May returns from China to Brexit tensions

Theresa May believes her trip to China has made her slogan "Global Britain" come alive.

Hands shaken, businesses going home with new deals in their pockets that she says will bring jobs to the UK.

But she simply refused to accept that her next round of deal-making with the EU will require a choice between a closely-bound relationship with Brussels or a more dramatic break.

She told me she did not see those as alternatives and insisted she has spelled out what she really wants from the deal.

Mrs May said: "We will be out there ensuring the deal we get delivers on what the British people want. That's what this is about and I know what the British people want as well is good jobs for themselves and their children, and that's why it is important for me to be here in China where businesses have been signing deals."

Her comments will do little to dispel the tension at home where there are growing calls for her to be more specific about her ambition.

With disagreement in cabinet and from top to bottom in the Conservative party over the direction to take, Theresa May seems not ready yet to have the argument over which way to go, in public at least.

The prime minister also made it plain she has no intention of walking away from her post any time soon.

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