What has been the ideological reaction? Strangely muted so far as positions are yet to be articulated. The internal politics have been the focus. May allies have been trying to rally round in advance of the Tory Conference next week, and there might be some grim defiance towards the EC, some of it based on a view that the EC/EU rejection was bluff and that a deal would be magically produced at the 11th hour.
One reaction,reported in teh Guarnida is interesting though:
However, Crabb went on to say that the way in which EU leaders had sought to “belittle” May in Salzburg had taken many in the Conservative party by surprise and had pushed people like him to a position where they felt “the quicker we’re out of this circus, the better”.
I think this sort of reaction was felt widely after Cameron's rebuff when he sought concession from the EC on immigration (2014?). There was talk of bluff then but he came away with very little in the end and that led to the Referendum. The GRaun also summarises the reactions of other newspapers:
“We can’t wait to shake ourselves free from the the two-bit mobsters who run the European Union,” says the [Sun]...the Daily Mail paints the prime minister in a more assertive light than other titles and reports that a “furious May” warned that she was ready to walk away from the EU without a deal after what the newspaper described as a “calculated Brussels snub”....[the Mirror says ] The UK is closer than ever to “crashing out” of the EU with no deal after the British leaders plans were “shattered”... The Times, which also says that May is facing a Tory revolt, reports that British officials were “blindsided” after Tusk dismissed the Chequers proposals as unworkable...The i splashes on “The Salzburg Disaster” - using the now-familiar image of May in red – as it describes the summit as turning “ugly”. It quotes the Hungarian leader, Viktor Orbán, saying that France and Germany want the UK to “suffer”...A “scathing” French president warned that Britain must climb down further if it wanted a deal, according to [the Telegraph]...The prime minister was “ambushed” in Salzburg, reports the Financial Times,...A column in the Times, written by an admitted Brexiteer (what a refreshing change after the Guardian!) addresses some consequences for the image of the EU:
[with its] usual tin ear for the menacing mood music, the EU under the Austrian rotating presidency opted for expensive glitz in Salzburg this week, despite its leaders meeting amid an epic mess on migration, with eastern European states in open rebellion, and the second largest financial contributor to the club (Britain) sitting there forlorn like Rodgers and Hammerstein’s lonely goatherd...At root, the EU’s problem is clear. It is an overly ambitious and insecure organisation that feels the need to present itself rhetorically in quasi-imperial terms, as the dignified embodiment of European unity and values. In reality it is a recently patched-together trading bloc with no ability to defend itself and hardly any combined capacity on intelligence and security. Debilitatingly, it is now split in two geographically [the East-West split over immigration quotas] ...Ironically, all of this division and dispute stems from the predictable and predicted overreach of an organisation that was designed to foster European harmony. The fanatics got carried away with open borders and ultra-liberal nostrums rather than paying attention to the cultural concerns and anxieties of voters and nations.[but] ...None of this, I’m afraid, speaking as a Brexiteer, directly helps the UK in its quest to leave the EU. If anything, the profound split in the EU on migration and culture means that the 27 need something they can agree on, and for now that seems to involve punishing Britain for daring to leave.
The EC/EU might need some ideological effort itself to accompany its blatant power plays and bad moods lest it drive the baby out with the bathwater, just as it did with Cameron.
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