In a televised statement Theresa May appealed to the public in her latest bid to get her Brexit deal through parliament. In the speech May blamed squabbling politicians for delaying Brexit.

The speech infuriated MPs who accused her of causing further division within parliament and some drew parallels with Donald Trump’s rhetoric.



The Guardian has worked alongside Team Populism to classify how populist a leader is, as determined by their speeches. In our analysis May was classified as “somewhat populist”, putting her in the same category as Donald Trump, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. So was her latest speech populist?

Play Video 3:52 Brexit: May says high time MPs vote for her deal in No 10 statement - video

“In March 2017 I triggered the article 50 process for the UK to exit the EU and parliament supported it overwhelmingly. Two years on, MPs have been unable to agree on a way to implement the UK’s withdrawal. As a result, we will now not leave on time with a deal on 29 March. “This delay is a matter of great personal regret for me. And of this I am absolutely sure: you, the public, have had enough. You’re tired of the infighting, you’re tired of the political games and the arcane procedural rows, tired of MPs talking about nothing else but Brexit when you have real concerns about our children’s schools, our National Health Service, knife crime.”

Team Populism have identified three key elements to look out for in populist speech: people-centrism, anti-elitism, and the depiction of a moralised battle between good and evil, or a Manichean world view.

Straight off, May hits on two elements of populist speech here: people-centrism and anti-elitism. She makes a direct appeal to the British public and allies herself with the frustrated masses, who are portrayed as having a singular view on the situation. May also says the difficulties with Brexit are due to an obstructive establishment, or an elite, who have thwarted progress through “political games” and “arcane procedural rows”.



“You want this stage of the Brexit process to be over and done with. I agree. I am on your side. It is now time for MPs to decide ... Do they [MPs] want to leave the EU with a deal which delivers on the result of the referendum, that takes control of our money borders and laws while protecting jobs and our national security? “Do they want to leave without a deal, or do they not want to leave at all, causing potentially irreparable damage to public trust not just in this generation of politicians but to our entire democratic process? It is high time we made a decision. So far, parliament has done everything possible to avoid making a choice.”

Here May continues to position herself on the side of the people and characterises the Brexit debate as a battle between “us” and “them”.



Although there are some elements of populist speech it’s not a classical text with all three aspects, says Bruno Castanho Silva, a member of Team Populism working at the University of Cologne.

The language is not as strong as her speech at the Conservative party conference in 2016 – the most populist of all May’s statements we analysed. Then, she described the narrow vote to leave the EU as a decisive “revolution” in which millions “stood up and said they were not prepared to be ignored any more”.

“She has references to the public and there is something there that could be read as populist but the MPs are not described as this evil elite entity. However she frames the political class as dysfunctional which is a populist element, but it’s not an elite conspiring against the people,” says Castanho Silva.

“Some argue that I am making the wrong choice, and I should ask for a longer extension to the end of the year or beyond, to give more time for politicians to argue over the way forward. That would mean asking you to vote in European elections, nearly three years after our country decided to leave. What kind of message would that send? And just how bitter and divisive would that election campaign be at a time when the country desperately needs bringing back together.”

To close May hits on a more conciliatory note by appealing to the public that now is the time to bring the country back together.

“There’s some recognition that there are other sides to this story and they have legitimate needs,” says Castanho Silva. In acknowledging the opposing views on Brexit, May introduces the idea of pluralism, not a typical element of populist speech. So although the speech does have some populist attributes it’s not her most populist to date.

Additional reporting by Sean Clarke and Paul Lewis