in the interests of her party and in her own interests, not in the interests of her country or in the interests of democracy.
2
Perhaps Nigel Farage could explain this in Russian.
1
The whole Brexit debacle was strange, manipulated by Putin and his British puppets. Make no mistake, Putin wants nothing more than to weaken democracy across Europe and America. Democracy is a threat to Putin’s brutal regime, his oligarchs and the white nationalist that agree with him.
8
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
- WB Yeats
7
I've said from the beginning that Brexit was case of putting national pride over national interest.
At this point, what's done is done and let the chips fall where they may. Look like the British are head for a no-deal break with the EU. Good luck...
2
IF there ever is a Brexit deal I wonder if it will pretty much duplicate Mrs May's. From what Ive read, there just isn't a lot of wiggle room when leaving the EU -- unless a much smoother operator takes the helm. If only Mr Trump could switch...
1
The British thought we were idiots for electing Trump (I agree). But they have no business throwing stones. Brexit appears to be their glass house. The fact is that Brexit was and is a terrible idea. Ironically, its validity has the same flaws as Trump’s victory. Their Parliament is just as dysfunctional as our Congress, and for similar reasons. They have the same problems with polarization that afflicts the US today.
10
@Susan Piper. True. But Brexiteers, like Trump voters didn't really know what they were voting for. More interestingly, the Brexit referendum was an "advisory" vote. It's not legally binding on the government, but May ploughed ahead. The default was not to have left, unlike the US presidential election where there could be no status quo.
2
@Susan Piper With one fundamental difference. Their PM remains at the pleasure of his/her parliamentary colleagues. They can at least call time on a poorly performing leader.
4
@FooBar
On the contrary, it is legally binding because David Cameron said it was, as did Theresa May.
I feel bad for Mrs. May; she could not come up with a proposal that can get 50%+1 in parliament: Not for a negotiated deal, not for a hard Brexit, not for doing the sensible thing and holding another referendum so the Brits could say "let's just forget this whole dumb idea."
The British seem to want it both ways: All the good parts of EU membership (free movement of their people and goods), and not the bad (free movement of other people). Well, the EU has rightly made it clear that you can't have it both ways.
Why subject herself to this? I hope she takes a long vacation while Brits can still travel freely in Europe.
20
Something is a mistake when there is a solution elsewhere. Her mistake I think was believing that there was a solution. And that she doesn’t seem to enjoy life outside public service - I wish she had left earlier to forget the whole mess and relax.
2
May, like Mrs Clinton, is a victim of whatever it is that has made America and Britain - and probably other countries as well - more democratic with respect to intelligence. Easily conned, not-too-smart people are eagerly and openly courted now by politicians who, while perhaps intelligent themselves, can stomach the pandering and lying involved in conning such people. Some politicians not only can stomach it, but enjoy it and are very good at it. More and more, those guys rule. May was never one of them. She tried, to serve them but, in the end, was useless to them.
6
Clinton is smart enough to know where to land no matter. She didn’t win in the US. She’s stayed quiet. May forged ahead, crushing defeat in early Spring, obstinate, plowing ahead, defeated again and again (Trumpian). Gone, maybe thinking she was also the stable genius. Eventually, Trump will be gone, both in mind and spirit (he’s neither a Reagan nor a Bush), sooner rather than later. And we shall all be the better for it.
She failed to convey a positive vision for Britain after Brexit because there are none. Nice try though.
Trade and a customs union, in Europe’s case the EU, is a a very efficient mechanism for member nations. But the EU is much more. It stands for a form of commercial solidarity and peaceful collaborative approach after centuries of devastating wars inside as well as among these countries.
In the recent decade and especially in the last two years of Trump rule, greed, corruption, destructive individualism, historical amnesia, winner-take-all attitudes, ignorance, arrogance and blatant, in-your-face lying are replacing the collaborative world humans saw they needed to build after WWI and II.
9
I wonder what Britain would be doing with itself right now outside of internal convulsions had they not given the voters a choice in the matter? What kind of name is Archie for a monarch anyway? Prince Jughead, maybe next?
1
Theresa May:
Brexit?
No deal.
Exit.
It isn't May's Brexit strategy that left the country dire straits. That was done by Boris Johnson, his ilk, and the voters who swallowed their ideas.
In the eternal wisdom of none other than Elvis Presley, "“When things go wrong, don't go with them.”
2
The UK has no convincing future outside of the EU. It will cease to exist with Scotland and Northern Ireland leaving the UK.
2
Brexit. Putin's second biggest success after Trump. As other have noticed, Rupert Murdoch's media empire is a major player in both countries. Coincidence? I don't think so.
8
Brexit was before Trump. Fox is RT for the west. Why is the Murdoch family trying to bring down the US and UK? Sour grapes, axe to grind, score to settle?
May looked into the abyss of no-deal Brexit and wisely decided not to jump. Her successor will face the same horror. The only solution is to drastically change the narrative. The English middle classes in the shires need to be convinced that the EU is not a threat to their precious exceptionalism. The facts are there, you just need to smother them in snake oil. BoJo the Clown might just be able to do it. Let's hope he is successful, else it's bye-bye Britain.
