May's underwhelming Davos presence

President Macron and Chancellor Merkel used their Davos platforms to address globalisation.  Theresa May, pursuing one of the biggest and most significant international projects of the generation, has chosen Facebook and Google as her targets.  Important, no doubt, but hardly areas of key influence for her.  She seems barely listened to in her own cabinet, so the idea that global hegemons like the afore-mentioned are going to much listen to her seems far-fetched.  Surely it would have been far better to address Brexit and place some clarity of the Great British Withdrawal Project. But that presupposes there is actually clarity and vision behind the project, and so far Mrs. May and her government have been remarkably effective in covering that up.

"The Sun's" Harry Cole claims May is close to having to defend her leadership in a party contest, with the number of letters being delivered to 1922 Chairman Graham Brady nearly at the tipping point of 48.  The issue for Tory backbenchers of course is whether the continued presence of an uninspired, visionless drudge who can't control her ministers at the top of the party is a better option than a potentially savage leadership contest where Boris Johnson would be a key contender.  One of May's unintended triumphs (although much that she does seems unintended) is to have made the charlatan Johnson seem like a better alternative for prime minister.  She unnecessarily resurrected his career by making him Foreign Secretary when he was down and pretty well out, her weakness as PM  allows him to campaign openly from the Cabinet for his own leadership, and her lame leadership makes him seem a model of dynamism and vision.  Strange times indeed.