We’re ALL at risk from Tory kamikazes

IT IS not flattering to be called a kamikaze pilot. They were unreasoning fanatics. They killed and wrecked, before dying themselves.

But this unpleasant word is a good metaphor for those Conservatives who now seek to open up a new Tory civil war.

Of course it is true that the Prime Minister is weakened by her Election failure. It is also true that the vital Brexit negotiations are badly undermined by that weakness. In such conditions, it is the natural instinct of many Tory MPs to plot. Natural, but wrong.

It beggars belief to find that some Tory backbenchers are saying they are prepared to risk a Labour government rather than give up hopes of a hard Brexit.

Jeremy Corbyn’s increasingly confident and increasingly Marxist Labour must hope that the Tory kamikazes succeed.

The public are tired of being dragged to the polls. They will take revenge on whoever does it. Meanwhile, no leadership change will automatically solve the Tory Party’s problems.

If David Davis, who is not part of any kamikaze plot, does manage to seize the crown that has eluded him so long, he would still have many active enemies, and plenty who hope for him to fail over Brexit. And if his leadership then totters, there will be nothing for it but to risk another General Election.

There is a way to avoid this. It involves an outbreak of responsibility and wisdom on Tory front and back benches alike.

At the heart of it lies the European Union issue. Those who quite reasonably insisted that the will of the people was sovereign after the referendum must now accept that it is also sovereign after the Election.

The voters simply did not provide a mandate for the so-called ‘hard Brexit’ which Mrs May had clearly set out as her policy. That policy is, in reality, finished.

For Britain to prosper after Brexit it must make access to the single market a priority. As the EU’s negotiator, Michel Barnier, has pointed out, it is not possible to leave the single market and keep its benefits.

He was not, on this occasion, negotiating. He was simply stating a fact.

No deal is not better than a bad deal. No deal could easily be a disaster. A realistic, attainable agreement is both possible and honourable. Nothing will be achieved by closing our eyes to this, opening the throttle, shouting slogans and proclaiming victory.

The Tory Party has to unite around its leader because unity is its best hope of recovery. At the same time it must unite around a policy which is also not everything that could be desired, but which is fair and good for the country.