1
@David The argument is over control of the borders of one's own country. Who should have control -- London or Brussels?
@David The trouble is, in the shires, they've realized that their town is now 30% Polish, and don't like that at all, even though the young English are moving to the cities (because they don't want to work on the farms or run a small shop), and without the immigrants the town would vanish.
5
and Boris Johnson is the favorite to win? Man, that country is even more messed up than this one!
7
The failure of Brexit, in my limited understanding, lies with Parliament, and those who put forth the referendum in the first place and then jumped ship when the impossible work to implement it began. I also blame the short-sighted brexit voters - they played right into Putin and his English co-conspirators plan and shot themselves in the foot.
Ms May's mistake was to accept responsibility for formulating a plan she didn't vote for in the first place. Her party, the Tories, used her as a sacrificial lamb.
3
"...failed to convey any convincing vision of the future..."
That's because the Tory Party, similarly to the GOP, has no convincing vision of the future. They are only interested in service to their hoarding masters, the plutocrats and kleptocrats. (And, truth be told, Democratic centrism over the last forty years and Blairism have served the same function, with a bit of windowdressing here and there to provide cover.)
This Brexit debacle and its counterpart Trump debacle are the logical outcome of Reagan/Thatcherism. This is the era of the Reagan Restoration. How do you like it?
Putin and Xi, and rabble-rousing, destabilizing populists undermining Western democracy all over, likely can't believe their dumb luck (with a bit of destabilizing covert action thrown in to aid their luck).
Enjoy the money while it lasts... Figured out a way to cool the earth?
4
She is the worst prime minister Britain has ever had. Negotiated the worst possible deal and claiming it was a great deal. It was negotiated in secret by a civil servant, all ministers were kept out of the negotiations. It is quite hard to describe how bad a leader she was and unfathomable why the Conservative party didn't kick her out long before. She was one huge wrecking ball of both the country and her party and of parliament too.
1
The United Kingdom, like the British Empire, is already gone. Churchill his not just rolling, he's raging in his grave.
3
While Farage and Johnson are the chief villains let us not forget fromer Tory PM David Cameron, who promised the Brexit referendum to clinch his last election and bailed the day after the Brexit fools won the referendum, heading for the hills as May stepped into an impossible position and made it even worse. The British people were repeatedly and outrageously lied to and a majority, mostly outside the big cities, fell for it. Of course there should be a second referendum and of course there won't be. The entire farce is like watching one of your dearest friends end up as a homeless person.
1
How will the next prime minister have a different outcome regarding the disastrous Brexit vote?
Since the Kremlin was behind a misinformation campaign during the Brexit referendum, a new vote should be held.
Putin is using the internet to destroy Western liberal democracies. We in the states will be rid of Trump soon enough but Brexit is forever.
How about a vote on having another vote?
2
Leaders are shaped by the times they lived in and the people they lead. One cannot blame Ms. May, her supporters or opponents or even the “tears in the back seat”! Comparisons to Winston Churchill or his times is unfair and inappropriate --- they had an Empire to lose and they lost it. This generation have only the "United Kingdom" to lose. And they are doing everything towards that end. Scotland, Ulster and Wales, next?
Trump was prophetic when he asked why people call it “U.K.”, not “England”!
6
She was bad.
Boy, she was bad.
But with the Tory Party, never think it can't get worse.
When it comes to bad, you ain't seen nothing yet. Not if you've seen the list of likely successors.
(and coincidentally, the UK has the worst Leader of the Opposition...Jeremy useless Corbyn....in history, so things won't improve if there's a Labour government).
3
The Times has finally discovered there's life across the pond. Perhaps if they had been more attuned to the goings on in Europe these past half dozen year, they would not have been so surprised when Trump won in 2016. The internationalist elites all over the Western world were so complacently busy talking to each other, that they lost touch with their own peoples.
The wars in the Balkans following the dissolution of Yugoslavia should have woken up the European leadership that there were fundamental problems that needed to be addressed. It didn't. Brexit should have woken up the Democratic Party that something was going on they didn't get, that the "natives were restless" here also, that "same old same old" for the system would no longer work, despite the huge economic and other advancement of the preceding fifty years, despite the fact that since Viet Nam, our wars were essentially outsourced to a small segment of American society. It didn't.
The result: a President Trump here, political chaos in Great Britain, and the rise of genuinely popular anti-democratic and anti-liberal values (in the traditional sense) forces in Europe.
6
There has been consistent reporting on this
2
I feel like the Times has covered it well enough.
Maybe it's time for another referendum on Brexit now that the British people have had time to contemplate the ramifications and the chaos that has already ensued.
I wish we could redo our 2016 election with the benefit of such 20/20 hindsight.
14
@Venus Transit unlike Trump, the American voter doesn’t get mulligans.
@Venus Transit and if it comes out 50.01% leave 49.9% remain? you know it could actually make things worse
British politics has for the last decade been all about a leadership contest within the Tory party. The collateral damage for the citizens in Britain has been unprecedented. With no credible alternative at hand Labour or other, don’t expect this chaos to end soon.
