March 28, 2019 - 12:20 PM
LONDON - Theresa May is the "Brexit Means Brexit" prime minister. For almost three years since Britain voted to leave the European Union, May repeated the mantra that she would deliver the departure.
But time and circumstance have made her change her words.
July 11, 2016, while candidate for Conservative Party leader: "Brexit means Brexit and we're going to make a success of it."
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July 13, 2016, in her first speech as prime minister: "As we leave the European Union, we will forge a bold, new, positive role for ourselves in the world."
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January 17, 2017: "After all the division and discord, the country is coming together."
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March 29, 2017, triggering the two-year countdown to departure under EU rules: "This is an historic moment from which there can be no turning back."
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December 15, 2017: "What people voted for last year was for us to leave the European Union and we will leave the EU on 29 March 2019."
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December 20, 2017: "We are very clear — we will be leaving the EU on 29 March 2019 at 11 p.m."
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November 18, 2018: "I'm clear people voted for us to leave. We will leave and will leave on 29 March 2019."
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February 7, 2019: "I'm clear that I am going to deliver Brexit. I am going to deliver it on time."
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February 24, 2019: "We still have it within our grasp to leave the European Union with a deal on 29 March."
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March 20, 2019: "Two years on, MPs have been unable to agree on a way to implement the UK's withdrawal. As a result we will now not leave on time with a deal on the 29th March. This delay is a matter of great personal regret for me."
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March 27, 2019: "I know there is a desire for a new approach - and new leadership - in the second phase of the Brexit negotiations — and I won't stand in the way of that."
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