Alone among a sea of exhausted MPS stands Mrs May, the one Tory not shattered by Brexit
‘They didn’t cheer, didn’t jeer, didn’t heckle. Instead, they simply sat staring into space, eyes glazed’
PMQS was weird. Eerie, even. Many Tory MPS were absent, and most of those who’d turned up seemed barely to be there. They didn’t cheer, didn’t jeer, didn’t heckle. Instead, they simply sat staring into space, eyes glazed, faces drained. For those of us in the gallery, it was like peering at rows of dead fish on a slab.
Of course, the past few weeks have been tiring and stressful. But the Tories looked more than exhausted. They looked defeated. Only three of them even tried to ask about Brexit. Craig Tracey (Con, N Warwickshire) begged Theresa May to go for no deal. “We should grab that opportunity,” he croaked, “and believe in the ability of the British people, and a Conservative Government, to make a success of it.”
His colleagues mustered a few weary bleats of agreement. Their halfheartedness was understandable. Believing in the ability of the British people was one thing. But the ability of a Conservative Government?
This Conservative Government? The Prime Minister’s reply was peculiar. “I believe,” she said, “that a Conservative Government will make a success of whatever the situation is in relation to Brexit.”
Even by Mrs May’s standards, this was an outstandingly vague promise: to “make a success of whatever the situation is”.
Perhaps she meant that if the Tories couldn’t make a success of delivering Brexit, they could at least make a success of cancelling it. Then again, given the Government’s track record, the moment they try to cancel it they’ll probably deliver it by mistake.
Henry Smith (Con, Crawley) made a forlorn-sounding bid to argue against a year-long delay. It would mean sending the EU billions of pounds in membership fees, he said; couldn’t that money be better spent at home?
From his fellow backbenchers, he received a single, lonely “hear, hear”.
Presumably most other Tory MPS agree with him – but apparently they couldn’t summon the energy to say it. Or even to grunt it.
“We could actually have been outside the EU by now,” replied Mrs May, “if
we’d managed to get the deal through.”
By “we”, of course, she meant “you” – as in, the numerous Tory MPS who supported Brexit but had voted against her deal (Mr Smith, as it happened, had voted in favour of her deal, at the third time of asking. But to no avail).
Funnily enough, the one Tory who didn’t look shattered was the one with the most shattering job: Mrs May herself. Her reserves of stamina really are near-olympian.
Most leaders in her position would have given up by now. But none of it seems to faze her: the defeats in Parliament, the rejections from Brussels, the intensifying hostility from her party.
I swear, if every one of her MPS boycotted PMQS, and left the benches behind her empty for all the world to see, she wouldn’t even blink. She’d simply ask the questions herself. And then cheer her own answers.