Especially with David Milliband quite possibly the only British politican that could unite still in exile in America.
6
Many British love country music from here in Music City, a name given to Nashville by Queen Victoria. Merle’s song about “we’ll all be drinkin’ free bubble up, and eatin’ rainbow stew” would be good for Boris Johnson’s campaign theme. Brexit is their Trump.
9
Theresa May’s resignation has triggred a leadership contest within her party, electing someone who will then succeed her as party leader.
Her successor will automatically be the new prime minister. But whoever he/she will be to lead Britain out of the current mess, should be decided by a general election vote, in which the public vote for who they want to rule the country.
May should - for the first time in office – put national interest ahead of her party’s and let the British people decide their country’s future, not her unelected successor.
6
@J. von Hettlingen May should have called for a general election. That she did not shows her incompetence.
2
The Brexit movement was orchestrated by the Russians and the Murdochs to weaken the United Kingdom, Theresa May realized the consequences of crashing the empire and resisted it. England loses.
The Russians and the Murdochs are orchestrating the weakening of United States as a world power, and Trump and company know it and are selling us out. United States loses.
13
It's an advisory vote, passed based on a pack of lies.
There should be no Brexit, without a proper vote - one in which the mechanism of Brexit is included.
5
Most of England knows voters made a colossal mistake (Trump, anyone?) in Brexit, so the only rational choice is to vote again.
6
Brett was a bad Idea from the beginning, and May knew it. A no-deal Brexit will make this amply clear as Britain slips into irrelevance.
5
The job of delivering a Brexit acceptable to a majority in Parliament is probably impossible. First, there is only one deal available from the EU for a soft Brexit -- the EU hold all the cards, they are not going to change. Second, the House of Commons has not and is not going to vote for a hard Brexit. Third, there is not a majority for a second referendum (which is the only viable way out of this mess), effectively sealing off all exit routes and making the Commons an echo-chamber of futility. All that said, May fell woefully short of the task of leading the country. It was a matter of the incompetent trying to deliver the impossible. And with the buffoon Boris Johnson waiting in the wings, this is likely to get even worse.
7
From the start, it seemed like May was set up to fail. She will be the scapegoat instead of the pols who miss lead a nation to vote against their best interest based on an ad on the bus.
7
Putin and Murdoch manipulated the UK’s vote on Brexit. Putin’s determined to damage western democracy because a strong democracy is a threat to his oligarchs and to his brutal regime!
The moment Theresa May acquiesced to holding Trump’s hand on her first visit to the White House as they walked along the Colonnade (not to mention on multiple occasions since!), it became clear that May did not have the strength of character necessary to be Prime Minister. Such unnecessary deference to Trump — and for what reason, because she is a woman?? — was a clear sign that this PM did not have the backbone required to avoid being manipulated. Which the Brexiteers have used to their advantage, and to the UK’s likely disadvantage, ever since.
5
Easy come, easy go. Brexit was in fact May's rocket to the top, Cameron would still be there if not for it. Oddly enough, May's failed because three years in, Brexit so much "Remains":
- Brexit remains an essentially toxic xenophobic and racialized project
- Brexiteers remain fakers or gullible about the economic consequences of what they want
- Brexiteers remain on another planet in pretending or actually expecting the EU
would ever sign over Northern / Ireland's fate to a unilateral British decision - the only Brexit alternatives to customs union or the endless Backstop is adding Northern Ireland to inspections across the Irish Sea (which is, in fact, on offer from the EU).
May, can be blamed for coddling the remaining delusions and hostilities of Brexit hardliners and the DUP, but gets credit for "delivering" Brexit's only logical conclusion, which is the present mess.
4
Theresa May and everyone else knew that this was an impossible job in the circumstances!-She was not given the job-she took the job,knowing this,because she wanted power!-No one should feel sorry for her,-she failed spectacularly!-As will the next Prime Minister!
1
Elections have consequences. Grave consequences. Sometimes, a resignation is the best option.
Hint-Hint.
6
Be careful what you wish for. The Brexiteers are going to find out how true that is. If the European Union has one iota of backbone, they will say enough is enough and end all further negotiations and deadline extensions. Boris Johnson will realize his dream and lead Great Britain (minus Scotland) to economic disaster.
6
She was strongest when she stood up against the Russian. This whole exit experience is one historic downer. Britain desperately needs an international player; otherwise, they will become Big Ireland.
2
Ms. May certainly was not the boogywoman of BREXIT, It's patently obvious that the silly referendum which was based on hysteria, hate, nationalism and naive notions of a glorious UK outside the EU was the issue,
Making such an enormous task possible, having to deal with the back stop, the possibility of a rebirth of an Irish crisis, on and on, was beyond the power of one woman or man,
Even today, it's likely a new referendum would vote against leaving,
But it still appears that the new PM will be a stronger Brexitier, and perhaps even lead to a no deal exit,
Dear friends in the UK, your future for now looks rocky and unclear, but chaos will likely be the winner as you stumble into your exit.
