Does Anyone Believe a Word Theresa May Says?

It would be comical if the UK government and prime minister were not such a shambles at the moment, at this crucial stage for the country. As we approach what is probably the most critical period for Britain since the end of world war two, Theresa May appears to have no idea as to how to look after our interests, and to make matters worse, she seems to think she can just bluff her way through as the impending national crisis looms. She is making it up as she goes along.

It is now more than two years since May succeeded David Cameron as leader of the Tory party and prime minister. Cameron wasn’t a hard act to follow, as he whistled his way out of public life after setting in motion events that have led to this pass. Lazy, dripping with privilege and arrogance, it should have been easy to impress by comparison, but May has flunked it.

Yes, she was dealt a difficult hand with the result of the Brexit referendum, but she has played it all wrong, with a series of strategic mistakes. The country was crying out for someone to bring us together, but May just furthered the divide with her ill judged rhetoric and no discernible plan. She triggered Article 50 before she had decided even remotely how we will leave the European Union (EU).

May attacked the 16 million remain voters as ‘citizens of nowhere,’ insisted that 'no deal is better than a bad deal’ and failed to give guarantees to the 3 million EU nationals residing in the UK , that they would be allowed to stay here. Even Brexiters like Michael Gove said that giving such a guarantee would be ‘the decent thing to do'. No they were held as bargaining chips in the opening round of negotiations which inevitably led to a lack of goodwill on the part of the EU.

Then May called a snap general election, after previously ruling it out, pursued the hardest of Brexit language during the campaign, and promptly lost the Parliamentary majority that she had inherited from Cameron. To salvage something from the disaster May was forced into bribing the bigots of the Democratic Unionist Party to cling onto power by her finger tips. A series of bad calls, quite unprecedented in UK politics, to my memory.

But more than the incompetence it is her untrustworthiness which the most shocking aspect of May's reign. She began by saying that she would tackle the ‘burning injustices’ at play in the country, but is there even a shred of evidence from the last two years that she meant it? No.

May then took to prefacing anything she said publicly with ‘I have been clear…’ before going onto say something that is anything but clear. In December last year, she agreed to the EU’s back stop position on keeping the border open between Northern Ireland and the Republic, but seems to be breaking that commitment, saying it is unacceptable now.

Jean Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, revealed this week that May had been the one who suggested that we could stay in the transitional period for longer than planned after our formal Brexit. May denies this, but with her track record, I know who I believe.  

In 2009, May told her constituents in Maidenhead "we must say no to a third runway at Heathrow", but approved the expansion just after becoming prime minister. At about this time she called in the decision to go ahead with the new Hinkley Point nuclear power station, only to change her mind and give it the go-ahead.

Simon Wren-Lewis, a professor at Oxford University and a leading economist, strongly denied the prime minister's suggestion in Parliament on Wednesday, that he had said (in a chapter he wrote for a book, titled Economics for the Many) that the figures in Labour's last manifesto ‘did not add up’. The claim appeared to be ‘a deliberate lie told to gain political effect’, he said. The facts are easily checked, but May just can’t seem to stop herself from making things up.

May told the Tory party conference earlier this month, that austerity is over, but who has any confidence that is not just another fabrication?

We know that most politicians are a bit slippery, but when the prime minister tells blatant lies, it is no surprise that the public concludes that you can’t believe a word May says, and become disillusioned with our democratic system in general.  

I will leave you with Captain Ska's Liar, Liar.