The winning hypocrisy of Theresa May

The British prime minister's double-talk on Brexit is gobsmackingly transparent. It also might just work.

Hypocrisy all the way!
(Image credit: REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth)

Does anyone envy Theresa May? Her task as U.K. prime minister is to extricate Britain from the EU without too much economic pain, without an exodus of European talent from London, and without accidentally restarting the Troubles in Northern Ireland. And at the same time, she has to keep Scotland from leaving the clutches of her own much older political union.

You see the dilemma. After the head of the Scottish Nationalist Party declared her intention to ask for another referendum on independence, May's job description could be reduced to a single task: Talk out of both sides of your mouth and make everyone agree to what you're saying.

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Michael Brendan Dougherty

Michael Brendan Dougherty is senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is the founder and editor of The Slurve, a newsletter about baseball. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, ESPN Magazine, Slate and The American Conservative.