AS the first insider accounts of David Cameron’s Downing Street emerged last week in time for conference season, we learned what the former PM’s allies called Theresa May.
The then Home Secretary was dubbed “Submarine May” because of her habit of lurking conveniently away from the Brexit fight, only surfacing when it was to her own advantage.
It might have been disloyal and selfish, as some believe, but it was also highly effective.
Despite being a ‘reluctant Remainer’ in a pro-Brexit party, she cruised to victory in the leadership contest while everyone else torpedoed themselves into oblivion.
But the strategy which served May well before June 23 is not serving the country well now.
A hundred days after the vote, she has yet to tell the public the basics of what she plans to do about Brexit. It is as shameful as it is untenable.
Faced with hardball negotiations with 27 states, it is sensible for May to keep key cards close to her chest. But to say nothing substantial at all to voters? It cannot stand.
In the absence of clarity, Brexiteer ministers are freelancing, pushing deluded nonsense about the UK securing better trade terms with the EU outside it than inside.
Other states may reasonably conclude the UK is run by mugs and ripe for fleecing.
When she addresses her party faithful today, May must also address her duty to the nation.
The days of “Brexit means Brexit” are over. She needs to tell us all what it really means.
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