BTW, Putin and Trump are dancing with joy as they watch the spectacle,
5
It was quite something to see Mrs. May's usually placid expression crumble to tears at the end of her exit speech. She was dealt a tough hand she could not play with Brexit, and England will be the worse for having it - more isolated, higher prices - instead of what had been promised. The same is true here - Trump's promises are as hollow and will have the same result. With any luck, his tenure will be short and whoever replaces him can reverse course full stop. We need an antidote to austerity, income inequality, and the current race to the bottom wage-wise.
26
@Ellen I’m afraid that the notion that Prime Minister May “was dealt” abad hand obscures her agency behind the passive voice construction. PM May, in fact, eagerly sought to lead the party and then made an absolute hash of things by alienating all parties on all sides through persistent political blundering. She is not to be pitied for her role in leading millions of UK citizens further into poverty in her years in various Tory government configurations.
The right to govern comes from the conscent of the govern. Membership in the EU was an agreement to loan certain British soverety to the EU.
The British people withdrew consent and Teresa May apparently got elected with a commitment with or with an exit agreement. Clearly the exit agreement would have also loaned some sovereignty and regaining sovereignty is the whole point.
We see an upset Teresa Mae but what about the millions of Brits she broke her promise to. They have a right to be upset. Any tears they have are justified and not simply wining.
I heard several everyday people in England interviewed on the radio today about Brexit and the May Exit. All of them supported Brexit, and expressed a wish for Britain to return its post-Word War 2 glory.
One person aid that "Britain freed Europe" and so Europeans owed them greater respect. Another said the English were "poor but proud" in the decades after the war. These people are yearning for a world to which they cannot possibly return.
You can't turn back time. And anyway, the glorious past they describe never entirely existed.
Similarly, President Trump's most recent State of the Union address had numerous World War 2 references. He promised to restore our post-war glory. He spoke of restoring American steel. The US Army is redesigning its uniforms to resemble the WW2 era.
The US and Britain are in the grip of a collective dream in which they return to a time before global trade, global supply chains, global technology systems, global telecommunications and, yes, global climate change. This dream is causing a global, waking nightmare as deluded voters elect leaders like May, like Trump, like Modi, like Orban.
Leaders that tell them what they like to hear (that we can go back to some state of former glory) rather than explain to them what we must do in order to live in a global, mutually dependent world.
10
@Thinline
Tosh, absolute tosh. If people keep deliberately misreprenting the opposing side the world is really going bad.
Maybe the reason May “failed to convey any convincing vision of a future for Britain outside the European Union” was that none was ever possible. The referendum question had two responses, but really there were three. Britain could leave without a deal and accept the steep price of flying their flag higher, they could arrange a half in/out deal that balanced national pride with damage limitation, or they could stay and grumble. Three years ago those first two options collectively got 52%, but on their own neither was ever preferred by the majority. There was no way that May or anyone else could have squared that circle. And if they ran it again now likely remain would win.
3
PM May was handed a terrible situation and yet still managed to muck it through a combination of lack of vision, lack of insight and lack of courage. It may have been true that no one could have succeeded with that pack of jackals in the pro-Brexit camp, but she managed to make things worse none the less.
2
Nebulous, but still more responsible than her likely successors who are all explicitly clear about the damage they intend to do to their country.
2
The problem was only partly May. Most of it was circumstance, which is to say Parliament. The people voted to leave but both houses of Parliament are heavily opposed to Brexit and there was cross party anti-Brexit obstruction at every turn. This Parliament will never approve any Brexit deal and they have declared their opposition to a "no deal" Brexit. No government is going to able to deliver on the referendum with this Parliament. The only solution is a general election.
10
The truth is, no body really knows who will be Britain’s next PM. Other than, it won’t be Boris Johnson. More likely Gove (12:1), Hunt (16:1) or Hancock (70:1). The only thing certain, based on how the MPs had previously voted and their positions on the issue today, is that Brexit has moved from 50:50 forward to 3:2. With some hard fought and improved negotiating at play, maybe an improved outcome and certainty, of hygiene towards quality of success, for all.
2
Let me suggest that this should not, by default, be considered Theresa May's failure. If her charge was to answer, "Is there a way to do Brexit that people will buy into?", then perhaps getting an answer of, "No" was a successful process. Policy Eeyores (a newly coined term of art) might say, The Operation was a success but the patient died.
5
Theresa May accepted the dismal responsibility of demonstrating that Brexit was more complicated and would be more painful than its proponents fantasized it would be. She has fulfilled that mission. The conservatives no longer have use of her. End of (political) story. Hopefully her sacrifice is recognized, at least in her private life.
7
I can't imagine who could have made the Brexit exit work. There were too many conflicting desires--to somehow leave the Union, but retain most of its benefits. Good luck my UK friends. It's going to be a bumpy night.
38
@bounce33 Well they either have to re-vote or leave, they couldn't come up with a plan after three years and just hope it turns out well?
Brexit looks increasingly like a series of ill considered principles that have to be painfully abandoned by their adherents one by one as the reality of implementing them becomes clear.
Quite simply, what a mess.
Given that May was dealt that hand, it might be tempting to praise her tenaciousness. She was, after all, a "remainer". But at a time when consensus desperately needed to be built as to how Britain would function outside of the EU, she did no consensus building, which exacerbated a disaster that seems set to outlive May.
