For millions of moderate, pragmatic people across the nation, the unseemly events unfolding in Westminster must have appeared an act of monumental (and masochistic) self-indulgence.
A little more than 100 days before the biggest moment in Britain’s post-war history — when we leave the European Union in search of a bright new future — Tory MPs were shamefully embarking on a bout of navel-gazing.
A group of egotistical and power-hungry plotters sought to wield the blade against Theresa May, a leader who is admired by the great majority of Conservative voters for her unflagging efforts to achieve a sensible Brexit compromise.
Theresa May (pictured in the House of Commons for PMQs) put a brave face on her situation last night as she reacted to the outcome of the Tory no-confidence ballot
The Prime Minister’s apparent crime? Failing, during tortuous months of painstaking negotiations with the EU, to secure a deal pure enough to satisfy the most ardent Brexiteer.
Her fate for tirelessly thrashing out a pact that both honours the referendum result and ensures that our departure will be orderly and amicable? Enduring the humiliation of a no-confidence vote — and possible ousting from No 10.
Fortunately, at 9pm yesterday, there was an indication that the irrational fever gripping the Tories might be lifting.
Votes were counted . . . and Mrs May had won with the vast majority of the party behind her — a victory for cool heads. For the mutineers, it was a painful blow to their ambitions as the coup fizzled out.
The result means she cannot be challenged for a year. But she placated rebels by announcing she would not stand at the next General Election.
Yet, out in the real world, where people have jobs, incomes and mortgages that rely on a stable government, the unsavoury antics must have been bewildering.
At a time of grave national crisis, was there anything more unhelpful and irresponsible than for a small group of Conservative rebels to waste time risking a leadership election?
Their attempted coup was a juvenile exercise in political posturing when the country is crying out for grown-up leadership.
To ordinary citizens, the bid to depose Mrs May — just as the most complicated negotiations ever undertaken by this country entered their endgame — was ill-conceived and deeply disloyal.
There were cheers as 1922 committee chairman Graham Brady announced the result in the Commons tonight.
Business was also aghast at more disruption to UK PLC. In a stinging rebuke, the British Chambers of Commerce said it was ‘unacceptable’ that Westminster politicians focused on themselves, rather than the needs of the economy.
Heads of companies were ‘tearing their hair out’, said the Institute of Directors — along with the rest of a frustrated, irritated nation.
Only this week, figures showed how the British economy is thriving: the number of people in work has hit record levels; unemployment is at a 40-year low; wages are rising at their highest level for nearly a decade; and GDP is in good health.
But investment has been put on ice because of Brexit unpredictability. Firms are desperate for the PM’s withdrawal agreement to succeed.
Let us be crystal clear: that is the best way to protect UK jobs — not destabilising them with acts of political folly.
The Mail believes Tory rebels, for all their ambitions and machinations, must now sober up and start acting in the national interest.
It is impossible to put it better than Mrs May herself when she spoke in Downing Street yesterday morning, minutes after it was revealed that Tory backbenchers had submitted the 48 letters required for a no-confidence vote.
Displaying her trademark fortitude and resilience, she said a change of leadership would put the country’s ‘future at risk and create uncertainty when we can least afford it’.
‘Weeks spent tearing ourselves apart will only create more division, just as we should be standing together to serve our country. None of that would be in the national interest. The British people want us to get on with it.’ How right she is!
The Mail is the first to admit Mrs May’s Brexit deal is not perfect. Yes, there are understandable concerns that Britain could be temporarily stuck in the Irish backstop and governed by EU rules — hindering our chance to do trade deals with economies in the rest of the world.
The PM said she would not give up after Eurosceptics secured the 48 letters from MPs needed to force a ballot that could end her time as leader
Yes, perhaps she could have played her hand better with Brussels — using as leverage the fact that we have the world’s fifth-largest economy, peerless security and intelligence agencies and extraordinary military muscle.
And yes, it was an error not to begin properly preparing two years ago for leaving the EU with no deal.
That would have guaranteed food in shops, medicines in abundant supply and supply chains kept open so that firms can operate. But look at the overwhelming positives.
She is ending free movement, gargantuan payments into EU coffers and the rule of the European Court of Justice over the UK — all manifesto commitments. She also insists that the backstop is not permanent.
With luck, her victory will focus minds in Brussels, when she travels there today, on what exactly is at stake.
Wringing out a better settlement would avoid a catastrophic no deal — calamitous to both the UK and EU.
It is undoubtedly a long shot — so far, the intransigent bloc has shown little interest in listening, let alone talking.
However, she must explain that she cannot break the Commons impasse without a legal ‘assurance’ that the backstop has an end date. She has no majority without DUP backing — and they have rejected the current terms.
In an ominous intervention, international trade secretary Liam Fox warned the Cabinet would block her deal without such an assurance.
Pragmatic MPs may conclude that a few years staying in sync with EU laws is a small price to pay to finally regain sovereignty.
It is also imperative she delivers a deal on security. The ghastly terror attack at a Christmas market in Strasbourg is another horrific spectre of what lies in store if UK-EU co-operation drops off a cliff edge.
But if she is successful, the British public, desperate to avoid the economic disaster of no deal or no Brexit at all, will doubtless approve.
So now the saboteurs must realise it is time to put Britain’s interests first and support Mrs May.
We know that the PM has indicated she will not serve a full term, so the rebels (if they have a shred of decency) will ditch the distracting and damaging internecine warfare that so appals the public. It is time to start behaving responsibly.
It needs emphasising that the Brexit hardliners have not come up with anything that the EU would accept.
Yesterday, in the febrile atmosphere of Westminster, ex-Cabinet ministers Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab and Esther McVey all confirmed their interest in being the next leader.
Yesterday, in the febrile atmosphere of Westminster, ex-Cabinet ministers Boris Johnson (pictured leaving parliament last night), Dominic Raab and Esther McVey all confirmed their interest in being the next leader
Sajid Javid and Amber Rudd (left to right) were both seen leaving parliament last night and were also tipped by the bookies as favourites to succeed Mrs May as leader
Even current members of the Cabinet, including Sajid Javid and Amber Rudd, were sizing up the curtains in Downing Street.
But, even if they had forced a vacancy, could any of them do the job more impressively or get a better deal from Brussels? Our poll shows today that two thirds of Tory councillors and three quarters of Tory voters think not.
Facts must be faced: the only person whose interests are served by ongoing instability is Jeremy Corbyn, who might end up in No 10 by default.
Despite refusing to set out a clear position on Brexit, the Labour leader spuriously claims that he could magically get a better deal.
Are the Tories really ready to risk a Marxist, IRA-supporting Prime Minister who would destroy the economy, the Union and everything they hold dear?
If the party does not rally round the Prime Minister now that the bid to topple her has failed, it will plunge the country into a crisis.
Indeed, it may find itself fatally damaged and out of office for many years.
So this needs to be the moment when it unites.
The civil war needs to stop. If it doesn’t, they will never be forgiven.