The Brexit blockage

It is almost surreal to watch Prime Minister’s question time take place in the midst of the greatest political crisis of modern times, with that crisis’s cause hardly meriting a mention during Commons exchanges lasting 50 minutes.

Jeremy Corbyn chose to raise the NHS, a creditable enough issue but one that deliberately avoided pointing to the elephant in the chamber. Theresa May batted away questions about a second Brexit referendum from Ian Blackford of the SNP and two or three other MPS, as though she is no longer in any position to make definitive policy pronouncements.

Only when Andrea Jenkyns, the Tory MP for Morley and Outwood, asked a question did the real concern among Conservatives finally surface: Mrs May’s leadership. She has tried her best but has failed, Ms Jenkyns said. The sweeping Tory losses in the local elections last week marked the end of the road, though Conservatives face an even bigger disaster in the European elections due to take place later this month. Is it not time for the Prime Minister to step aside, Ms Jenkyns asked.

It says something about the state of the party that such a question can be asked of a prime minister in such a forum by one of her own side without that individual being howled down. Instead, the rest of the backbenchers just sat there. Many of them share the sentiment.

Mrs May said it was “not an issue about me”; but while it may not be an issue entirely about her, her continued presence in No 10 is seen as a blockage to anything happening on Brexit. That is not the view of her opponents but of her own party, both at Westminster and in the country. How long can she carry on ignoring it?