Theresa May laughs off 'Madam Brexit' nickname and denies she has had a bad year

Prime Minister pointed to the Brexit talks breakthrough when asked whether 2017 had been the most challenging year of her career

Theresa May has laughed off the nickname “Madam Brexit” and insisted she has had a successful year.

Despite surrendering her Commons majority in a disastrous snap election, losing three cabinet ministers and enduring a calamitous conference speech where she was plagued by a coughing fit and the set fell apart around her, Ms May maintained that there had been a number of successes in 2017.

The Prime Minister highlighted the recent Brexit talks breakthrough but said there were “other things” she wanted to achieve apart from delivering Britain’s exit from the European Union. She also laid out her intentions to stay in the top job “for the long term”.

She gained her nickname from a translator relaying her joint press conference with Poland’s new Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, when he said: “As Madam Brexit has said, Brexit is Brexit.”

Speaking to reporters on a trip to Cyprus, Ms May said: “You might have noticed I smiled when I heard the translation of Mrs Brexit or Madam Brexit.

“Look, I am going to deliver on Brexit. That is undoubtedly the case, but I am doing other things as well. If you look at the changes we are making on skills, education and training for example.”

Ms May has endured a challenging year with repeated speculation that she might be forced out by her own party after the poor June election result.

Her speech to party faithful in October was designed to shore up her embattled leadership, but instead descended into farce when a prankster handed her a P45 and letters fell off the backdrop behind her. She was also plagued by a cough throughout the hour-long address.

Asked if she would rank 2017 as one of the most difficult years of her career, Ms May pointed to her recent breakthrough on the Brexit talks, allowing the UK to move on to vital trade negotiations.

The Prime Minister said: “If you look at what’s happened over the past couple of months we have made sufficient progress on the Brexit negotiations, we have had a good Budget that is building a Britain that is fit for the future.

“What we’ve put into the Budget in terms of funding for the health service but also housing is really important for the future of this country.

“We have had the industrial strategy, which I see as an absolutely crucial plan and part of actually ensuring that our economy does meet the needs of the future and is providing the jobs of the future for the people in the UK.”

Her trip to Poland and Cyprus comes at the end of a difficult week for Ms May, after she was forced to sack her closest political ally Damian Green for breaching the ministerial code.

A Cabinet Office probe – originally launched to examine allegations he made advances on a young Tory activist – eventually found he had made “misleading” statements about pornography found on his Commons computer.

Mr Green is the third cabinet minister to be ousted since November, following the departures of Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon over inappropriate behaviour and Priti Patel, the International Development Secretary, who held secret meetings with senior Israeli politicians.