Discussions of how she will be remembered are, ultimately, likely to be overshadowed. The question is more if she will be remembered. She looked totally alone at that podium. I suspect she's realizing that she will be mentioned mostly as a placeholder in history.
8
@Niles Perhaps those who championed Brexit should have done the consensus building. It was their idea and, yet, when it came to making it work, they just kept on complaining.
34
@bounce33 Absolutely! The likes of Farage and Boris Johnston own this problem, make them fix it.
1
@Niles
She needed more courage. It is pigheaded and stupid to continue on a course, when you figure out it's the wrong course. A good leader would have said that her red lines were a mistake, and put the question to the voters a year or two ago.
It seems clear to me that the Commons as currently configured falls along two hard ideological lines and that the position May tried to stake out lies between them, with little political representation. One wishes to use Brexit for neoliberal aims while beating a superficial nationalist drum, while the other views the world in neo-marxist categories and is embedded in cultural currents that are far removed from the majority of the populace, including in their own constituencies, as the Brexit vote clearly demonstrated. Rory Stewart stands out as an appealing choice to replace May, but most other choices will prove far less moderate and more beholden to a neoliberal agenda. To this non-expert it seems May was put in an impossible situation given the ideological terrain, and she consistently demonstrated political qualities almost wholly lacking in American politics, and certainly totally absent in American conservatism, that are much to be admired.
9
Brexit was a fever dream of men like Farange and Boris Johnson. It was sold as a complete con to people in Britain who track ideologically in similar ways to Trump's followers. The economic engine of London, driven by the customs union allowed it to become the financial capital of the EU in the same way that NYC has that role in the United States. People, conned by the Brexiters and the Murdoch propaganda machine, bought the fantasies that nothing would change, more money in their pockets and England would remain England. The core of the negotiating strategy and the promises to the people were simple - we will have our cake and eat it too. We will leave the EU, retain all our advantages and not have any costs. On its face that was utter rubbish. The Irish peace utterly depends on those open borders. Scotland will likely vote again on independence and this time Scotland will very likely vote FOR severing itself from the UK.- their economy depends on the contacts with the EU.
The one thing over the next few years that may happen is that the "United Kingdom" becomes a memory. Northern Ireland may go, despite the Unionists, Scotland will vote for independence and the kingdom will just be England and Wales, an even paler shadow of its former self. It could, if rationality struck, back out and all would be thrilled. However, it appears that they will ride this until the very end no matter what it does to their country -- just like Trump and his supporters will do here.
128
@AnObserver
Britain is/was the 2nd biggest economy in the EU and will do fine on their own. It will be a WTO ( no deal ) brexit and the sky won't fall on the UK. They will plot their own course and if they plot it wisely they will find themselves doing just fine. Bad choices still have consequences but leaving the EU isn't one of the bad choices. It is the choice the voters made and will be bad or good only after its done and the other decisions are made.
3
@GregP
The voters were presented with an advisory vote - not represented as the end of the decision, that included a great many lies about what Brexit would mean, that just barely passed. This is not the vote you change the course of a nation on.
A vote on a bill with the mechanism of Brexit included, a reasonable sketch at the least - that is what is required. Or the better option - no Brexit, as every poll shows the British citizens are not in favor of Brexit.
22
@GregP Many of my British friends agreed with you, but then there are some hugely downside possibilities. London as the prime financial conduit of the EU could be replaced by a German city,.. The hit would be enormous,
Negotiating trade as a pseudo competitor to the EU might not come off as easily as expected,
Simply pointing out that all of this "winning" is by no means guaranteed,
14
There is far too much editorializing in this piece. Did Ms. May make “toughness” her personal brand? Was she really “too slow to change course?” She is a long-standing public servant who demonstrated the realities of governing an OECD nation: you need time and information in order to bring a political coalition together. Further, steering the ship of state *is* slow: no changes can be ‘immediate,’ and some problems are insurmountable in the short term. May did well with the impossible circumstances she faced. She also established that the no-deal Brexit, which seems ever more likely now, was not enough of a worry to bring a coalition together. While I have no idea how history will view her, I think it’s very likely that history will lambast the no-deal Brexiteers.
12
So easy to trash Theresa May, but save your criticism for
the idiots who insist on no compromising. That is absolutism, not good governance.
I think she showed stamina and leadership, but Britain is in a self-defeatist mode and no one could have steered such a
damaged ship.
She should be proud of the courage and toughness she showed. Sic transit Britain. I think her tears are for the country, understandably so.
20
Hey, as she leaves office, Great Britain is still in the EU. Imagine the terrible reputation which will be earned by the PM who is in office when they actually leave.
11
The Brexit vote had no solution immediately after the vote. So, she didn’t find one . . . How realistic was it to expect a solution was possible?
No one seemed willing to do anything but make demands. That’s not how solutions are created.
Thus, the “here” isn’t her fault. What am I leaving out, I wonder....
1
May did not agree with brexit but she tried to do it anyway. This means she has no convictions. She only cared about being in power even if she had to knowingly harm her nation.
