Media labels British PM a dead duck as chaos rules amid Brexit

If you think Malcolm Turnbull’s in trouble, look at Britain.

British Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Brexit Minister) David Davis (L) is welcomed by European Union Chief Negotiator in charge of Brexit negotiations with Britain Michel Barnier. Picture: AFP

Here at home, Liberals president Nick Greiner reckons the divided party risks defeat at the next election. In the US, Wall Street’s most famous banker, JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon, says “it’s almost embarrassing being an American citizen and listening to the stupid shit we have to deal with in this country”.

But based on my last fortnight in Britain, Australia and Trumpland are sitting pretty when set against the political and policy chaos in which the Old Dart finds itself. Winter is coming.

The British media has Theresa May pegged as a lame, if not dead duck after her disastrous election. And the ensuing mayhem in British politics has brought out every opportunist to make sure a great Brexit for Britain is Mission Impossible. Let’s start with Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is calling for Theresa May to stand down. A man who campaigned for Brexit, whose socialist mission promises free education and massive health spending, the darling of the Glastonbury festival, and particularly of young Brits saddled with uni debts. Sadly equality Corbyn style is simply intergenerational theft from Glastonbury goers in 2050.

It was left to Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear notoriety to call out in the Times that two elections on the trot had been messed up by Britain’s young people who needed their bottoms smacked. “They couldn’t be bothered to vote in the European Union referendum and we ended up with Brexit,” he said.

“And then, having realised the error of their ways, they decided they would vote for that arse Jeremy Corbyn in the general election, so now we’ve ended up with a hung parliament. Which won’t be able to deal with the mess their bone-idleness created in the first place.” Touche.

Over in Europe, EU president Jean Claude Junker wants to make Britain pay, literally with a divorce bill — the numbers quoted have been up to 85 billion quid. Yet at a time when Britain should be united in getting the best deal, its negotiating power is being white-anted from within.

On Friday, the May government released its much anticipated Great Repeal Bill, the plan for how Britain would ditch EU laws and transition to its own system, to cries of an executive power grab from Westminster by everyone from both the Scottish Nats and the Welsh. Labor and a fair smattering of Tories are naysayers. And the negativity among journalists I spoke with was quite overwhelming: in short, re-regulation in Britain will be too costly, too complicated, impossible.

And what about the grassroots, ordinary folk? Austerity is now anathema to most Brits. The word itself has a terrible stigma to it. Brits have been living with austerity for seven years and they are sick of it. And while we in Australia looked on appalled at the terrorist attacks on London Bridge and the Borough Markets, the catalyst for national fury has been not terror, but the horror of the Grenfell Towers fire. The scandal around the building casing makes our pink batts look like a minor misdemeanour, but the burnt-out shell in the otherwise well-heeled borough of Kensington is an open sore on social inequality, and again political opportunism has already undermined even the inquiry into the fire.

Malcolm Turnbull flew back from Britain to carping over his Menzies speech. Would he swap places with his old Oxford contemporary Theresa May right now?

Ticky Fullerton presents Ticky on Sky News Business weeknights at 6pm.