Brexit negotiations may be held prisoner to UK Conservative Party politics: expert

LONDON, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) — The negotiations between Britain and the European Union (EU) over Brexit could become a prisoner of the politics of the UK’s ruling Conservative Party, according to a leading expert with world’s top think tank Chatham House.

As the fourth round of talks between Britain’s Brexit negotiator David Davis and EU negotiator Michel Barnier looks set to go ahead on September 25 after a week’s postponement, the role of Britain’s ruling Conservative Party is likely to be a key input.

“You have a divided Conservative parliamentary party which reflects divided Conservatives across the country — city Conservatives, business Conservatives versus rural, older Conservatives” said Robin Niblett, director of Chatham House think-tank in central London in a recent interview with Xinhua.

This reflects both a divided country, closely balanced over leave or remain, and a history of division with the Conservative Party that has been a feature of its politics for over 40 years.

“I don’t know what is going to happen, the next party conference will be very interesting. The risk in a nutshell is that the Brexit negotiations will again become a prisoner of Conservative Party politics,” Niblett said.

Conservatives meet for their conference in Manchester in October, and a weakened prime minister faces a challenge to her power from Cabinet ministers who are strong Brexiters and others who voted for remain and wish to mitigate the possible negative impact of leaving.