British Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday said she was “irritated” by speculation about a leadership contest as she slammed former British secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs Boris Johnson, seen as her most likely challenger.
The center-right Conservative Party’s leader said she was focused on securing a Brexit deal rather than her own future, in a BBC TV interview marking the six-month countdown to Britain’s departure from the EU.
May blasted Johnson for using “completely inappropriate” language when he described her Brexit blueprint as putting Britain in a “suicide vest.”
Asked about her plans to stay in the job, she said: “I get a little bit irritated, but this debate is not about my future — this debate is about the future of the people of the UK and the future of the United Kingdom.”
“That’s what I’m focused on and that’s what we should all be focused on,” she said.
May added it was important to ensure “we get that good deal from the European Union, which is good for people in the UK, wherever they live in the UK”.
Johnson, who quit the Cabinet over May’s proposals to keep Britain close to the EU on trade, is the bookmakers’ favorite to succeed May, ahead of British Home Secretary Sajid Javid, euroskeptic backbench leader Jacob Rees-Mogg, British Secretary of State for Environment Michael Gove and British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Jeremy Hunt.
May’s Conservative minority government contains a sizable bloc of hardcore Brexiteers headed by Rees-Mogg and would likely need the support of the left-wing main opposition Labour Party, or a chunk of their MPs, to get her Brexit proposals through parliament.
Labour’s Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said any EU deal must meet Labour’s key Brexit tests, which include delivering the “exact same benefits” as Britain currently has inside the single market and customs union, to win their support.
In a letter published by the Sunday Times, he said they also could not back a loosely worded agreement.
“A vague political declaration would not meet those tests. Labour will not — and cannot — vote for a blind Brexit,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, London Mayor Sadiq Khan added his weight to calls for a second Brexit referendum on the outcome of Britain’s EU departure negotiations.
Writing in the Observer newspaper, he said Britain faces either a bad Brexit deal or no deal.
“They are both incredibly risky and I don’t believe Theresa May has the mandate to gamble so flagrantly with the British economy and people’s livelihoods,” he wrote.
The Labour politician said voters need to be given a new referendum.
“This means a public vote on any Brexit deal obtained by the government, or a vote on a no-deal Brexit if one is not secured, alongside the option of staying in the EU,” he wrote.
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