Star comment: Approach to Brexit talks vital

Mrs May’s contrition before Conservative MPs for the poor way in which she conducted the election campaign revealed a human side to her that was missing during her robotic and ill-fated election campaign.

In tearing up the script, she seems to have won many of her colleagues round. And it is precisely those human and personable qualities that she will need when she enters Brexit negotiations with European rulers.

Mrs May made a fatal mistake in the General Election when she adopted a persona that was aloof, cold and arrogant. She must not imagine such an approach will work in Brussels. It will not. Her newly-collegiate approach is one that will earn better dividends as her patched-up minority Government leads Britain through the most important political negotiation since the end of World War II.

The PM’s standing has been severely damaged and is possibly beyond saving in the longer term, though predicting political fortunes has become as fraught and risky as betting on the National Lottery.

How Theresa May approaches the Brexit negotiations is crucial to this country’s well-being. Throughout the General Election campaign, Labour’s rising star Emily Thornberry repeatedly asserted that no-one voted to be poorer and no-one voted to lose their jobs. Chancellor Philip Hammond has said something similar on several occasions.

Businesses in Britain have expressed disquiet following the election. The confusion surrounded the Tories’ deal with the DUP has been destabilising.

Now Mrs May must take into account a range of opinions in a manner that would not have been necessary had she won the landslide that some predicted at the outset of the election campaign. This will not make her task any easier, although there will be some who argue that these alternative views might bring something valuable to the table.

What is clear is that Theresa May faces an enormous challenge. She has to convince her party and the wider public that she is a leader, and she must demonstrate an ability to unite a country that appears more divided than ever. Any Prime Minister dealing with Brexit faced a daunting challenge. The seismic events of the last few days mean that challenge is even bigger now.