Britain will face its biggest constitutional crisis since Edward VIII abdicated in 1936 if Ed Miliband runs Britain with Nicola Sturgeon
04-26-2015
Britain will face its biggest constitutional crisis since Edward VIII abdicated in 1936 if Ed Miliband runs Britain with Nicola Sturgeon, Theresa May has warned.
In a dramatic intervention in the Election campaign, the Home Secretary questioned whether English voters would accept the 'legitimacy' of a Labour Government backed by Scottish Nationalists.
And she compared the effects of such a pact to the way Britain's governing class was paralysed for months in the 1930s because of King Edward VIII's affair with American divorcee Wallis Simpson.
After being told the public would not accept Simpson as Queen, the crisis was only resolved when Edward abdicated.
Fighting talk: Home Secretary Theresa May (pictured) has questioned whether English voters would accept the legitimacy of an SNP-Labour coalition government
Alliance: The Conservatives believe a pact between Labour Leader Ed Miliband (right) and SNP's Nicola Sturgeon (left) would convince floating voters to support the Tories
Sturgeon to Miliband 'You're not strong enough'
By questioning the 'legitimacy' of a Miliband Government backed by Sturgeon, Mrs May has raised the stakes in the row over the prospect of Labour teaming up with the SNP to rule the UK.
She believes that English voters would not accept Sturgeon's party having vital power over their lives.
The Conservatives believe that fear of a Labour-SNP alliance could persuade floating voters to switch to the Tories and keep Miliband out of Downing Street.
Mrs May told The Mail on Sunday: 'If we saw a Labour Government propped up by SNP it could be the biggest constitutional crisis since the abdication.
'It would mean Scottish MPs who have no responsibility for issues like health, education and policing in their own constituencies [as they are devolved to the Scottish Parliament] making decisions on those issues for England and Wales.
'Rightly, people in England would say, "hang on a minute why are Scottish Nationalist MPs allowed to do that?"'
“Miliband would be in government on the coat-tails of Sturgeon and Alex Salmond... They would be calling the tune – people who don't want the UK to exist and want to destroy our country”
Home Secretary Theresa May MP
Mrs May's comments were underlined by a new poll which showed voters believe Miliband would be Sturgeon's puppet under any coalition deal.
The poll also found that, in such an eventuality, English voters would be ready to turn the tables on the Scots by opting to break away from the Union and declare independence for England and Wales combined.
According to the Survation poll for The Mail on Sunday, a third of UK voters would consider a Miliband-Sturgeon government to be 'illegitimate,' echoing Mrs May's warning.
Explaining why she feared an English backlash, Mrs May argued: 'Miliband would be in government on the coat-tails of Sturgeon and Alex Salmond.
'They would be calling the tune – people who don't want the UK to exist and want to destroy our country.
'There would be a very real feeling was this was something people did not want to see, had not voted for and would find very difficult to accept. It would raise difficult questions about legitimacy. A lot of English people would question that.'
Miliband and Sturgeon clash over coalition proposal
Mrs May says Ed Miliband would be in government 'on the coat-tails' of the SNP, who she describes as 'people who don't want the UK to exist and want to destroy our country'
Mrs May says Ed Miliband would be in government 'on the coat-tails' of the SNP, who she describes as 'people who don't want the UK to exist and want to destroy our country'
Mrs May suggested such tensions could be exacerbated by Sturgeon's apparent determination to boss Miliband about.
Scotland's First Minister had 'constantly challenged' him in the TV debates – and could be expected to step up her demands if he gave her a share of power.
“I don't look at whether she's a female or how she dresses. What concerns me about Nicola Sturgeon is what she represents... She represents a real danger to the UK economy and the future of the UK itself”
Home Secretary Theresa May
'She has been setting out very clearly "I will put Ed Miliband in Downing Street". She's very clear about what her list of requirements would be. Who's to say what would be added to that by the time they came to those negotiations?'
Asked if she agreed Ms Sturgeon had impressive qualities, defiant Mrs May hit back: 'There's nothing impressive about somebody who wants to break up the UK.'
She insisted it had nothing to do with female rivalry. 'I don't look at whether she's a female or how she dresses. What concerns me about Nicola Sturgeon is what she represents. She represents a real danger to the UK economy and the future of the UK itself.'
In a separate development, the Conservatives received a boost from Lib Dem Cabinet Minister Vince Cable who said a Miliband-Sturgeon government would be 'very dangerous and completely unacceptable'.
Echoing Mrs May's comments, Mr Cable told this newspaper: 'We can't let small extreme tendencies dominate the country. I speak as someone who has lived in Scotland. I have Scottish children. We could not work with people committed to break up the UK.'
Sturgeon on possible Labour deal to stop Tory government
Tough cookie who digs in those kitten heels... and her 'flats': The Home Secretary speaks to the Mail On Sunday's Simon Walters
Some Cabinet Ministers live in fear of losing their red ministerial boxes full of state secrets. Theresa May has a bigger fear: losing her handbag could cost her life.
It contains the needle and insulin she must inject herself with four times a day since she was diagnosed two years ago with type 1 diabetes, which carries a risk of heart attack and strokes.
'It's amazing some of the places you can inject - insulin, I should say!' she jokes arriving for our interview at Westminster's Intercontinental Hotel during a break in her Election campaign.
'I inject before breakfast, lunch, before I eat this evening, and late at night.'
