Economics
Merkel Doesn’t Look Like She’s About to Help Theresa May on Brexit
- German chancellor holds key to unlocking complex negotiations
- U.K. mistake is to think Merkel favors business over politics
Theresa May, U.K. prime minister, and Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, pause during a news conference at the Chancellery in Berlin on Nov. 18, 2016.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
When it came to wooing Angela Merkel, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron pulled all the stops with a prestigious invitation to address Parliament, box sets of her favorite British crime series and even an invitation to spend his 49th birthday together.
As the linchpin of the European Union, the German chancellor was the key to granting the concessions on immigration Cameron needed to persuade voters to keep the U.K. in the bloc. But she refused and Britain backed Brexit.