We are no longer in just a Brexit crisis. We now have a government crisis, because the Tory party and cabinet are fractured and unable to agree the fundamentals, let alone the details. But it is even worse than that. It has become a crisis of governance, because parliament, not just any parliament, but the Mother of Parliaments, has become entirely dysfunctional over the great issue of the day, Brexit. So consumed is it by the splits and divisions within it about Brexit, it has no time or capacity for anything else. The damage to Britain’s credibility across the world will take a long time to repair.
Having won her leadership contest by what in the circumstances was a considerable margin, May has thrown herself into delivering something which might not be there. Some form of legal binding escape from the backstop. She was rebuffed by the EU in Strasbourg, lost her temper with Junker (not difficult) and now has rounded on Tony Blair for ‘demeaning’ the office he once held, i.e that of prime minister. All because he talked a good deal of sense when he appeared on Today and put the case for a People’s Vote.
That is ridiculous. Blair can say whatever he likes about anything, we do not have to listen, but we do live in a democracy. That he demeans the office of head of government by arguing that a deadlocked parliament may have to go back to the people, is a proposition so idiotic that it verges on the unhinged. It is a clear sign that the strain on May is beginning to tell.
One can only wonder what on earth will happen next. Stay tuned.