an open letter to theresa may

Dear Prime Minister --

Well, it has been quite a ride, hasn't it? I am willing to bet you didn't quite expect any of this when you trounced Andrea Leadsom without having to bother with a membership vote.

Your last official day in office is fast-approaching. Before you shuffle onto the list of forgotten British leaders along with Margaret Beckett, I have one suggestion that will ensure you are long-remembered after your successor has crashed and burned.

I hear some of your supporters are offering you solace that you would have been a much better prime minister had your time in office not been defined by the sole issue of Brexit. Stuff and nonsense, I say.

You are not the only prime minister whose career was defined by a single issue. Winston Churchill became prime minister on the sole issue of knocking the stuffing out of the Nazis. We often forget that his first months in office were almost torpedoed by the very same crowd who did not want to realize just how odious Adolf Hitler.

But, he survived. Britain survived. And he will be remembered as one of Britain's greatest figures. Because of his steadfastness on that one issue.

It is true that you are no Churchill. And you certainly were dealt an almost-impossible task of ushering Britain out of the budding-federal European experiment. But you managed to make the worst of it.

By creating red lines that you could never enforce and by refusing to forge a unified cross-party consensus for Brexit (let alone one in your own party), you ended up with an exit package filled with enough bad ideas for almost everyone to hate. Britain now faces a Halloween deadline with very few prospects of an acceptable deal being negotiated.

But, not all is lost. You have a moment where you can mount a pedestal and pose for that Churchillian statue on Parliament Square that will be yours if you are willing to sketch out your own profile in courage.

The kink in the cat's tail began on 29 March 2017 when you invoked Article 50 in a letter to the EU. The two-year clock started running. And nothing good happened  after that.

When your successor is selected, he or she will face the same political landscape that now haunts you. The sole fact of your departure will not change anything. The blood on both sides of the channel is so bad, the only option may very well be a no-deal exit from the EU. You will effectively make Nigel Farage look like a statesman.

You can stop it. Rather than simply scuttering away from number 10, you should get up to morrow morning and call a press conference where you will announce the following: 

At 7:23 this morning, I called President of the European Council Donald Tusk to inform him Britain is officially withdrawing my letter of 29 March 2017 invoking Article 50 of the EU Lisbon Treaty. All negotiations preceding this announcement are now null and void. 

I have been informed Parliament has no constitutional authority to revoke this specific act of the executive. If my successor believes it would be appropriate to start the process anew, that is up to my successor. I believe the British people have had enough. I know I have.

Of course, you will not make such a bold move. If you could, Britain would not be facing the untenable situation it is now facing.

Just think about it. You certainly have nothing to lose. You might even find yourself invited to be Donald Tusk's successor by the dreaded EU.

I doubt it. But you never know.

After all, this whole thing is just a fantasy.

Your faithful and obedient servant,

S.