During an interview on BBC’s Andrew Marr show on Sunday, Theresa May revealed the advice that she received – and ignored – from President Trump. The “advice” which Trump first revealed May had ignored in his bombshell interview with the Sun last week, was not to enter into negotiations with the European Union but instead to sue the bloc as part of her Brexit strategy.
Chuckling when responding to the question what Trump’s advice was, May responded: “he told me I should sue the EU. Sue the EU. Not go into negotiations – sue them.”
President @realDonaldTrump told me I should sue the European Union,” says Prime Minister @theresa_may#marr pic.twitter.com/LfVzMKOXMJ
— The Andrew Marr Show (@MarrShow) July 15, 2018
Holding back giggles, May then laid out the path she actually chose, while ignoring Trump’s suggestion: “Actually, no, we’re going into negotiations – but interestingly – what the president also said at the press conference was ‘Don’t walk away.’
“Don’t walk away from negotiations, because then you’ll be stuck. So, I want us to sit down to negotiate the best deal for Britain,” May said.
All of Britain was curious to learn what had been the private exchange between the US president and the UK prime minister when a recording emerged of Trump saying that May had ignored his advice, and in doing so put any trade deal with the US under threat.
However, after meeting Theresa May at Chequers last week, Trump apologized and backtracked at the press conference, saying he would do “whatever it takes” to sign a deal with the UK, while also repeatedly referring to the advice he had given the UK PM: “I gave her a suggestion and I think she found it too brutal.”
While Trump’s advice was seemingly implausible, considering the political plight May finds herself in following an open rebellion within Tory ranks that saw numerous resignations including David Davies and Boris Johnson, and which threatens to topple May from power should her latest EU proposal not be accepted, it is hard to argue that things could be any worse for the prime minister.
Separately, in a letter she wrote in The Mail on Sunday, Theresa May said that the Brexit deal unveiled last week is the only option for Britain to exit the European Union: “I am not going to Brussels to compromise our national interest. I am going to fight for it. I am going to fight for our Brexit deal — because it is the right deal for Britain.”
In the letter, May warned rebellious parliamentarians seeking to scuttle the plan – as well as those trying to force amendments to strengthen post-Brexit EU ties – that they risk causing “a damaging and disorderly Brexit” and the possibility of the U.K. crashing out of the EU with no Brexit deal.
“As I have said many times, we can get a good deal and that is what is best for Britain,” said wore. “But we should also prepare for no deal. Not to do so would be grossly irresponsible. So I urge Parliamentarians on all sides to consider this when they are voting.”
Meanwhile, in a parallel op-ed published in the FT, her former Brexit minister, David Davis, urged Theresa May to ditch her Chequers plan for Brexit, warning it would be “profoundly dangerous” to leave the EU but continue to be a rule-taker from Brussels.
Davis wrote, “The chance to become a credible trading partner will be compromised and we will be unable to strike free trade deals. As Donald Trump aptly pointed out, it would ‘kill’ the prospect of a US-UK deal. Without control over goods, we would lack the crucial leverage to open up the UK’s export of services to the rest of the world.”
And so, in light of all the ongoing chaos, political bickering, and the risk of total collapse to Brexit negotiations, it wouldn’t be too implausible then when the dust settles, should a “hard Brexit” be the final outcome, that the UK does indeed revert to the last option it has: suing the EU.
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