2
Your first premise does not necessarily lead to your conclusion. Great leaders sometimes have to do what they’d rather not do but they lead anyway because they care. Having a conviction to lead in hard times is worthwhile.
1
@Chris.....She followed the law in spite of her personal feelings. You see this as a fault? Are you in favor off ignoring the law when you don’t personally agree?
2
So nice to see a country that makes the US turmoil seem small in comparison. I always thought the Brits has its act together better than the US. The Brexit vote was a self inflicted wound. Any direction on Brexit will create problems for the UK.
6
Britain is clearly self-destructing politically and economically for lack of clarity. The idiocy of promising all will be well when they leave the EU is poisonous.
Britain had the best deal ever, being in the EU but having its own currency: they could devalue as needed, but still get the benefits of free trade.
Corbin is yet another Putin lackey. Sigh. Little did we know that it would be mostly Russian cash breaking through the new gaps in campaign spending laws.
We in democracy are really stuck. Political parties are non-functional if they just bicker, but they are oppressive if party discipline is strong enough to hold a majority party together. (Ironically party discipline like that is probably more an outcome of collective guilt and hiding than real consensus.)
8
The British political class set out to destroy Mrs. May from the time she first took office as Prime Minister, much like the American political class set out to destroy President Trump's Presidency from the day after his election.
2
Another win for today's Putin-Conservative alliance.
9
The UK always wanted the benefits of being in the EU, and before that in the European Market, but was never fully committed. They kept the pound and dragged their feet. The EU will continue as an international trade and political power, and the UK will suffer the consequences of its trade and political isolation. The PM realized that, but couldn't get passed her own party of conservative, suicidal politicians. Good riddance to the UK.
2
David Cameron is the real villain in this fiasco. He calls for the referendum and then bails, leaving May to put together a plan that was doomed.
14
As a lawyer, I spend a lot of time negotiating settlements. From the beginning, May's tactics flew in the face of everything I've been taught or learned in my years of practice: understand the "third rail" issues for both parties, start by building good will with your opponent, manage your client's expectations, give both sides opportunities to compromise without losing face. Instead, May failed to anticipate major red lines like the Irish border, promised the impossible to the electorate, insulted the EU at every turn, and created an environment where every plausible outcome looked like capitulation. It was a masterclass in incompetence.
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@D. Green
Well said - I agree with all what you said - hopefully, NYTimes would prin these few words as my other civil posts have been censored. She was incompetent & was trying to dilute the results of the referendum. A good day for Britain.
@D. Green because if nothing else, May is utterly incompetent. Having lived in the UK when she was a cabinet minister, that’s crystal clear.
With any luck the Brexiteers and Conservative Party will get the economic disaster they deserve. The UK will perform the role of showing the consequences of a national mistake. A deep shame for the people of the country, but for those who bought the fantasy that a small island adjacent to Europe would again be a world power, the outcome will be something like just desserts.
24
It won’t happen, but I think Britain should hold another referendum on Brexit.
15
Give it up and stay. The alternative is far, far worse.
23
And Theresa May chooses party over country one last time. She's going to hand Downing Street to Boris Johnson and a no deal Brexit rather than just hold another bloody vote on the referendum. She's never been a profile in political courage but this really takes the cake. This is the end of her career, why not use it to get Britain out of this mess rather than hand the mess over to a vulgarian flamethrower?
22
@Jennifer..... what makes you think a 4th vote, or even a 5th would result in a consensus ?
1
What did those supporting Brexit expect? The EU wasn’t going to approve free trade without the ability to set regulations with ANY of its members. It’s not just that no deal is better than a lousy deal, it’s that the two deals will look exactly the same. This isn’t May’s fault. That belongs to the idiots who approved Brexit in the first place, without thinking through the consequences.
Sounds a lot like Trump’s election, And elections or referendums always have consequences.
38
Trump election is not permanent, someone will replace him and it's only happened bc Clinton was, and is, what everyone knows she is, unfortunately..
Brexit is permanent, it will not be replaced..
at least she wasn't Boris
6
It would seem that Britain might wish to start over with a new Brexit vote. Whoever replaces her could use the result of that referendum as his or her starting point.
5
@Dave
Did you notice that there were European Elections in the UK yesterday and the Brexit Party, led by Nigel Farage from exit polling won the most votes. There was the Liberal Democrats as well that advocates for staying in the EU and people are not voting for them. A referendum should be carried out once & you cannot have neverendums. Even if you have a 2nd referendum, who do you think would win? From yesterday's election it suggests the Leave side would win handsomely. We are leaving the EU on October 31st - Theresa May tried to tie us to the EU and have a second referendum and look at how that has ended. Is it not time for people like you to accept the results of the referendum and move on?
@Jeffery Fischer
Were these exit polls published in the UK? If so, this is a serious criminal offence under the Representation of the People Act. Exit polls cannot be published until vote counting is underway (it starts at 10pm on Sunday, once the last polls across the EU have closed).
I'll take the rest of your post with a pinch of salt. Let's see once the real votes have been counted.
