Atlantic Sentinel

Tag: Theresa May

  • May Adopts Energy Policy Her Predecessor Called “Nuts”

    Theresa May Lars Løkke Rasmussen
    Prime Ministers Theresa May of the United Kingdom and Lars Løkke Rasmussen of Denmark answer questions from reporters in Copenhagen, October 10, 2016 (10 Downing Street/Tom Evans)

    British prime minister Theresa May has adopted a policy her Conservative predecessor, David Cameron, once described as “nuts”.

    When the opposition Labour Party proposed to freeze electricity rates in 2013, Cameron, then the Conservative Party leader, ridiculed it.

    Now May has taken it over.

    She pledged on Tuesday to cap electricity costs for households if she is reelected in June, writing in The Sun tabloid newspaper: “Like millions of working families, I am fed up with rip-off energy prices.” (more…)

  • British Conservatives Turn into UKIP

    Theresa May Lars Løkke Rasmussen
    Prime Ministers Theresa May of the United Kingdom and Lars Løkke Rasmussen of Denmark answer questions from reporters in Copenhagen, October 10, 2016 (10 Downing Street/Tom Evans)

    Matthew d’Ancona writes in The Guardian newspaper that Britain’s Conservatives must be careful not to turn into UKIP as they attempt to defang it.

    “It is one thing to acknowledge electoral anger,” he argues, “quite another to appease it.”

    I wonder if it’s not too late. (more…)

  • Four Reasons to Doubt Conservatives Will Win In Landslide

    Theresa May
    British prime minister Theresa May is applauded walking into 10 Downing Street in London, England, July 13, 2016 (10 Downing Street/Tom Evans)

    This week marked the last prime minister’s questions before the British election in June and seems a good place to examine the reasons Theresa May might be less secure that she seems.

    While her Conservative Party is 21 points ahead of Labour in the polls — its biggest lead in almost a decade — there are four reasons to doubt it will stay there. (more…)

  • In About-Face, May Seeks Mandate for Post-Brexit Vision

    British prime minister Theresa May unexpectedly called for an early election on Tuesday, which she is almost certain to win.

    • Opinion polls have consistently put May’s Conservative Party up to 20 points ahead of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour.
    • Under Britain’s first-past-the-post system, the pro-European Liberal Democrats and the nationalist United Kingdom Independence Party, who share third place in the polls, stand little chance of gaining many seats.
    • The Scottish National Party sees the early election as an opportunity to assert its dominance north of the border. Majority Scottish support for the nationalists could strengthen their argument for a second independence referendum. (more…)

  • Brexit Imperils May’s Compassionate Conservatism

    British prime minister Theresa May has said helping those on middle incomes who are “just about managing” is her top priority.

    The trouble, as became clear from Philip Hammond’s Autumn Statement on Wednesday, is that her government doesn’t have the money — and that’s because of the uncertainty surrounding Brexit. (more…)

  • Reprimand Liberals, Don’t Repudiate Liberalism

    Theresa May
    Theresa May addresses the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, England, October 7, 2009 (Conservatives/Paul Toeman)

    I argued here last month that Britain’s Conservatives could alienate liberal voters if they lurched too far to the right.

    Theresa May’s speech on Thursday to a party conference in Birmingham did nothing to alleviate my concern. (more…)

  • Britain to Keep EU Laws (For Now), May Announces

    Prime Minister Theresa May provided more clarity on Britain’s exit from the European Union on Sunday in an interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr.

    Her headline-grabbing announcement was that she plans to trigger Article 50 of the EU treaty before the end of March, giving the United Kingdom until early 2019 to negotiate what May said she hopes will be a “smooth transition” away from the EU.

    More arcane, but more important, was her proposal to enshrine all existing EU law into British law while repealing the 1972 European Communities Act, which originally incorporated EU law into British law.

    “That means the United Kingdom will be an independent sovereign nation,” she said. “It will be making its own laws.”

