As the weekend draws to a close no one doubts that we are now entering the end game of the dramatic fight in the Tory party over what kind of Brexit to go for. But nobody has a clue how the game will end.
I think it is no exaggeration to say that never since the industrial revolution has Britain been so badly served by its governing class. Without taking sides, one can see that Brexit is a legal and administrative process of such complexity that it is unique. This does not mean it cannot be done. But to do it requires cool heads and calm nerves and a unity of purpose among all those tasked to deliver the project. Instead we have been living in one long continuous row. In the Tory party. Which is the government.
Now we learn that a cabinet rebellion is openly proposed by a former minister, in the national interest. Certain cabinet ministers are said to be meeting over a Pizza to discuss tactics before the next scheduled cabinet on Tuesday, prior to May’s visit to the Brussels summit on Wednesday. The Brexit Secretary has rushed to Brussels for talks with the head of the EU negotiating authority. The Scottish Secretary (a member of May’s cabinet) and Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Conservatives in Scotland, have written to the PM and said they will not tolerate different treatment of Northern Ireland to the rest of the UK to solve the Irish border issue. The DUP have threatened to vote down the budget if they do not get their way. European politicians are exasperated by the impossibility of conducting negotiations with a country which cannot agree what it wants.
Anything can happen now, so no predictions what. Except we may be headed for another fudge. But it might be too late even for that.