TM won solidly but no more than that. She will soldier on, probably deliver a Brexit deal of sorts and then depart, barring unforeseen circumstances…Will the media stop saying she is wounded and let her get on with the job? Almost certainly not. And yet she is no more wounded than the Tory Party as a whole.
What yesterday’s vote showed is that the Tory Party is split from top to bottom; from those who support a centre-right, moderate approach to the EU and indeed broader issues versus those Brexit extremists who often drift into social conservatism.
Here are a few Blue on Blue quotes from yesterday:
The vote will “…flush out the extremists”, Philip Hammond, Chancellor of the Exchequer.
“It’s a terrible result for the Prime Minister…she ought to go and see the Queen urgently and resign…”, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Leader of the European Research Group.
“It wasn’t enough so one wing of the party can drive a stake through the European Research Group, and it’s not enough for the other wing to drive a stake through her heart”. Anonymous minister.
A terrible day for the Tory Party; a terrible day for the country as a whole. The Government’s internal strife ensures a satisfactory conclusion to the Brexit drama is almost as far away as ever. The UK’s standing globally is diminishing by the day and economically it will be poorer regardless of almost any EU solution.
The country deserves better; politics deserves better. It is increasingly difficult to see how the two halves of the Tory Party can ever be reconciled. And with the Labour frontbench manifestly unfit to govern, the odds of a new centrist party being created ahead of the next General Election just got a good deal stronger. A silver lining to some very dark clouds.
Inside Right Politics 