No Way Out

Theresa May faces revolt from her own party as she preps for Brexit.

- Tim Ross

Every morning, Gavin Barwell rises early, puts on a smart suit, makes his way across London to Downing Street, smiles to the police officer guarding the famous door of No. 10, sits at his desk deep in the prime minister’s inner sanctum, and tries to stop the British government from ripping itself apart. 

As Prime Minister Theresa May’s chief of staff, Barwell is a cheerful, hardworking, popular figure in the Conservative Party. He’s also a testament to his boss’s perilously fragile position. Beset by rivals, weakened by a self-inflicted wound, and facing the daunting task of negotiating a successful Brexit deal, May needs Barwell to, at the very least, put a happy face on things. Her troubles stem from her decision earlier this year to call an election when she didn’t have to. Riding high in the polls, May counted on boosting her slender majority in Parliament and strengthening her hand in negotiations with the European Union. Instead, she suffered a humiliating reversal, losing her majority and almost her job. 

May now leads a minority government and remains prime minister thanks only to the support of the tiny Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland and the grudging consent of her own Conservative colleagues. For the moment, that still includes her foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, the pro-Brexiter and former London mayor. But divisions are widening. On Sept. 15, Johnson published a 4,200 word essay in the Tory-supporting Daily Telegraph setting out a rival vision for Britain’s “glorious” future. To colleagues it looked, at best, like a deliberate attempt to tie May’s hands on Brexit and, at worst, like a blatant bid to take the leadership himself.