Could Theresa May be smarter than we think? No, I didn’t say ‘stupider’, I said smarter. I’m not saying it’s probable, I’m just suggesting it might be possible.
Given that it’s in the interests of the UK and the EU that the former leaves on amicable terms, the vote on May’s leadership last night was really a vote on the deal she’s brought back from Brussels. She has presumably done all she can to get the EU to make as many concessions as possible. By having this apparently crazy leadership election in the midst of the Brexit turmoil, it’s possible that Theresa could be saying to the EU “Look – this is what I’m up against. If you don’t cut me some slack, these guys are going to drive us all over the cliff.”
Yes, Virginia, I know she won the contest last night. But she has more than one-third of her own parliamentary party unhappy with her leadership. And she’s only got the two-thirds she did because she agreed to become a lame duck prime minister until the next election.
So it’s just possible that the EU will be impressed by the ferocious opposition to May in the Tory party and may say to itself “Better the devil we know”, and make some major gesture that’ll allow the package to go through. Look, all I’m saying is, it’s possible, OK/
The DUP for its part wants to perform major surgery on the deal Theresa brought back. They want the backstop removed. Yes, you heard right, Virginia. They are so keen on keeping a frictionless border, they want to do away with the backstop which ensures that, come hell or high blood-letting, the present frictionless border will be maintained. There’s a nut come free there and it’s rattling around in DUP thinking machinery.
A former leader of the Conservatives said yesterday that any attempt to form common cause with the Labour party would be to take the Tories into a “mad place”. If it’s mad you want, look no further than the DUP at Westminster. Able to hold two contradictory positions at the same time, and not so much as the semblance of a blush. And these are the people who will decide whether the UK crashes out of the EU or with a few shreds of dignity and sense.
O tempora, o mores!
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