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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Well, the future of Brexit is uncertain this morning. So is the future for Prime Minister Theresa May. Really, so is the future of Britain. The prime minister is facing a vote of no confidence today. This comes after her government suffered a historic defeat yesterday as British lawmakers rejected her Brexit deal overwhelmingly.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: The ayes to the right 202. The noes to the left 432.

(GASPS¹)

GREENE: Here is Prime Minister May.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRIME MINISTER THERESA MAY: Every day that passes without this issue being resolved means more uncertainty², more bitterness and more rancor³.

GREENE: And all this with just 10 weeks left before Britain leaves the EU because of the Brexit referendum two years ago. Robert Shrimsley has been covering all of this. He's editorial director for the Financial Times and joins us from London. Good morning, Robert.

ROBERT SHRIMSLEY: Good morning.

GREENE: So those were gasps I was hearing in Parliament. Was that just shock over how big this margin⁴ was and how overwhelming this rejection⁵ of this Brexit deal really was?

SHRIMSLEY: Yeah, that's exactly right. I think that everybody expected that the prime minister was going to lose the vote on Tuesday night. And I think many people expected she was going to lose badly. But you're talking records here. This is the greatest ever defeat since anyone bothered keeping records of parliamentary defeats. The largest anyone could previously⁶ members a defeat of 166 votes in 1924. And she's gone way past that.

GREENE: Does that mean she's done? I mean, there's a vote of no confidence today. Is this the end of the road for the prime minister?

SHRIMSLEY: No. I mean, quite the contrary. That's the most remarkable⁷ thing about this process - is that, actually, ordinarily under the British system, if a prime minister loses on something quite as important as this, they're basically finished because you are prime minister because you have the ability to command the majority in the House of Commons. But, in fact, there'll be a confidence vote tabled by the opposition⁸ parties today. And we expect her to win it. So we'll be in this extraordinary position where she can't get her business done, but nobody can get rid of her.

GREENE: OK. So she can't get her business done. Will she be able to get any business done after this vote? I mean, what do you do if you are hanging on by a thread as prime minister - you have a Brexit deal, which basically deals with the future of a country that everyone in - I mean, a lot of people in Parliament have rejected. What's her next move?

SHRIMSLEY: Well I think what she intends to try and do it here she's announced some conciliatory moves, said she's going to talk to other people across the political divide, which she has, in fact, been doing a little bit already. But it doesn't sound like she really wants to consult very widely. And she's put some very thick, red lines about what she's prepared to negotiate. It looks to me as if she's actually trying to just run the clock a bit down, in spite of saying that she wouldn't do so, to get a few more concessions⁹ from the European Union and essentially¹⁰ present Parliament with what is, with all intents and purposes, the same deal but with maybe only seven weeks to go and hope that people are panicked and supporting it on the grounds that they want to avoid crashing out with no deal. The issue now is that she's facing a confrontation¹¹ with Parliament with MPs on all sides who are saying, no, no, this isn't good enough. We are going to take control of this process if you can't find a way to seek an agreement that more people can support.

GREENE: I mean, the one thing a lot of people have agreed on seems to be that doing Brexit without any kind of deal could be total chaos¹², right?

SHRIMSLEY: Yeah.

GREENE: So what what are the options if she doesn't get some sort of new deal that that gets approval?

SHRIMSLEY: Well, it is an absolutely terrible outcome for the U.K. And it could happen in, you know, as we said, 10 weeks. We've got ministers planning for food shortages and medicine shortages at the moment in the case of a palsy (ph) that they will have led to. The problem is she has about a hundred MPs on her own side who quite like that outcome, who think that the European Union's bluffing¹³ and that Britain will muddle¹⁴ through. And therefore, she faces a major split in her own party in trying to seek consensus¹⁵. There is this general view that Parliament will not support a no-deal outcome. So you have a few options. There's a few technical other forms of Brexit which are a bit softer, which keep Britain in certain other aspects of the European institutions. And in the long run, you have the possibility of Parliament deciding they have to have a second referendum and throw it back to the people because it can't decide.

GREENE: Donald Tusk¹⁶, the European Council president, seemed to be hinting on social media after this vote that - you know, telling Britain, why don't you to stay in the EU? I guess if there's a new referendum, that's possible. But that doesn't seem like a smooth path at all.

SHRIMSLEY: Well, nothing's passed. Nothing is smooth. There's nothing good about any of this. I think - I mean, if we wanted to cancel Brexit, it would be impossible. Although legally it's possible, politically, I think it would be impossible to do so without a second referendum. And that will take a bit of time. There's no guarantee. Although sentiment has moved towards remaining, there's no guarantee that that would be the outcome. But I think that is the only way it could happen.

GREENE: How are people feeling in the country? I mean, are people going to work and doing their thing or thinking about this constantly?

SHRIMSLEY: I think there's a mix. I think there's no escaping Brexit anywhere. It's in all conversations. And everybody is both completely sick of it and, in many cases, completely mesmerized¹⁷ by it. Many passions run extremely high. People are very, very upset, very angry. People who are on the same side are fighting each other over tactic¹⁸. And then there's a great mass of the population who's just getting on with it and wants to see a resolution.

GREENE: Robert Shrimsley is editorial director of the Financial Times, covering this extraordinary moment in Britain. Robert, thanks.

SHRIMSLEY: Pleasure.

1 gasps   

v.喘气( gasp的第三人称单数 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• He leant against the railing, his breath coming in short gasps. 他倚着栏杆，急促地喘气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• My breaths were coming in gasps. 我急促地喘起气来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

3 rancor   

n.深仇，积怨

参考例句：

• I have no rancor against him.我对他无怨无仇。
• Their rancor dated from a political dogfight between them.他们的积怨来自于他们之间在政治上的狗咬狗。

4 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

5 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

6 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

7 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

8 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

9 concessions   

n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。

10 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

11 confrontation   

n.对抗，对峙，冲突

参考例句：

• We can't risk another confrontation with the union.我们不能冒再次同工会对抗的危险。
• After years of confrontation,they finally have achieved a modus vivendi.在对抗很长时间后，他们最后达成安宁生存的非正式协议。

12 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

13 bluffing   

n. 威吓，唬人 动词bluff的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• I don't think he'll shoot—I think he's just bluffing. 我认为他不会开枪—我想他不过是在吓唬人。
• He says he'll win the race, but he's only bluffing. 他说他会赢得这场比赛，事实上只是在吹牛。

14 muddle   

n.困惑，混浊状态；vt.使混乱，使糊涂，使惊呆；vi.胡乱应付，混乱

参考例句：

• Everything in the room was in a muddle.房间里每一件东西都是乱七八糟的。
• Don't work in a rush and get into a muddle.克服忙乱现象。

15 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

16 tusk   

n.獠牙，长牙，象牙

参考例句：

• The wild boar had its tusk sunk deeply into a tree and howled desperately.野猪的獠牙陷在了树里，绝望地嗥叫着。
• A huge tusk decorated the wall of his study.他书房的墙上装饰着一支巨大的象牙。

17 mesmerized   

v.使入迷( mesmerize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The country girl stood by the road, mesmerized at the speed of cars racing past. 村姑站在路旁被疾驶而过的一辆辆车迷住了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• My 14-year-old daughter was mesmerized by the movie Titanic. 我14岁的女儿完全被电影《泰坦尼克号》迷住了。 来自互联网

18 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。