After events of the last couple days, I can’t help but updated my old 2015 line: despite everyone’s best efforts, someone has to be Prime Minister on June 9th.
Ironically, the party leader who damaged herself the least was the one with falling poll numbers: Prime Minister May herself. European Union leaders – filled with their usual combination of hubris and utter ignorance of what plays well in Britain – employed a massive attack-by-leak on Sunday (Telegraph), with the choice barbs coming allegedly from Jean Claude-Juncker. Now, it is certainly possible that I am merely hoping the voters of the United Kingdom share my antipathy for the Luxembourg Lush, but I’m guessing his $60-$65 billion ransom demand won’t go over well with the electorate.
May herself largely took it in stride, and even tried to spin it back to the choice of PM (Telegraph): “There’ll be 27 European countries on one side of the table. Who do they want to see standing up for Britain on the other side of hte (sic) table – me, or Jeremy Corbyn?”
How effective that is I’ll leave to you – dear, reader – to determine. The other major parties, however, managed to shoot their own feet with alarming effectiveness.
Consider Labour, which as I noted earlier was starting to show a recovery in polling. Before they could even begin to enjoy it, two of their prominent MPs called for a second EU referendum, ostensibly to ratify whatever exit deal (or lack thereof) ensues from negotiation (Guardian):
Clive Lewis and Rachael Maskell, who were until recently the shadow business and environment secretaries, claimed giving people the chance to “ratify or reject” the final agreement was not tantamount to repeating last year’s in/out vote.
“The decision by the Labour party leadership to rule out a second referendum in the form of a simple rerun of last June’s poll was correct. That ship has, for better or for worse, sailed,” they said, in an article in the Guardian.
However, the MPs for the remain-supporting constituencies of Norwich South and York Central argued that no one had approved May’s Brexit “destination”. They claimed the prime minister’s decision to leave the single market could have severe economic consequences and suggested her government was pursuing a “pumped-up free-market alternative with Donald Trump”.
“Giving the British people a chance to ‘seal the deal’ with a vote on the final terms of the Brexit negotiations is not asking the same question twice. How can it be?” they wrote.
Well, maybe the very broad hint that a Britain which rejects “sealing the deal” hasn’t left the EU after all?
Labour’s biggest problem in Scotland – indeed, what appears ready to nearly kill the party off entirely north of the wall – was its attempt to play to both sides of the independence question. It appears to be headed for the same problem on Brexit, leaving the Lib Dems in the SNP position as the party of die-hard referendum losers.
Well, that is, if the Lib Dem leader wasn’t trying to win back old seats in the heavily pro-Leave South West by saying, “I am a bit of a Eurosceptic” (Telegraph).
Yeah, it’s that kind of a campaign.
Oh, and speaking of the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond’s disharmony on whether the 2017 vote was about independence has been settled – in favor of independence (Scotsman):
The issue at the heart of this election is whether you support independence or oppose independence, surely that decision should be taken by people in Scotland, by the Scottish people and the Scottish Parliament, and not by a Tory government at Westminster.
In other words, when Ruth Davidson insists anti-independence voters should steer clear of the SNP, she’s absolutely right.
There has been more than a little criticism aimed toward May’s determination to avoid anything of substance in this campaign beyond a message being repeated into mockery. The actions of her opponents are offering a very convincing rebuttal for her.