Britain Is In The Midst Of A Perfect Storm Politically

Theresa May’s tumultuous tenure as Prime Minister is in a very precarious position. She (a conservative) became PM after David Cameron (also a conservative) resigned over the results of the Brexit vote. It was a very tenuous ending to Cameron’s leadership, since he had only led the anti-Scottish independence movement a few years prior. If Scotland would have voted to leave the UK he would have most certainly resigned then. It seemed like it was in the cards for Cameron to inevitably end his tenure following a close national vote on the future of his nation.

After Cameron was gone from power it seemed to many that Boris Johnson would succeed Cameron as PM. Johnson, the former mayor of London decided not to run which was a major surprise because he had such good political momentum after being the emotionally charged leader of the Brexit Leave campaign.

Now that all of those foundational details are made clear we can focus exclusively on how Ms. May is at the centre of a massive political storm closing in from all directions.

Theresa May decided very soon after becoming PM (with a majority government) to call a snap election in order to increase her majority. Whoever advised her to call such a quick and unnecessary election while already holding a majority must have either been calculating secretly against her or was simply stunningly wrong in reading the political tea leaves. Also since the last election Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party has taken a very hard left turn and have gotten much more support. This is also a major concern to me.

The Brexit negotiations have been a fiasco since day one. There are many people in May’s party who want close ties economically to the EU, and others who want extreme autonomy over British affairs and purse strings. Boris Johnson(a hardliner for British Independence in all economic activities) said it well when he explained something to the effect of ‘it is frustrating to see so many Britons who would allow their country to be but a small colony of Europe’

Late last week Ms. May proclaimed that the cabinet and party were united in their plan regarding a ‘soft’ Brexit. Today Johnson(who was the foreign minister) and another high profile minister resigned, citing irreconcilable differences in regards to May’s strategy and leadership qualities. This has left many wondering if her days at 10 Downing Street are numbered. If high profile cabinet ministers have no confidence, imagine what her opponents think. They surely can smell blood in the water.

Other factors that are causing political uncertainty include the upcoming NATO meetings, the need to improve relations with USA due to their presumed diminishing of trade within Europe, and the multiple issues regarding Russia.

Britain has now seen two targeted chemical attacks that seem to lead to Russian culpability. This has led to a paradoxical position regarding her lack of support for the English national team which is having remarkable success at the World Cup in Russia. (She vowed not to go to Russia to support the team as a protest against Russia. I’ll be creating a separate post on this angle of the story)

Ms. May seems like a very nice lady who is stuck in the middle of a major confluence of devastating political events that seem very likely to bring down her government.

I am a Canadian and I try to follow British politics closely, so please feel free to suggest any other information that will create an even more accurate portrait of this uncertain time in Britain.

Here’s the post that I wrote about the World Cup angle to this story :

https://steemit.com/sports/@newcastle/how-theresa-may-s-political-mistake-affects-the-world-cup

Images are from google images.