May’s Brexit retreat exposes a zombie premiership
https://www.ft.com/content/3d747c26-fc60-11e8-ac00-57a2a826423e
The inevitable conclusion is that we have entered a zombie premiership.
A confidence vote, a leadership challenge and the collapse of her EU exit deal are the only staging posts left on this road.
In her statement, however, Mrs May disclosed a bigger truth.
Unveiling her agreement last month, she said the only alternatives were “no deal or no Brexit”.
On Monday, Mrs May’s emphasis was strongly on the no Brexit outcome.
This was no oversight:
for the first time in this process, parliament’s Remainers believe they have the upper hand.
Her not very subliminal message to Brexit backers is that they are risking what they have worked so hard to secure.
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The fight now is as much over what the referendum will ask.
Some, like Caroline Lucas of the Greens, say it should be a choice between Mrs May’s deal and remaining in the EU.
This risks allowing Leavers to depict it as a sham.
Others, including Tony Blair, see the danger of letting Mrs May’s compromise on to a ballot paper.
He instead proposes an all-or-nothing second vote with Remain and a hard Brexit as the only options.
This is Russian roulette with three bullets in the chamber
— an extremely high risk to take when Leavers will be able to campaign with the slogan “Tell Them Again”.
Mrs May’s deal could be rescued by Labour pro-Europeans were she prepared to put it to the public.
But her own MPs will fight hard to stop her taking such a position even if she wished to.
Such a step would certainly trigger the long-threatened leadership challenge^
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She can keep going for now, but the road ahead is fading fast.