After former British Prime Minister David Cameron resigned in the wake of Britons' surprise vote to leave the European Union, his conservative Home Secretary took the reins. Theresa May made clear in her very first 'questions for the Prime Minister' exchange in the House of Commons that she wouldn't be a shrinking violet in the face of Labour opposition, led by the radical and deeply unpopular socialist, Jeremy Corbyn. Having just returned home from a trip to the US, May found her meeting with President Trump a source of intense criticism from across the aisle on Wednesday, with Corbyn badgering May on the subject. After laying out a litany of grievances against Trump -- including assertions that he's "directly attacked" women's rights and "incited hatred" against Muslims -- Corbyn demanded that May withdraw Trump's invitation for a state visit on UK soil. May let him have it. Scroll ahead to the 9:15 mark, then watch for the next two minutes. Via Tom Rogan:
"The right honorable gentleman's foreign policy is to object to and insult the democratically-elected head of state of our most important ally. Let's just see what he would have achieved in the last week. Would have been able to protect citizens from the impact of the executive order? No. Would he have been able to lay the foundations of a trade deal? No. Would he have got a 100 percent commitment to NATO? No. That's what Labour has to offer this country. Less protections for British citizens; less prosperous, less safe. He can lead a protest. I'm leading a country. [Cheers]
Brutal. In related news, UK legislators voted overwhelmingly to trigger the 'Brexit' process, following a ruling from the country's Supreme Court that such a move required an act of parliament:
Easily winning a crucial vote among lawmakers, Prime Minister Theresa May was well on her way Wednesday to winning the parliamentary approval that Britain’s highest court said she needed before she could begin talks on ending more than four decades of European integration. Wednesday’s vote, in the House of Commons, will not be the final parliamentary verdict on Mrs. May’s plans, but with 498 lawmakers in favor and 114 against, it was emphatic enough to show that any subsequent efforts in Parliament to complicate, or slow, the path to withdrawal would probably be in vain. It comes after two days of intense, sometimes agonized debate over a bill that, in just 137 words, sought permission to take one of the biggest decisions in British political life since World War II.
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