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Bloomberg
This could be a deadly month for Theresa May. Unpopular at home and in Brussels, the British leader will try to restore order with a Cabinet lock-in at her country estate that’s been dubbed the body bag summit.
May’s aim is to force a decision on how dramatic a split to seek from the European Union. Businesses want the smoothest of breakups, but if May tries to stay close to the bloc, she’ll face accusations of betrayal by Brexit purists. Will she face down the hardliners in her party? Or find another fudge?
May’s Conservatives aren’t the only ones at war. The opposition Labour Party is battling its own Brexit demons with growing calls for a second referendum.
Uncomfortable choices
Back the prime minister or resign. Those are options facing top ministers as they head into June 28’s gathering at Chequers in Buckinghamshire, northwest of London, with the goal of
uniting behind an approach to Brexit even as rivals are reported to be lining up.
Details of the talks are set to be published the following week, and the idea is that clarity will finally emerge in a so-called white paper that will set out the UK’s goals for its post-Brexit relationship with the bloc.
The scale of the challenge facing May is clear. Media reports abound of tempers running high, with Environment Secretary Michael Gove said to have ripped up a government report on future customs options because he felt his concerns had been downplayed.
Hardline Brexit supporters like Gove oppose May’s preferred option, which involves the UK collecting tariffs on the EU’s behalf, and instead back an alternative that would see technology providing the key to minimal border checks.
A government official confirmed a BBC report that a third option is now on the table. The official provided no details on the new proposal, which hasn’t been made public.
This particular argument has been dragging on for months, with concerned businesses finally sounding the alarm.
Significantly, all 29 ministers who attend cabinet will be present at the meeting, and a clear majority of them voted Remain in the 2016 referendum. The question is whether May will use that to push through a version of Brexit deemed too soft for some.
The prime minister is walking a tightrope as the white paper also needs to win over pro-EU Tories threatening to defeat the government by backing an amendment to the Trade Bill that would keep Britain in a customs union with the EU after Brexit.