Will Tory rebels help Corbyn?
position on Brexit. The party’s decision to seek to keep Britain in the EU single market at least for a four-year transition period and possibly indefinitely has altered the parliamentary arithmetic dramatically. If Ms Soubry and her Remainer colleagues side with Mr Corbyn’s party in key votes on Brexit legislation, they could well have the numbers to force significant concessions from ministers.
In previous Commons divisions Tory Remainers have proved unwilling to defy party whips after threatening rebellions. Yet the chorus of outrage from the Tory Europhiles, including former Cabinet ministers Nicky Morgan and Lord Heseltine this week when Mrs May declared herself “not a quitter” and signalled her desire to lead the party into the 2022 general election, suggests they are in the mood for a fight.
Some scent a chance to oust the Prime Minister and replace her with a Brussels-friendly figure such as Chancellor Philip Hammond.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s acceptance of the Brexit policy switch, dumping a manifesto pledge for a break with the EU backed by millions of Eurosceptic voters at the election, is at odds with his own hard-Left hostility to Brussels.
PARTY insiders suspect the Labour leadership, still heady on the party’s electoral surge, is willing to put the possibility of causing maximum mayhem to the Tories ahead of socialist principle for once. Mr Corbyn’s U-turn puts Mrs May’s destiny in the hands of Ms Soubry’s coterie. They will have to ask themselves whether they want to run the risk of bringing down the Government and helping a Marxist Labour Party.
Westminster’s Europhiles also need to examine whether their dream of a “soft” Brexit is even achievable. It appears at odds with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier who said that wanting to keep the benefits of single market membership when leaving the EU is simply “nostalgia”. The danger is that proBrussels Tories could put the survival of the Government in jeopardy in pursuit of an unrealisable dream.
Tory whips are confident that the party will remain united to back the second reading of the crunch EU Withdrawal Bill in a Commons vote a week on Monday. They suspect the skulduggery will begin after that when the details of the measure are debated in the subsequent committee stage.
Before the traditional barracking and ballyhoo of PMQs cranks up next Wednesday, MPs will listen intently to Ms Soubry’s opener. It could well be the first torment in months of parliamentary torture to come.