Tory civil war could torpedo Brexit deal

CIVIL disobedience, food and medicine shortages, and a meltdown at ports. The picture painted of a No Deal Brexit in a leaked government dossier makes for chilling reading. But what to believe?

Michael Gove says this is old news – an obsolete contingency plan prepared under Theresa May’s premiership – and that No Deal planning under Boris Johnson has mitigated these effects. But the leaker – said by Downing Street to be a former minister – claims the doomsday forecast comes from this month.

Whatever the truth, this affair demonstrates beyond doubt that the Conservative Party is now engaged in open civil war. With only ten weeks to go until the UK is due to quit the EU, the gloves are well and truly off.

The tragedy of this leak is that it makes the chances of securing an eleventh-hour deal all the more remote. Why would the leaders of France and Germany bother to extend an olive branch to the Prime Minister when he meets them this week, knowing that members of his party are working hard to undermine his strategy?

Mr Johnson’s plan of preparing in detail for No Deal in the hope that it will focus minds in Brussels as zero hour approaches depends on his party holding its nerve.

It is the only game in town if Parliament is not to renege on its solemn promise to the British people to respect their decision in the 2016 referendum. Anything else would be an utter betrayal.

Encouragingly, Angela Merkel promises to find a solution. We must take her at her word and hope common sense will prevail. In the meantime, the Tories should cease tearing themselves apart. Deal or No Deal, a divided party will be punished at the ballot box.