Merely delaying the inevitable May day

Cowardice or canniness? Theresa May’s decision to call off a vote she could not possibly hope to win could be interpreted as either.

Since being backed into a corner over a “meaningful vote” on the government’s Brexit deal, today was a day she must have dreaded.

Her hodgepodge agreement with the EU, negotiated as she stared over the precipice of a no-deal exit, has failed to satisfy anyone.

Despite a national charm offensive – which included a few hours in a Bridge of Weir leather factory to satisfy the pesky Scots – and frantic work by the whips, there was never any reason to think she could muster enough support to get over the line.

One of the first rules of politics is never call a vote one is not sure of winning or, at the very least, escaping from with credit.

Convention would suggest Mrs May had to retreat, rally her troops, and survive to fight another day – as she so often has before.

In this instance though, it has made the prime minister look weak. Moments before news broke of the postponement, her official spokesman was insisting the vote would go ahead.

It was symptomatic of the utter chaos which has engulfed this government since the EU referendum, and even before.

Unless Mrs May has received assurances her deal can be renegotiated to the satisfaction of the many interests against which it is competing, postponement was pointless.

At some stage in the next few weeks, Parliament will have to have its say.

Meanwhile, Mrs May’s colleagues, both in Cabinet and on the back benches, circle ever closer, daggers drawn, jockeying for the moment one makes a decisive move and ends her tenure at Number 10.

Inevitable consequences seem merely to have been delayed.