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Theresa May Endured Years of Brexit Criticism. Look Who’s Laughing Now.

Theresa May, center, with Kenneth Clarke as Prime Minister Boris Johnson fielded questions from lawmakers in the House of Commons on Tuesday.Credit...Jessica Taylor/U.K. Parliament

LONDON — For the better part of three years, when Theresa May was prime minister of Britain, she was the focus of the nation’s ire as frustration over her inability to get lawmakers to approve her Brexit deal boiled over.

This week, as most eyes were on her successor, Boris Johnson, she was pictured laughing in the backbenches of the House of Commons.

No one knows for certain the source of Mrs. May’s levity, or that of any of the other lawmakers seen grinning and chuckling as the drama unfolded, but the proceedings were rife with insults and recriminations.

On Tuesday, as Mr. Johnson fumbled his way through the same gantlet she once navigated, Mrs. May was spotted casually looking on and occasionally grinning. On Wednesday, Mr. Johnson — one of her loudest critics before he replaced her in July — faced off with lawmakers and threatened to call a snap election.

Furious opposition lawmakers and 21 of Mr. Johnson’s own Conservative party members had risen up in rebellion against his “do or die” approach to Brexit as the Oct. 31 deadline loomed. The rebel faction of Conservatives, moving to prevent him from taking the country out of the European Union without a formal agreement, voted to wrest control of Parliament away from the government and to vote on legislation as soon as Wednesday to block his move.

Mrs. May could be seen quietly grinning alongside parliamentary veterans like Kenneth Clarke in the chamber. On Wednesday, as lawmakers hurled questions and criticism at Mr. Johnson and as Sajid Javid, the chancellor, delivered his spending review, Mrs. May and Mr. Clarke visibly chuckled.

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‘The Public Will Have to Choose’

After he lost a vote on Brexit in Parliament, Boris Johnson, the British prime minister, warned that he might call a new general election.

[cheering] “There can be no doubt, Mr. Speaker, about the consequences of this vote tonight. It means that Parliament is on the brink of wrecking any deal that we might be able to strike [jeering] with Brussels, because tomorrow’s bill would hand control of the negotiations to the E.U. And that would mean more dither, more delay and more confusion. And it would mean that the E.U. themselves would be able to decide how long to keep this country in the E.U. And since I refuse to go along with that plan, we are going to have to make a choice, Mr. Speaker. I don’t want an election. The public don’t want an election. I don’t believe the right honorable gentleman wants an election. But if the House votes for this bill tomorrow, the public will have to choose who goes to Brussels on October the 17th to sort this out and take this country forward.” “Your Honor, point of order. I welcome tonight’s vote. We live in a parliamentary democracy. We — [cheers] We do not have a presidency but a prime minister. Prime ministers govern with the consent of the House of Commons, representing the people in whom the sovereignty rests. There is no consent — there is no consent in this House to leave the European Union without a deal. There is no majority for ‘no deal’ in the country. As I’ve said before, if the prime minister has the confidence in his Brexit policy, when he has one he can put forward, he should put it before the people in a public vote. And so — [cheering and jeering] he wants to table a motion for a general election? Fine: Get the bill through first, in order to prevent, in order — in order to take ‘no deal’ off the table.”

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After he lost a vote on Brexit in Parliament, Boris Johnson, the British prime minister, warned that he might call a new general election.CreditCredit...Roger Harris/U.K. Parliament

There had been speculation that Mrs. May would join the contingent of rebellious Conservatives who aligned with opposition lawmakers to introduce legislation aimed at preventing a no-deal Brexit.

But in the end, the former prime minister voted with Mr. Johnson. The 21 fellow Conservatives who rebelled against the government were summarily expelled from the party.

Rory Stewart, the former cabinet minister, told the BBC of his expulsion, “It came by text, and it was a pretty astonishing moment.”

Earlier this year, Mrs. May failed three times to pass the Brexit deal she had negotiated with Brussels through a deeply divided Parliament.

She later offered a teary-eyed resignation in front of 10 Downing Street. British newspapers call her “fragile” and “finished.”

But on Tuesday night, after one of the most dramatic days Parliament has seen since the Brexit saga began, Mrs. May was pictured driving away from government buildings.

And she was smiling.

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Mrs. May leaving Parliament on Tuesday.Credit...Henry Nicholls/Reuters
A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 11 of the New York edition with the headline: May Smiles As Successor Is Challenged. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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