On Tuesday, the House will – finally – rise for the summer recess. Before we get there, and with MPs on a one-line-whip, Theresa May is decamping from SW1 and taking her Cabinet to Gateshead for an away day. As well as a Cabinet meeting in Gateshead, May will take part in a Q and A with staff at a local business. This is the first stop in a series of visits over the summer holidays in which May and her ministers will attempt to sell her Brexit vision at home and abroad.
When I suggested May did this just last week by embarking on a town hall tour to sell her Brexit blueprint, it was met with a healthy dose of scepticism. Lots of people were quick to point out that May isn’t a natural salesman so was unlikely to excel at meeting lots of voters – many of whom wouldn’t think much of her proposals. But the point is that she doesn’t have much choice. With May’s plans tanking in the polls and her MPs at war over the ‘worst of both worlds’ compromise, her only option is to try and sell it to the public. Her former Head of Strategy Chris Wilkins has said he attempted to organise something similar when he worked in No 10:
This is so right by @katyballs. I tried to organise a town hall strategy while in No 10. Now is the time to revive it. Stop talking to Andrew Marr. Start talking to the country https://t.co/uKCcDCYCoH
— Chris Wilkins (@mrchriswilkins) July 18, 2018
The second criticism was that May’s Brexit plan was so weak that explaining it was unlikely to win many people round. It’s true that the Chequers proposal is a step too far for some Leave voters – and not far enough for some Remain voters. But No 10 think that it ought to work for the bulk of the country. At Cabinet last week, May pressed the point that the polling they had seen suggested that 60pc of voters didn’t have an opinion on the detail of it. The implication was that the negative publicity surrounding it was the most damaging aspect.
So, can May turn things around with a town hall charm offensive? It remains more unlikely than likely but if she wants to stay in No 10 for the foreseeable she has no choice but to give it a try.
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