What did you call me? You called me nebulous: Full heated Brexit exchange between Theresa May and Jean-Claude Juncker deciphered by lipreaders

Theresa May angrily confronted European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker today hours after he said her demands for concessions on the Brexit withdrawal agreement were “nebulous and imprecise”.

Looking furious, the Prime Minister went head-to-head with him at the EU summit centre in Brussels and protested, “What did you call me? You called me nebulous,” according to two lip-reading experts reported by Channel 5 News.

The EU chief’s response was not decipherable but Mrs May is believed to have added: “Yes you did, nebulous.” Mr Juncker insisted: “No I didn’t, I didn’t.”

A man, thought to be Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, is then seen walking towards the pair to break up the angry exchange.

When asked about Mr Juncker's remark, Mrs May said: "I was crystal clear about the assurances that were needed on the backstop, having heard the views of MPs in the House of Commons."

Mrs May said it was in the interests of the EU and UK to "get this over the line", warning: "A disorderly Brexit would be good for no-one."

She said that the EU27 conclusions made clear that the EU is determined to work speedily on a future relationship - or alternative arrangements - to ensure by the end of 2020 that there will be no hard border in Ireland, so that the backstop need not be triggered.

The conclusions confirm that any backstop would be temporary and that, if it was ever needed, the EU would negotiate "expeditiously" an agreement to put a replacement in place.

She said: "As formal conclusions, these commitments have legal status and therefore should be welcomed."

But she said she had discussed with EU leaders, including Mr Juncker and Council President Donald Tusk, the fact that MPs would require "further assurances".

She said: "It is in the overwhelming interest of all our people in the EU and the UK to get this done and as quickly as possible."

BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg tweeted: “Have watched these kinds of pictures looking for body language between leaders dozens of times — have NEVER seen anything as tense and angry as this.”

British diplomats were furious with Mr Juncker for his midnight outburst which they said was inaccurate and unfair.

Other EU leaders, including Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and Austria’s Sebastian Kurz, said Mrs May had been “clear”, with the former stressing: “Westminster is not clear. The problem is the MPs in London.”

Some EU leader are believed to have wanted to send the UK Parliament a strong message that they were not willing to make more compromises on Brexit, particularly on re-opening the proposed “divorce” agreement.

“To use a Christmas theme, we want all parties and factions in the British parliament to feel the bleak midwinter,” said a senior EU source.

Some EU diplomats backed up the British claim that Mr Juncker’s late-night press conference had veered away from the agreed line which was not to be confrontational and an expectation that fresh talks would be held to consider Mrs May’s suggestions.

But a diplomatic note leaked to the BBC agreed that her demands on the Irish backstop “were not really clear” and there was “no support” for a draft communique promising to look further into the problem.

Mrs May did not speak reporters as she arrived at the summit centre this morning. She went straight to a one-on-one meeting with French president Emmanuel Macron which was dominated by Brexit.

She was running short of allies, with several EU leaders using their arrivals to tell reporters that the UK needed to settle soon or risk a catastrophic no-deal.

A UK source told the Standard that EU diplomats had reassured Mrs May’s team that the door was wide open to a debate.

“The private messages we were getting back after Juncker was that they are still open to hearing what is needed,” said the source.

Netherlands premier Mark Rutte backed Mrs May, saying she was welcome to “come up with more proposals and we will always look at them.

”Under the May proposal, which has not been revealed until now, the EU and the UK would commit to use “best endeavours” to get a deal on future relations and trade in place by the end of the post-Brexit transition period that is due to expire in December 2020. If that succeeded there would be no need for a backstop.

If not, both sides would commit “with legal force” to have a Future Partnership deal in place within a year, working to a deadline of December 2021.

The commitment, which Downing Street believes would amount to a one-year time limit on the backstop, would be set down in a “Joint Interpretive Instrument” agreed alongside the main 585-page withdrawal agreement.

“The idea she was not specific about what she wanted was not true and not fair,” said the source. “There’s a difference between them not liking it and her failing to spell it out. She did spell it out. The ‘nebulous’ claim is very unfair.”

Mrs May looked set to fly home virtually empty-handed, although Downing Street stressed that they had only ever expected a political discussion at this summit, not a breakthrough.

Opposition to any change to the backstop - which requires Northern Ireland to obey EU laws until or unless a future trade deal removes the risk of a hard border - was led by Irish premier Leo Varadkar who was strongly backed by Mr Macron.

Seasoned UK diplomats expressed horror at the humiliations being meted on Mrs May.

Lord Ricketts, former head of the Foreign Office, tweeted: “Another day when we wake up to news of the PM appealing to others to help her out of dilemmas of her own making.

I cannot understand why she weakly undertook in the Commons to get further legal assurances from the EU. Setting herself up for failure that further diminishes the UK.”