Mrs May strolls on

Brussels must be scratching its head: what exactly is Britain’s position on Brexit? Last night, MPS appeared to vote down the very negotiating position they had endorsed two weeks before, and suddenly Theresa May’s claim that “Parliament has spoken” looks weak. Brexiteers rejected this motion because they suspected it could take a no-deal outcome off the table, despite Number 10’s insistence to the contrary. That’s the price Number 10 pays for two years of playing its cards close to its chest, ignoring ministers, crossing red lines and generally being “nebulous”. Those who really want Brexit no longer take the Government’s word on trust.

Mrs May could say to the Europeans: “This is proof that we must reform the backstop if we are to strike a deal.” That might lead to the insertion of a new time limit or a unilateral withdrawal mechanism. But it is more likely that she will conclude “nothing has changed” and press on with Plan A. The Prime Minister isn’t running down the clock, she is strolling on calmly, reportedly in the hope that Brussels will surrender at the last minute and hand her some rhetorical formula that satisfies Leavers and squeezes a largely unchanged Withdrawal Agreement through Parliament.

The flaw in that strategy was highlighted in yesterday’s vote: many Tory Eurosceptics have a far sharper definition of what Brexit means than Mrs May does. She is thus not just negotiating with the EU, she is also negotiating with the Brexiteers. With 42 days to go, her inability to muster votes in the Commons makes either a delay or a no-deal Brexit more probable, even though these are two scenarios the Prime Minister has said she doesn’t want. The clock continues to tick.