Team May's swift rebuttal to 'lily-livered' claim

"Lily-livered May" are not words Downing Street wants to see in the same headline in a national newspaper. Not ever.

Seeing them as the prime minister embarks on a nerve-testing game of chicken with European leaders, as she tries to negotiate new relationships outside the EU, was guaranteed to have Theresa May and her team choking on their cornflakes.

Team May could simply not afford to leave unchallenged the suggestion she baulked at the idea of seeking an "emergency brake" on EU migration for fear of upsetting the German chancellor.

Satisfying the public demand for a tough line on migration - the single greatest influence underlying the vote to leave the EU - will be tough enough. Any suspicion the prime minister lacks the stomach for the fight could make that task far harder.

Reputation management

So the rebuttal was swift. Correspondence between the PM and her predecessor highlighted to the media. Past public statements in which Mrs May stated her support for an "emergency brake" on numbers allowed into the UK were highlighted to the media.

Unflattering references to senior politicians, especially prime ministers are generally met with disdainful silence. Not this time.

The testimony of Team May is clear. She supported the idea of an emergency brake on EU migration all along. The then home secretary may have counselled David Cameron in November 2014 against declaring his ambition ahead of the tough negotiations to come. But she simply wished to avoid the mistake of Britain showing its hand before the game was completed.

Theresa May has subtly undermined the legacy of her predecessor, David Cameron

Setting out the ambition of an emergency brake, and then failing to achieve it would have looked conspicuously like failure. As it turned out, David Cameron was unable to win the concession and was forced to settle for curbs on EU migrants' benefit rights instead. If that was Mrs May's concern, she was proved right.

It all looks like a rapid deterioration of relations between the past and present teams in 10 Downing Street. And, to be sure, no-one could call those relations very amicable. David Cameron's circle has been banished, his legacy subtly undermined. But this affair was more about political reputation management than the spilling of bad political blood.

Theresa May's renegotiation of Britain's place in the world was tough enough without this.