3
PM May made the same mistake that PM Cameron made. They both tried to control the radical wing of their party and the radicals taught them both a brutal lesson. The ERG and their like minded fellow travelers actually believe the made up fantasy that Brexit would be easy and the sunny uplands of a unrestrained and resurgent UK set apart from Europe would bring back the glory days of Empire when Great Britain "ruled the waves" and was a giant striding the earth. People who buy into this form of delusional thinking will never accept any notion of practical political thinking and will never be satisfied until they get exactly what they want and they will use any lie to achieve their goal, and they will trample any notion of reality based politics.
14
@KJ Peters
Just as Boris Johnson said today - We are leaving the EU on October 31st Deal or No Deal. Theresa May did not fall because Brexit was difficult - She fell because she tried to introduce a 2nd referendum. Do not misconstrue the facts here. You can never have a 2nd referendum -- The people's voice was clear and their instructions would be executed. I know the referendum result is not what you wanted - Is it not time you accept the results of the people?
Owen Jones of the Guardian refers to Teresa May as the worst PM of modern times. I have a feeling that the next PM will make her look like a saint by comparison.
This change will likely assure a no-deal Brexit. Some in Britain think this will help in dealing with Trump. I've got news for these people. Trump exploits and demeans our trading partners whenever he can get away with it.
25
@Bill B BoJo can give her some very serious competition.
Theresa May doesn’t have any sense of timing. She should have let Boris Johnson become Prime Minister. Then she would have been in a position to pick up the pieces after he ran Britain in to a ditch.
So the British are now fated to do a “No Deal Brexit” which will cause the Scots and Welch to move towards independence and a breakup of the UK. Northern Ireland may follow. It’s time for someone to write the book Ben Franklin predicted, “The Rise and Fall of the British Empire”.
10
@Frank Harder
According to you - The E.U. is just doing fantastic with great economy, low unemployment, low immigration. The reality is, the E.U. is raven with all sorts of problems and countries challenging the legitimacy of the E.U. and rightly so.
There’s something refreshing about politicians who step down when they can’t achieve their aims or they’ve exhausted their options. While England is no example of a good political culture, a politician who can put their ego aside is slightly refreshing.
9
The photo caption says ... She was slow to adjust to the political realities of Brexit.
But what are these political realities so that Mr. Johnson (aka Bojo in UK papers) or somebody else can adjust to them? Brexit was sold to public with incomplete if not false information and the new one whoever it is will try to do that all over again with the no deal no problem mantra.
Would it be right to say that the Great Britain as a whole today is over confident of its greatness? Great Britain includes Scotland which is thinking differently about the Brexit. Great Britain does not include Northern Ireland which is not happy to dragged into this Brexit. Rest of the GB is divided about 50/50 on Brexit. Who can blame Putin if he says democracy does not always work?
6
@DM....Actually Great Britain DOES include Northern Ireland. It’s the Republic of Ireland that is independent, and remains a member of the EU.
2
@BBH The full name of the UK is The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great Britain is the island comprising England, Scotland and Wales. I'm not sure what point DM was trying to make, but the names are confusing.
@BBH
As per, no less, Britannica:
Great Britain, therefore, is a geographic term referring to the island also known simply as Britain. It’s also a political term for the part of the United Kingdom made up of England, Scotland, and Wales (including the outlying islands that they administer, such as the Isle of Wight).
United Kingdom, on the other hand, is purely a political term: it’s the independent country that encompasses all of Great Britain and the region now called Northern Ireland.
Let's keep Ireland completely out of this.
Sometimes, we have to make a commitment to accomplish a goal when we don't know all the detail. But at least, we know know all the physics are there. We just have to figure out the engineering.
In the base of Brexit, the Ireland border issue is the elephant in the room. How was it possible that the Brits didn't figure this out before voting on the issue?
6
@SpadeAce
It was put up as an advisory vote, and there was low turnout - the majority did not support it, but enough did not vote that it passed, since those in favor were more passionate about it.
Had they been rational, the advisory vote would have been followed by a vote on a few of the possible options for Brexit, to see which got the most support - or no Brexit.
1
If Brexit was a good idea the means to accomplish it would have been clear, even if the details presented difficulties. The fact that no answer has presented itself is an indication that they are proposing a solution that is looking for a problem.
28
PM May never had a chance. Indeed, no prime minister could have delivered Brexit as most British voters understood the goal. The underlying presumption of Brexit was that the UK could leave the EU and: (i) do away with freedom of movement and the European Court of Justice and the EU regulations and (ii) still retain the benefits of frictionless trade and low tariffs within the EU community. This was NEVER going to happen because the EU leadership - which would have to approve such a deal - would NEVER approve it because it could then have every other member of the EU asking to shed the burdens of membership while retaining its benefits.
All of the supposed "missed" chances for an acceptable deal are at best second-guessing. My first guess is that nobody could have achieved anything grater than PM May obtained.
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@Schneiderman I totally agree with you. Brexit as sold to the British public was never a Brexit the EU could accept. To do so would be end of the EU.
30
@Schneiderman It is not simply a matter of preference on the side of EU leadership. While, in principle, it is possible to stop freedom of movement but still have frictionless trade, the same is not true for the other promises of the Brexit campaign:
1) It is simply not possible for Britain to make its own rules but remain in the single market. That is a contradiction in terms.
