Reader's Blog: May gives Varadkar a new tune to dance to
Well you have to hand it to Theresa May! Politics aside, she has showed a quiet steely determination and has fended off attacks left, right, and centre — attacks from her own party!
While it can very easily be argued that the criticism she has faced was very much of her own making, it is the tone and the ugliness of the delivery of that criticism that is noteworthy. May struck a defiant note as she danced her way on stage at the Tory conference in Birmingham while doing a few ‘robot’ manoeuvres! Fair play to her. Politics is not easy.
She has managed to send a message to her detractors, most notably to Boris Johnson, that she intends to stay and get the job done. Johnson (who was the UK’s foreign secretary) in his speech at a fringe event at the Tory conference, has shown that he has little understanding of the Belfast Agreement and what it entails. Arlene Foster spoke out in support of Johnson and reiterated her stance on the backstop, although now she has started to use appalling language for any elected representative to describe her position, coining the phrase “blood red lines” — utterly despicable and devoid of class.
May’s Chequers plan may be flawed but it does show some understanding of the complexity of the British border in Ireland. The EU will play hardball. They won’t let the UK leave without a price as otherwise other countries may chose to do likewise. Our Government and Taoiseach will need to take a balanced approach and not be sucked into the ‘Ireland First’ rhetoric currently being spouted by the EU. Ireland needs the UK to get a decent deal as we are the ones that will be affected most in the EU, both economically and socially. So a bit like May today, our Taoiseach will need to dance to his own tune during the negotiations and make sure the final deal is music to Ireland’s ears.
