{"id":1022,"date":"2018-10-05T15:45:34","date_gmt":"2018-10-05T14:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/socialsciencesbirmingham\/?p=1022"},"modified":"2019-01-16T15:14:29","modified_gmt":"2019-01-16T15:14:29","slug":"a-lion-in-the-jungle-or-dancing-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/socialsciencesbirmingham\/2018\/10\/05\/a-lion-in-the-jungle-or-dancing-queen\/","title":{"rendered":"A lion in the jungle or a dancing queen? Theresa May at the Conservative Party conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Dr Matt Cole,\u00a0 Teaching Fellow
\n<\/strong>Department of History, University of Birmingham<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The annual conference of the UK Conservative Party is an intriguing conundrum: it determines much more than it decides. This year, facing Brexit and the future of Prime Minister Theresa May, was no different.<\/p>\n

There was no vote over the UK departure from the European Union. The words “Chequers Plan” – May’s hope to avoid a No Deal – did not pass the Prime Minister’s lips in her speech ending the event. But the trench warfare between May\u2019s supporters and the more hard-line Brexiteers of the European Research Group continued in plain sight.<\/p>\n

On the conference fringe, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson- the stars of the case for a “Canada-style” free trade agreement or no agreement at all – drew hour-long queues at packed, almost evangelical meetings lauded by the Tory press. Meanwhile, the main conference hall was half-empty for the speeches of some Cabinet ministers. The small band of Conservatives arguing for a second Brexit referendum drifted through the convention halls with an almost phantomic air of detachment from the party\u2019s centre of gravity.<\/p>\n

In her final speech, May brought tears of laughter and of admiration to the eyes of many with her “Dancing Queen” entrance and talk of post-Brexit prosperity. The mood was one of respect, perhaps even sympathy.<\/p>\n

But on Brexit, she remained studiedly general. She stumbled into unintended applause when she referred to readiness to leave without a deal – against which she then had to give caution. The afternoon\u2019s cheering\u00a0and the press silence of the European Research Group were more of a truce in trench warfare than a sign of the Prime Minister gaining ground.<\/p>\n

Conservative conferences give the lions of the party jungle a chance to roar and prowl; they show strength which is used later in Westminster. But if the proceedings in Birmingham this week gave the strong impression of a pronounced, lingering gratitude to May for her personal service, the policy momentum is with those who refuse to accept her Chequers escape plan, and the energy of this week may give a vital boost to their confidence when the time comes to vote in the Commons division lobbies.<\/p>\n

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