Eleven egotists and an act of sheer treachery

WHY, oh why? Only days ago, Theresa May skilfully calmed the waters over Brexit, returning from Brussels with a better stage-one deal than most dared hope for.

After months in the doldrums, the Tories were edging ahead of Labour in the polls, with a newly- confident Prime Minister’s rating soaring above Jeremy Corbyn’s.

Meanwhile, Brexit Secretary David Davis had given Remoaners firm assurances that Parliament would get a ‘meaningful’ vote on any trade deal agreed.

Indeed, with the party adjusting to its election setback – and the Pestminster storm-in-a-teacup fading – it seemed at last ministers could press on undistracted and look ahead with confidence.

Yet this was the moment 11 Tory Remoaners chose to rebel, joining the Opposition in inflicting a wounding defeat by backing ex-attorney general Dominic Grieve’s amendment to the Brexit Bill.

In doing so, these 11 self- consumed malcontents have pulled the rug from under Britain’s EU negotiators, betrayed their party, undermined Mrs May, shown disdain for the 17.4million who voted Leave – and, most damning of all, increased the chances of a Corbyn victory in the next election.

Before the vote, Anna Soubry claimed a fellow female Tory Remoaner was reduced to tears by a whip urging her to back the Government. Was she truly a victim of bullying? Or were these tears of remorse for threatening wanton treachery?