Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Sir John Major makes life even harder for Theresa May

When he was Prime Minister, John Major found his predecessor Margaret Thatcher to be an ‘intolerable’ backseat driver. Yet no matter how polite he has been to his successors as Conservative leaders, he hasn’t been all that helpful to the two who’ve ended up, by hook or by crook, becoming Prime Minister. Previously he has criticised David Cameron’s approach to governing, and today he raised serious concerns about the prospect of a pact between the Conservatives and the DUP. Speaking to the World at One, Sir John said:

‘Let me make several points about it. I am concerned about the deal, I am wary about it, I am dubious about it, both for peace process reasons but also for other reasons as well. That said, all my life I’ve been a Conservative, I very much want Mrs May to succeed as Prime Minister and to stay as Prime Minister and I understand why she wishes to shore up her Parliamentary position. That is entirely understandable and I sympathise. But, but – my main concern certainly is the peace process. A fundamental part of that peace process is that the UK government needs to be impartial between all the competing interests in Northern Ireland.’

He added that:

‘The danger is that however much any government tries, they will not be seen to be impartial if they are locked into a parliamentary deal at Westminster with one of the Northern Ireland parties. And you never know in what unpredictable way events will turn out and we cannot know if that impartiality is going to be crucial at some stage in the future.’

This isn’t just unhelpful for May in the sense that Major is undermining the only route she really has left open to her in relying on the DUP in some way.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in