Has she ever panicked after rummaging in her handbag only to find her needle is not there?
Dogged: Mrs May (pictured) told The Mail on Sunday: 'If we saw a Labour Government propped up by SNP it could be the biggest constitutional crisis since the abdication'
'When you are a type 1 diabetic you don't forget, she says, with feeling.
As we meet, there is talk of panic at Tory HQ. But it's hard to imagine the Home Secretary panicking even if a brick came in through the window next to us.
She'd brush the shattered glass of her immaculate navy blue trouser suit and say, 'Now, where was I?'
“I am concerned about the impact the decision will have... I worry it might put people of coming forward. One of the key issues is the sense that nobody would listen to them, justice didn't work for then, there were cover-ups”
Theresa May on Lord Janner not being prosecuted for historic child abuse
She is also wearing her trademark leopard-print shoes, but no kitten heels. 'I'm in flats for campaigning!'
Away from the Election trail, she has watched with growing concern the mounting controversy of the decision not to prosecute Labour peer Lord Janner over 22 child sex abuse allegations dating from the 1960s to 1980s.
She fears the decision by Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders could undermine the Goddard public inquiry into historic child sex abuse - as victims could be dissuaded from giving evidence.
'I am concerned about the impact the decision will have,' said Mrs May.
'I worry it might put people of coming forward. One of the key issues is the sense that nobody would listen to them, justice didn't work for then, there were cover-ups.
This decision might make people say, 'What is happening here? It's not worth coming forward.''
Mrs May's comments came after defiant Ms Saunders stood by her decision to let Janner, 86, off the hook because of his dementia, telling her critics to 'challenge me in court'.
Leadership: Prime Minsiter David Cameron (left) recently named Mrs May, along with chief rival Boris Johnson (Right), as a possible successor
'In our interview, Mrs May added to the pressure on Ms Saunders by pointedly declining to say she still had confidence in her as Britain's top prosecutor. She would only say: 'It's not for politicians to make decisions about who is charged.'
Mrs May urged victims not to be cowed into silence - including Janner's alleged victims. 'It is so important that their story is heard.
Before I interviewed Mrs May, a Tory who has known her for nearly 30 years told me: 'I don't envy you. She gives nothing away and has a skin like a rhino - she just blanks out anything she doesn't like.'
So I deliberately set out to get under her skin over her failure to deliver the Tories' pledge to cut immigration to 'tens of thousands' a year.
After all, Britain will have to build the equivalent of a city the size of Birmingham every 30 months to keep up. What a dire state of affairs for a little country like ours?
Blank. Should she be ashamed.
'I am disappointed.'
Disappointed? Her record is absolutely dismal.
'We need to keep working at it.'
She owes voters an apology – now, and in public.
'I regret we haven't delivered.'
Regret! Aha, a chink in the chainmail? I press on. No one should believe a word she says on immigration. But she bats it away, Boycott-like, with a rambling answer that translates, roughly, as 'Labour would be worse'.
I was wasting my time. It brought to mind a news item I had heard about a new paint used to top vandals urinating on walls – it bounces the offending fluid back on the offender.
Vicar's daughter May is more confrontational than she looks.
'What do you mean by looking confrontational?'
The look she is drilling into me now. You'd think she wouldn't say boo to a goose, yet she's fallen out with half the Coalition from David Cameron to Nick Clegg.
'You have to know when to stand your ground,' she says without blinking.
Mrs May, who is defending a 16,800 majority in Maidenhead is proud of her reputation for digging her heels in.
'You never let the first barrier stand in your way,' she declares.
Her unflashy, dogged style was vindicated when, after being repeatedly beaten back by the courts, she finally deported radical cleric Abu Qatada to Jordan.
Determined: After being repeatedly beaten back by the courts, Mrs May finally deported radical cleric Abu Qatada (pictured) to Jordan
Determined: After being repeatedly beaten back by the courts, Mrs May finally deported radical cleric Abu Qatada (pictured) to Jordan
When Mrs May smiles, he facial muscles occasionally draw down the corners of her mouth, accentuating her defensive, even awkward demeanour. It is reminiscent of the tense grin another buttoned-up heavyweight, Gordon Brown – but woe betide any who mistakes it for assign of vulnerability.
It was Mrs May who, famously, called the Tories the 'Nasty Party', and she claims credit for changing its image: 'I like to think we're the nice party now.'
Mrs May and husband Philip have no children and, at 58, she has not given up her aim of succeeding Cameron as Tory leader. Her ambitions suffered a severe jolt when she was diagnosed with diabetes, but Cameron recently named her, along with chief rival Boris Johnson, as a possible successor.
Predictably, she blanks any leadership questions. Her supporters say that for all Boris's charisma, in a head-to-head contest her steely virtues would win the day.
Her detractors say she is too timid and desperately needs a bit of Boris's spontaneity.
As a piece of fun during the Election, the hotel where we met was inviting visiting politicians to draw cartoons of themselves on a large blank canvas on an easel.
'Come on Theresa, have a go,' I said, not for a moment expecting her to have the gumption.
'OK, hand me a blue crayon and I will.'
And she did. Emboldened. I ask if she bought her suit from her favourite designer, La Petite Salope.
She casts a quizzical frown. I confessed it was ruse to see if saying 'slut', the English word for 'salope' would ruffle her feathers.
Miss Maidenhead threw back her elegant bob and laughed like a drain. Not such a blank canvas after all.