Angela May-Theresa Merkel: Europe's crisis control tandem

WE KNOW the name of Europe's crisis control tandem: Angela May and Theresa Merkel. The similarities between the German chancellor and British prime minister are evident: born in the mid-1950s; no-nonsense, get-things-done conservatives; clergymen's daughters; childless, with behind-the-scenes husbands; excel at ejecting troublesome male rivals. They established a good rapport in Berlin last week. Angela (Merkel) told Theresa (May) that the UK could take time over opening European Union divorce proceedings - a concession that countered France's obvious wishes and pleasantly surprised hardened Whitehall officials.

The most intriguing resemblance is the delicacy and complexity of the multiple balancing acts both women are performing within and outside their countries.

Mrs May, a lukewarm Remainer in the referendum campaign, has to manage a corrosive European factionalism in her Conservative Party that terminally weakened her four Tory prime ministerial predecessors. She may enjoy a relatively lengthy political honeymoon because she can play a long game over triggering EU exit talks (partly because of Mrs Merkel's acquiescence).