Britain's goals may end in a bigger, perhaps stronger EEA

London

MARGARET Thatcher, British prime minister in the 1980s, marvelling at the baroque but blurred European negotiating style of Italian diplomats, used to ask whether their consummate obfuscation was "guile or incompetence".

Similar inquiries might be made about Theresa May, the present incumbent. To the frustration of some observers, she has refused to state categorically Britain's ultimate aim in a future trade relationship with the European Union once the UK leaves, probably in 2019.