2) It is simply not possible for Britain to make its own trade deals but remain in the customs union. That also is a contradiction in terms.
Those key promises of the Brexit campaign are truly contradictory and impossible, even if the EU had been inclined to bend over backwards to give Britain everything it desired.
27
A new PM will not be able to change the already negotiated deal with the EU. Looks like a no-deal Brexit will happen on OCT 31.
19
"She also made it clear, to her party and to the country, that she was not ready to guide Britain into a no-deal exit."
We can at least thank goodness that Ms. May reversed herself on her earlier slogan that 'leaving with no deal would be better than leaving with a bad deal.' That, unable to work a deal, she got an extension of the deadline.
The truth is, leaving with no deal would be the worst deal of all. I guess we'll now get to see whether the alt-right Brexiteers force it through.
5
PM May finally faced the fact that the only exit for Brexit was to reign. The British political class and the voters should realize that Brexit is a bust and hold a national revote on whether to stay in the E.U. or not.
8
May sure took a pounding yet kept trying to climb an increasingly steep mountain. I certainly respect her tough fortitude and would love to have her on my team in a tough fight!
I strongly suspect that as we watch Britain stagger away in political and social dissonance we're seeing a result of the same strategic force that has delivered Trump into our White House. A force whose goal is to divide-and-conquer, not realizing that the laws of chaos have changed in today's connected age.
67
@Ken Nyt Yes...an in both instances, an electoral system where a sliver of a majority (UK/Brexit) and an actual minority is empowered via flawed systems/decisions to determine the fate of nations. Trump fairly and squarely won a shocking number of American votes, but not a majority, and we're paying the consequences for that nonsensical electoral college now.
4
The tragic error the British have made with Brexit is having such a consequential decision made be a simple majority. For votes with such momentous consequences, at a minimum, greater than two thirds (66%) of voters should approve the change. The British now have to live with the consequences of having made such a decision with only the slimmest of majorities and under circumstances where many voters feel misled. The difference between the two choices is not reconcilable and so the dispute between the sides will never be resolved. They have, in essence, become two separate countries.
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@Toni
As have we in the disunited states.
11
@Toni
The other error is that it was made with a simple proposal - to leave or not to leave - without any details of how to leave, the consequences and benefits - the pro Brexit forces propagated outright lies.
4
@Toni the referendum was non binding.
1
Brexit is going to be a disaster for The United Kingdom.
The new Prime Minister should schedule another referendum; I would expect the vote to turn out quite differently from the first one.
But in a lot of ways, even that would be too little, too late.
Many businesses have already moved or started the move out of the U.K.
This is how once-great countries commit suicide.
147
@G, I agree, going it alone when a bunch of people over the water will look after your laws, without even bothering you to vote for them, in return for a few taxes, is a really dumb idea.
2
In a similar way people can also decline by deciding to leave relationships and go it alone - on the belief that the relationships were too costly. Only years later they realize that, sure, being part of a larger social group can be inconvenient but it ultimately brings you strength and makes you richer. These self-inflicted wounds of nations mirror those of countless individuals.
14
@G. The threat of Brexit has already been a disaster for the UK. Countless businesses moved elsewhere, unwilling to wait any longer, countless jobs loss, shortage of doctors, nurses, from the EU who no longer want to live in the UK. Bad will among tourists who now despise the British. Brexit never had to happen to cause disaster. I don't believe it will ever happen now, but the damage is done.
11
I’m not a fan of her politics. But May’s tenacity is unlikely to be matched by any of her contemporary politicians.
14
Holding back tears, May ended her speech describing “the enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country I love”, but her real commitment was only to her party. She promised over and over again that she would not call a general election, but believing she had the opportunity to obliterate her opposition and turn Britain into a de facto one-party state, she broke her word. Deceit and dishonesty were hallmarks of her doomed reign. When the Tories had their majority snatched away, May became a zombie prime minister: sadly, as an avid watcher of the genre can testify, zombies can cause a lot of damage and are very hard to dispose of.
54
May was in a "no win scenario". Brexit was never thought through to the end meaning how was Britain to exit the EU and move forward. Brexit was Britain's silly populist MAGA moment and my guess is that they will have to leave on EU terms or not leave at all. Unfortunately both Ireland and Scotland have become victims of their poor judgement.
44
When up is down, black is white, and success is failure, Theresa may was a great choice to be the UK Prime Minister. While she's no Neville Chamberlain, history is not going to be kind to her nonetheless.
8
It was always a no-win situation. Was it worth it to take on career suicide to get the title and address of PM for a few years?
Maybe.
1
It's easy to criticize her, but I doubt that any other Conservative leader would have fared much better following the ill-advised Brexit vote.
47
@Richard McCartan But she didn't "lead." That's the point. She just stood there pretending that the impossible was possible.
10
@Richard McCartan
My thoughts exactly
4
@Richard McCartan
Any leader with the courage to tell the public the truth - a Brexit on the terms that the pro-Brexit forces claimed would happen was never an option - could have done much better. Could have been the straight talking answer to the whole problem.
1