Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

May, unfortunately for those who want to get rid of her, is at her best when she has her back to the wall, as her stamina and  confidence over the day has displayed to the surprise of many. All bets are off as to what happens next, but a showdown with the ultra Brexiteers is surely not far off. She has withstood so many setbacks in her premiership, including losing her majority, which would have sunk most political leaders, but she is still there. So a string of ministerial resignations, not enough votes in the Commons to to pass her Brexit deal and a threatened no confidence vote in her leadership are just grist to her mill.

But anything can happen.

Good.   Remember all the trouble over Universal Credit?

The man who did not know that Dover was the gateway to the EU and likely to grind to a halt if there are customs controls for which it has no infrastructure has resigned from his job. Good. He was clueless and should never have been given it.

As Thatcher said. Rejoice! Rejoice!

Yesterday’s two hour Cabinet meeting was a game changer. The hard line Brexiteers within it, urged to mutiny by the clownish Boris Johnson, who were widely expected to frustrate May’s plan by blocking it or resigning, fell into line. This was because the alternative is a No Deal Brexit. And contrary to everything everybody sang in that well known refrain ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’, when the facts were examined, no deal would be a catastrophe from which it would take at least a generation to recover. Anyone who had put their name to that would be politically ruined. And these people are politicians. With ambition. So they gave the plan their ‘collective backing’ and stole silently into the night.

Leaving a triumphant May to appear beaming on the steps of Downing Street to announce that the children had done as they were told and gone quietly to bed. And just to rub it in she added a new and terrifying threat. Any more nonsense and there will be no Brexit at all.

Things are now beginning to get really interesting……..