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My political week has been dominated by two very different speeches by two very different women. The reaction to each speech is likely to have significant repercussions on British politics for quite some time.

Flemish MEP Helga Stevens delivered the first using sign language and an interpreter to the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Mrs Stevens was campaigning to be the next president of the Parliament; standing on a powerful platform of wiping away the stale old boys’ club, which has led to indecision on Europe’s most pressing issues, instead offering a fresh face to take Europe in a new direction.

I had the pleasure earlier this month to work with Helga preparing her for the final phase of her campaign and a busy diary filled with media interviews, hustings events and speeches such as this week’s performance.

Helga’s was the only speech of the seven candidates to receive applause from all sides of the Parliament. She attracted significant support beyond the ECR Group for which she is an MEP. She promised to change the European Parliament to take it closer to the voters and give every MEP a voice instead of relying on backroom deals.

Late on Tuesday, after significant mutual back scratching from all those pushing for ever closer union above of all else, a back-room deal was cobbled together led by the old boys’ club and Helga was unsuccessful in her candidacy. Quelle surprise. Plus ça change….

Earlier in the day, at Lancaster House in central London, Theresa May was outlining her twelve-point plan to take the UK out of the European Union. The tone of the speech was resolute and at times pretty defiant. The Prime Minister set out a clear plan for the UK’s negotiations as well as signaling what her red lines will be once Article 50 has been triggered.

The reactions across the EU institutions, and the continent more widely, have been revealing. Eurpean Council president Donald Tusk welcomed the speech as a “realistic” view of the UK’s plans. Despite Tusk claiming that the EU-27 was united in their views others were far less welcoming.

The European Parliament’s Brexit negotiator (and arch Euro-federalist) Guy Verhofstadt Tweeted, “Britain has chosen a hard Brexit…the days of UK cherry-picking and Europe a la cart are over.”

While this pessimism was echoed by many of Europe’s main media titles, with France’s Le Monde suggesting that the plan was designed to align the UK with the Trump administration in the US, sentiment back in the UK was very different.

Analysis for The Times by Impact Social – the social media insight company who called both the Brexit vote and the Trump election - was good news for Mrs May. Stripping out the political-media elite echo chamber Impact Social focus on the views of ordinary people.  Based on this, sentiment is squarely behind May’s plan seeing it as “bold” and, in contrast to Verhofstadt’s old boys’ club, happy that she has set out the red lines that she has. 

While far from everyone in the UK was supportive there is little doubt that the Prime Minister’s speech was well crafted, briefed and delivered giving her real momentum towards the start of formal negotiations. That she and her team will be faced with an unreformed, unrepentant and, in some cases, unwilling set of EU institutions was confirmed by this week’s events in the European Parliament. It should be quite a showdown.