Theresa May confronts Jean-Claude Juncker for publicly humiliating her over Brexit

UK Prime Minister Theresa May hangs European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker out to dry for publicly humiliating her over her Brexit plans.

British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker were filmed in a tense face-off at the European Council summit in Brussels, after the top Eurocrat shot down her Brexit demands.

The PM told reporters she had a “robust” discussion with Mr Juncker but video footage captured of the two showed them locked in a heated argument.

Mrs May, holding her handbag, blasted: “You called me nebulous!”

The European Commission boss slammed Mrs May’s Brexit strategy in a late-night press conference, The Sun reports, calling their debate “nebulous and imprecise”.

NEW - Two expert lipreaders tell 5 News that Theresa May accuses Jean-Claude Juncker of describing her as nebulous.

This is how the conversation went, according to the lipreaders: pic.twitter.com/IuP99fJiXG

— Channel 5 News (@5_News) December 14, 2018

The following morning, when they met again in the EU headquarters, they had the heated conversation as other leaders looked on.

Mrs May is believed to have said: “What did you call me? You called me nebulous — yes you did, yes you did!”

Mr Juncker reportedly replied: “What? No, no I didn’t, I didn’t.”

Jean Claude Juncker denied that he called May “nebulous”.

The scenes were reminiscent of Thatcher days. Picture: AFP

A Downing Street source said: “I think safe to say it was a robust conversation.”

The PM’s former aide Joey Jones added: “There may be a lot of theatre today.”

The scenes were reminiscent of Margaret Thatcher’s furious confrontations with European leaders when she was Prime Minister in the 80s.

“There was an air of lazy bonhomie in the chamber with the usual tactile kissing, hugging and backslapping between world leaders until May arrived at a distinctly tetchy-looking pace,” body language expert Judi James told The Sun.

“Her conversation with Juncker does look from a distance like a bit of a mini-lecture or haranguing, with Juncker clutching May’s arm like a man rather surprised by a sudden complaint.

“Juncker normally receives displays of warmth and compliance at these gatherings but May’s cocked head and intense facial expression suggests that she might have been keen to make a rather strong point.”

Juncker whispers in the ear of May as she arrived at a European Summit aimed at discussing the Brexit deal. Picture: AFP

Mrs May and Mr Juncker met for pre-summit talks earlier this week.

The Prime Minister asked him for help getting changes to the current Brexit deal, or risk a ‘No Deal’ scenario with Britain crashing out in March.

But after all EU leaders met last night, Mr Juncker made scathing comments, shooting down Mrs May’s request.

“We don’t want the UK to think there can be any form of renegotiation, that is crystal clear,” he said.

“We can add clarifications but no real changes. There will be no legally binding obligations imposed on the withdrawal treaty.

“Our UK friends need to say what they want, instead of asking us to say what we want.

“We would like in a few weeks for our UK friends to set out their expectations because this debate is sometimes nebulous and imprecise and I would like clarifications.”

A body language expert said that Juncker normally receives displays of warmth and compliance at these gatherings. Picture: AFP

Mrs May flew to Brussels yesterday for the European Council summit after scraping through a vote of confidence from her own MPs.

She is seeking changes to the backstop — designed to keep the Irish border open — to ensure Britain doesn’t end up trapped in the EU customs union.

A draft version of the summit’s conclusions provided a glimmer of hope for the PM, stating that the backstop “does not represent a desirable outcome” for the EU.

It added: “The Union stands ready to examine whether any further assurance can be provided.”

But after Mrs May made her pitch to the other 27 leaders, they changed the text to remove both of the helpful statements.

Instead, the final version calls on EU states to step up No Deal planning.

Mrs May will hold further talks in Brussels today before flying home later.

The Sun revealed last night that she is planning to hold the delayed vote on her Brexit deal on January 14.

This article was originally published inThe Sunand has been reproduced here with permission.