May’s remarks at the Mansion House last night about Russia were politically childish. It was a vain attempt to project herself as a strong leader and echoed the attacks by Margaret Thatcher upon the Soviet Kremlin, which earned her the title, the Iron Lady, which she wore as a star of honour for the rest of her life. But this nonsense about fake news. Everybody is at it, including the UK, because this is how cyber rivalry works. But to suggest that we are all so stupid that we cannot tell the difference in this country between fake news and the real thing, insults us all.
May needs to remember that Russia is a critical ally of the West in the fight against IS, upon whom we have depended to degrade its military prowess and reduce the territory it controls. Without Putin IS would now control Damascus. Moreover Russia is a critical ally in trying to prevent war in the Korean Peninsular and played a major part in the negotiations stopping nuclear weapons development in Iran, of which agreement, like us, Russia is a signatory.
Sadly all this reinforces the disappointing truth that in the end May hasn’t a clue.