The great showdown, it seems, is almost upon us. After all the exaggerated claims, the bragging and boasting, Theresa May’s critics have reportedly reached the magic figure of 48 letters to trigger a no-confidence vote in her.
In a remarkable echo of history, they apparently reached the threshold while she was away negotiating with EU leaders in Brussels, thus recalling the no-confidence vote that sank Margaret Thatcher while she was in Paris signing the deal to mark the end of the Cold War in November 1990.
If I were in the mood, I might have some fun with the fact that, just as in 1990, the pinstriped Tory plotters are so gutless, so cowardly, that they wait until their mistress is abroad before plunging in the daggers. But the situation seems to me too grim even for mordant humour.
In any case, the coup, it seems, is on.
After all the exaggerated claims, the bragging and boasting, Theresa May’s (PM pictured today in Brussels) critics have reportedly reached the magic figure of 48 letters to trigger a no-confidence vote in her, writes DOMINIC SANDBROOK
But what do the conspirators possibly think they can achieve? Do they seriously think they can topple Mrs May, promote a new leader after a bloody leadership contest, strike a new deal with the EU’s leaders (who have made it clear they are not going to renegotiate) and steer the country safely to shore — and all this by the end of March?
If they do, they are even greater fantasists than I thought.
Their projected coup strikes me as ill-conceived, ill-executed and unforgivably irresponsible, a childish exercise in political posturing when the country is crying out for grown-up leadership.
A perfect metaphor, in other words, for our politicians’ handling of Brexit.
Have our MPs ever been as self-indulgently reckless as they are now? The pound falls to its lowest level for almost two years, slumping to below $1.26, yet here they are, plotting and scheming like pound-shop Machiavellis. It would be comical if it were not so depressing.
There is, of course, plenty of blame to go around. I have made no secret of my admiration for Mrs May’s resilience and sense of duty, but her so-called masochism strategy, in which she stands there for hours taking abuse from all sides, has turned into a tragic exercise in self-mortification.
So when, every Monday morning, Mr Johnson (pictured in London yesterday) produces some new scenario for the readers of his newspaper column, he is literally wasting everybody’s time, writes DOMINIC SANDBROOK
If she has a cunning plan for getting the deal through Parliament, I would love to know what it is. But I fear that like Dickens’s Mr Micawber, she is simply waiting for something to turn up.
What on earth will she do if it doesn’t? The Tory whips, who reportedly deluded themselves that they could still sway the doubters until it was far too late, seem to be completely out of their depth.
Then you have the ultra-Brexiteers: Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg and their various cronies and hangers-on.
I sometimes get letters from readers who think I am too hard on this crew. And yes, it is absolutely true that Mrs May’s deal is not perfect.
Do I like the Northern Ireland backstop? I do not. Do I like the prospect of staying in the customs union indefinitely? No, I certainly don’t.
But it can’t be said too often that the Brexit hardliners have not come up with a workable deal the EU would accept.
So when, every Monday morning, Mr Johnson produces some new scenario for the readers of his newspaper column, he is literally wasting everybody’s time.
He is the equivalent of a teenage boy working on his plans for world domination after his election as President of Earth.
Does anybody really believe people such as Mr Johnson and Mr Rees-Mogg are entirely untainted by personal ambition?
Home Secretary Sajid Javid (pictured in Westminster last week) is among the others rumoured to be vying for the PM’s job
Isn’t it blindingly obvious that they are far more interested in posturing on television, playing to the gallery and boosting their leadership prospects than in protecting British businesses and British jobs?
I still cannot quite credit that the ultra-Brexiteers are serious about crashing out without a deal, which would almost certainly send our economy into a devastating recession. (And no, this isn’t Project Fear — it’s Project Reality.)
As free-market economist Christopher Snowdon, a Leaver, has pointed out, a No Deal scenario would almost certainly see the EU impose third-party tariffs on our exports: 16 per cent on tractors, 10 per cent on cars, 8 per cent on clothes, and so on.
‘For some items,’ he writes, ‘tariffs exceed 20 per cent. Some even exceed 100 per cent.’ The British people may have voted to leave the EU, but they never voted to commit economic hara-kiri.
How many exporters would have to go to the wall, I wonder, before the hardliners admitted their folly?
As for the preening ‘People’s Vote’ enthusiasts such as Dominic Grieve, Anna Soubry and Chuka Umunna, they are close to being the worst of the lot.
More interested in flaunting their much-advertised consciences than in doing the right thing for the future of
Jacob Rees-Mogg, chair of the European Research Group (ERG) bloc of Tory Eurosceptics (pictured today in Westminster) has been urging MPs to replace Mrs May for weeks