    Which is playing to the pro-Brexit gallery. (more…)

  • May’s Rightward Shift Risks Alienating Liberal Voters

    When Theresa May took over as British prime minister from David Cameron, I argued it was too early to tell if she would break with his legacy.

    Two months into May’s premiership, it is becoming clear that at least in some ways she is.

    When she was named Conservative Party leader and hence prime minister this summer, there were expectations — which the Atlantic Sentinel reported — that the former home secretary would find a middle way between the big-city liberalism of Cameron and his deputy, George Osborne, on the one hand and the Tory paternalism of the past on the other.

    That would have made sense. Cameron’s and Osborne’s cosmopolitanism had helped the Conservatives reach new voters in the center of British politics — with policies such as autonomous schools, marriage equality and lower business tax rates — but it also lost people on the right with its relaxed views on immigration.

    Even if, in Britain’s two-party system, such right-wing voters don’t really have anywhere else to go, June’s European Union referendum revealed that plenty of them are dissatisfied with the status quo — and that could hurt the Conservatives if ever a credible alternative did emerge on the right. (more…)

  • It’s Too Early to Say If May Is Breaking with Cameron’s Legacy

    It is always disappointing to read something of poor quality in The American Interest, which is one of my favorite publications. In this case, a Theresa May puff piece by one Neil Barnett that bears little relation to the realities of British foreign policy.

    Barnett takes former prime minister David Cameron and his deputy, George Osborne, to task for gutting British defense, including the Harrier jet, leaving Britain without a carrier strike capability until the F-35 enters service, and the Nimrod MRA4 maritime patrol aircraft, leaving Britain’s Trident nuclear submarines vulnerable to Russian stalking.

    He’s not wrong about the specifics. The Atlantic Sentinel has published similar criticisms, including this excellent report from Chris Revell about the Nimrod back in 2014.

    But Barnett commits a classic polemic sin when he ascribes motive to Cameron and Osborne without giving us any reason to believe he has an intimate understanding of their thinking.

    He writes,

    Both men appeared to have no real sense for or interest in security matters, rather viewing the Ministry of Defence as little more than a drain on the budget and NATO as a dreary obligation.

    That’s quite an accusation to make, especially when you don’t have anything to back it up. (more…)

  • Theresa May Succeeds David Cameron as Prime Minister

    Theresa May
    British prime minister Theresa May is applauded walking into 10 Downing Street in London, England, July 13 (10 Downing Street/Tom Evans)
    • Queen Elizabeth II has accepted David Cameron’s resignation as prime minister and asked Theresa May to form a new government.
    • May won the leadership of Britain’s ruling Conservative Party, and hence the prime ministership, by default on Monday when her last rival withdrew.
    • She immediately fired George Osborne, Cameron’s deputy, and named Philip Hammond as chancellor. (more…)

  • Johnson Stands Down as Five Vie for David Cameron’s Job

    • Michael Gove, the British justice secretary, has forced Boris Johnson out of the race to succeed David Cameron by launching his own bid for the Conservative Party leadership.
    • Theresa May, the home secretary, has formally declared her candidacy as well. She is seen as the best candidate to reunite the party in the wake of a divisive EU referendum campaign.
    • The other candidates are Stephen Crabb, a “Cameroon” on the left of the party, and Euroskeptics Liam Fox and Andrea Leadsom. (more…)

  • May Seen as Strong Contender to Replace Cameron

    Theresa May
    Theresa May addresses the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, England, October 7, 2009 (Conservatives/Paul Toeman)

    As Britain’s Parliament reconvenes for the first time since voters cast their ballots to leave the European Union on Thursday, it is not only the Labour Party where maneuvering is occurring regarding the succession. While Boris Johnson has been hailed by the international media as the presumed frontrunner to succeed David Cameron as Conservative leader and prime minister, the party has a long history of rejecting both frontrunners and assassins.

    With Chancellor George Osborne likely out of the race, his most likely foe is Home Secretary Theresa May, who is expected to announce her campaign tomorrow morning. (more…)