Ignore the Tory voters at your peril, Mrs May
Theresa May is a ghost prime minister and her Chequers deal is in the mortuary. It is no longer a question of whether she will lose her job, but when.
Last week, I got an unprecedented response after I wrote about Mrs May’s personal unsuitability for leading our nation through a historic negotiation. Thousands of readers agreed.
“So far, Mrs May’s negotiating successes have included giving £39billion to Brussels in return for nothing whatsoever,” protested one reader. “I’m Conservative, and I see Theresa May as an EU servant – there to thwart Brexit,” fumed another.
One lady queried the use of the term “rebels” to describe MPS who opposed the Chequers (dis)agreement. “It’s the ones who want to renege on our manifesto who are the rebels.” Well said. “I will fix this mess,” Theresa May promised after the 2017 general election. Well, the PM certainly didn’t fix the mess when she tried to palm us off with her duplicitous, sell-out plan. As the Remain-supporting Financial Times pointed out: “The document envisages such close economic ties that one EU diplomat commented, wryly, that it looked more like a membership application.”
Great. Instead of a Canadaplus-plus trade deal, we get Moldova-minus-minus. It’s an insult, and Mrs May and her Europhile Rasputin, Ollie Robbins, must not be allowed to get away with it.
I know many Conservative Party members are so incensed that they are threatening to tear up their membership cards. Please don’t. It’s our party and this is still a democracy (allegedly). MPS need reminding they are the servants and we are the masters. Before Mr Robbins has time to stitch a kneeler for the PM for her next genuflection with Monsieur Barnier, here is a fact to stiffen the sinews.
According to Prof Chris Hanratty, a political scientist who combined official results with statistical data, while the national result was relatively close, around 75per cent of constituencies won by the Conservatives in the general election voted to Leave.
That is a deafening mandate for Brexit from Tory voters.
So if she wants to guarantee a loony Corbyn government, the PM should keep on doing exactly what she’s doing.
Constituency associations should start deselecting any MP who defies the will of the people. If a Conservative government continues to show contempt for Conservative voters, don’t be surprised if the voters return the compliment.