Editorial Comment

Normally when political pandemonium breaks out, No 10 tries to remain the still voice of calm at the centre of the storm. Such insouciance can backfire as when James Callaghan returned from an overseas visit in 1979 into the middle of the “Winter of Discontent” to ask (though he actually didn’t) “Crisis? What crisis?” A few months later his government was toppled by a vote of no confidence. As is all too apparent, these are not normal times; so Downing Street, far from pretending all is under control, when it patently is not, used the ‘‘C’’ word. Yes, said a spokesman, a crisis has come to pass. Disconcertingly, there is little to suggest they know how to deal with it.

Theresa May evidently takes the view that this is all the fault of MPS who she warned on many occasions risked just such a crisis if they failed to support her Withdrawal Agreement with the EU. There seems to be no sense behind the famous black door that the responsibility might lie within.

Mrs May’s method of chairing Cabinet meetings is to hold a discussion but then leave ministers in the dark as to what she considers to be the agreed position. This is one reason why several of her colleagues no longer feel bound by collective responsibility and either brief against the Prime Minister or vote against her in the Commons.

Yesterday, the Cabinet discussed the application for an extension to the UK’S membership of the EU without it being clear whether a short or a long delay is being requested. As Michel Barnier, the EU commission negotiator, observed, it needs to be one or the other. Moreover, he said any extension needs to be for a purpose that Mrs May will have to vouchsafe to her 27 fellow leaders at a summit this week before they agree to anything.

But since she does not yet know what the delay will be for, how can she persuade them? To ask for three more months to get changes to the Irish backstop will clearly not cut it. Since she will not be allowed to put a third vote to the Commons without a substantial change, that will not be conceded, so another approach is required.

If she asks for a long delay, of a year or even two, then Brexiteers in her Cabinet will threaten to resign, just as the Remainers did a few weeks ago, forcing Mrs May’s hand. The old maxim that Mrs May is in office but not in power feels apposite. The day she appointed for Brexit is just nine days away. What will she do if the deadline is missed?