Moment Theresa May confronts Jean-Claude Juncker in heated exchange after he said her Brexit offer was 'nebulous and imprecise'

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Theresa May angrily confronted European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker today hours after he accused her of being “nebulous and imprecise”.

British diplomats were furious with Mr Juncker for his midnight outburst which they said was inaccurate and unfair.

Sources revealed to the Evening Standard details of one proposal set out by Mrs May for a 12-month time limit set out in a “joint interpretive instrument” which they believe would carry “legal force”.

This morning a furious-looking Mrs May squared up to Mr Juncker at the summit centre in Brussels and appeared to protest.

Although no audio was available of the exchange, which was caught on an official video feed of the gathering, Mr Juncker clearly appeared taken aback and tried to soothe her by putting an hand on her elbow, to no avail.

Mrs May appears to be saying the word “nebulous” and leans towards Mr Juncker in an angry pose. He responds by leaning backwards nervously, while patting her arm to try to calm her.

After a while, a man, believed to be Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is seen walking towards Mrs May and Mr Juncker and appearing to break up the clashing pair.

BBC Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg tweeted: “Have watched these kinds of pictures looking for body language between leaders dozens of times - have NEVER seen anything as tense and angry as this.”

Some EU diplomats backed up the British claim that Mr Juncker’s late-night press conference had veered away from the agreed line which was not to be confrontational and an expectation that fresh talks would be held to consider Mrs May’s suggestions.

But a diplomatic note leaked to the BBC agreed that her demands on the Irish backstop “were not really clear” and there was “no support” for a draft communique promising to look further into the problem.

Theresa May face to face with Jean-Claude Juncker

Mrs May did not speak reporters as she arrived at the summit centre this morning. She went straight to a one-on-one meeting with French president Emmanuel Macron which was dominated by Brexit.

Mr Juncker puts his hand on the Prime Minister
Philip Sime/Twitter

She was running short of allies, with several EU leaders using their arrivals to tell reporters that the UK needed to settle soon or risk a catastrophic no-deal.

A UK source told the Standard that EU diplomats had reassured Mrs May’s team that the door was wide open to a debate.

“The private messages we were getting back after Juncker was that they are still open to hearing what is needed,” said the source.

Theresa May's offer of concessions to her Brexit deal was flatly rebuffed by EU leaders
REUTERS

Netherlands premier Mark Rutte backed Mrs May, saying she was welcome to “come up with more proposals and we will always look at them.

”Under the May proposal, which has not been revealed until now, the EU and the UK would commit to use “best endeavours” to get a deal on future relations and trade in place by the end of the post-Brexit transition period that is due to expire in December 2020. If that succeeded there would be no need for a backstop.

If not, both sides would commit “with legal force” to have a Future Partnership deal in place within a year, working to a deadline of December 2021.

The commitment, which Downing Street believes would amount to a one-year time limit on the backstop, would be set down in a “Joint Interpretive Instrument” agreed alongside the main 585-page withdrawal agreement.

“The idea she was not specific about what she wanted was not true and not fair,” said the source. “There’s a difference between them not liking it and her failing to spell it out. She did spell it out. The ‘nebulous’ claim is very unfair.”

Mrs May looked set to fly home virtually empty-handed, although Downing Street stressed that they had only ever expected a political discussion at this summit, not a breakthrough.

Opposition to any change to the backstop - which requires Northern Ireland to obey EU laws until or unless a future trade deal removes the risk of a hard border - was led by Irish premier Leo Varadkar who was strongly backed by Mr Macron.

Seasoned UK diplomats expressed horror at the humiliations being meted on Mrs May.

Lord Ricketts, former head of the Foreign Office, tweeted: “Another day when we wake up to news of the PM appealing to others to help her out of dilemmas of her own making.

I cannot understand why she weakly undertook in the Commons to get further legal assurances from the EU. Setting herself up for failure that further diminishes the UK.”

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