Is this the beginning of the end for May’s Government?

In this age of the image, when pictures are flashed around the world in an instant, I believe the image of a smiling Theresa May hand-in-hand with President Trump may be the most iconic of her Premiership, and, because of the power of images, will hasten her decline.

This was a catastrophic mistake of image presentation by the Prime Minister. To be pictured smiling in the company of this President who is so widely disliked, condemned and feared in this country, and to be recorded admiring and praising his victory, was bad enough. These were cringe-making, teeth-gritting sacrifices, perhaps, for the necessity of the continued international leadership of Britain and the USA.

But to hold hands with someone in public identifies you with them. It signifies friendship, closeness and shared values. British values do not appear compatible with some of those already declared and now being acted out by President Trump. Within hours of his meeting Theresa May, the President was signing the Executive Order imposing a three-month ban on entry to the USA of refugees and other incomers from seven countries with mainly Muslim population.

This has of course produced a fierce reaction, both within the USA and around the world. But Theresa May's immediate response was to say that the US was responsible for its own refugee policy. This is a Prime Minister who has shown no sympathy for refugees, no urgency for example to allow into Britain the lone child refugees entitled to come here who have been stranded in France.

The foreign policy of this Government, under Prime Minister Cameron and now under May, seems to be subordinate to trade policy. Each prime-ministerial visit is primarily aimed to secure a lucrative trade deal. Yet Theresa May is prepared to abandon the set-up of the most successful trading relationship this country has or could have, the internal market of the EU. In pursuing her 'hard Brexit' plans.

The writing is surely on the wall for this government, with its principal ministers who forgo commitments, abandon principles, reverse course unashamedly and indulge in post-truth telling for the sake of staying in power. That image of May and Trump will not need to be etched on a stone slab to form part of the basis of their funerary monument.

* Katharine Pindar is a long-standing member of the Lib Dems and an activist in the West Cumbrian constituency of Copeland and Workington.

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