Cabinet ministers were perky yesterday. Maybe it was because that streak of grief Philip Hammond was away.
There was no mistaking a lift in the Government’s mood when Theresa May came to the Commons to make a statement about her Brussels agreement.
Ministers plainly think the air raid has abated. They winked and gossiped and clicked their toes on the front bench. Boris Johnson and David Davis’s smiles felt it was safe to come out and play.
Heavens, Mrs May even tried to crack a merriment or two. They fell flat but that is because she has the comic timing of android C3PO in Star Wars.
Theresa May gave her statement about her agreement with Brussels in the Commons
It was evidence, though, that the sleepless oppression of the last month or four has lifted. The gloomsters have been seen off until at least after Christmas. Mrs May’s statement was heard with care. When she finished it she was given loud rhubarbings of support from the Conservative benches.
That en-masse Tory mooing is the noise of power. It does not always last but it indicates an immediate crisis has passed.
Tory Euro-loonies of both ‘phile’ and ‘sceptic’ varieties praised the PM. Ken Clarke (Con, Burgundy S) called her trip to Brussels ‘a triumph’ – and that was the overriding impression of his verdict, even though he tried to massage in some ‘I’m a man of the world and I know you have to sell your principles in the end’ stuff in the second part of his contribution.
Noble Brexiteer Iain Duncan Smith (Con, Chingford & Woodford Green) said only that she had come back with an improved deal against the odds. But Nigel Dodds (DUP, N Belfast) thanked her for ‘her personal devotion’ (has anyone told Philip May?) and Sir Edward Leigh (Con, Gainsborough) praised her ‘calm, true grit’.
Sir Edward did then, it should be admitted, indicate that the main reason the Tory tribe was rallying round her was that it was so appalled by the thought of a Corbyn government.
Talking of which, Jeremy Corbyn had a mixed afternoon, that being a euphemism for ‘Compo played a shocker’. He opened with the grudging words ‘she has scraped through’ and that was immediately cheered by Tories who could see that it meant: ‘Damnit, she has pulled it off!’
Jeremy Corbyn opened with the grudging words ‘she has scraped through’ and that was immediately cheered by Tories who could see that it meant
The House could discern little obvious philosophical consistency from the Labour leader. He tried to be cross about the money settlement yet he was also keen to delay the final date of our independence.
Mrs May tried some lame joke about Labour having so many positions, it could not align with itself (‘alignment’ was and will become even more so, the word of the moment). People groaned at Mrs May’s gag.
More eloquent was the fact that as Mr Corbyn was finishing his remarks, vehement Europhile David Lammy (Lab, Tottenham) stomped out of the Chamber.
The usually unhelpful Tom Tugendhat (Con, Tonbridge & Malling) could think only of that ancient cliché about how we were ‘leaving the EU but not leaving Europe’. The House looked at him quizzically, quite interested by this failure from the young dauphin. Sell Tugendhats, perhaps. Kate Hoey (Lab, Vauxhall) was rewarded with a yelp of ‘Oh, rubbish’ from a near neighbour (Chuka, was it you?) when she made a pro-Brexit point.
Chris Heaton-Harris (Con, Daventry) allowed his suit to speak for him. It was a bookie’s Cheltenham Festival number, checked, with velvet trim. Philip Davies (Con, Shipley) was the only Tory to give her a spanking – about the billions we will be paying.
Nick Boles (Con, Grantham) said Mrs May had batted like Geoff Boycott. What, she had scored at a glacial pace and then run out Boris? I think it was intended in a more complimentary way, Mr Boles admitting he knows nothing about cricket.
But the Tory support may not be deep. I am told that Mrs May’s parliamentary private secretary entered the Tea Room afterwards. Apparently he supped his brew alone, no one wishing to talk to him.