By failing to heed views of most constituents, Tories risk allowing in a Marxist government

It has been reported that in the private meeting of the 1922 Committee last week, I asked the Prime Minister – who had just told us all that she would not lead us into a General Election in 2022 – whether or not she would fight an election if one came unexpectedly during the next 12 months. She did not answer my question, even when pressed.

I asked because you can think of circumstances where an election might be forced following, say, a vote of no confidence where the DUP refused to support the PM because of her hated Irish backstop. The country would therefore run the risk of having her at the helm as the Conservative party fought to prevent Britain falling to a Marxist government.

For enough MPs in that room, her promise not to run in 2022 was sufficient to put off a decision that should have been a no-brainer. Most of us would have crumbled under the pressure that this remarkable lady has been under in the past few months. But that doesn’t change the essential fact: she is not a Brexit leader.

She has patronage but little authority and no majority in Parliament. At what should be a time of opportunity for our country, we are in a state of political emergency.

I cannot be absolutely sure that caricature of today’s Downing Street is accurate.

Ministers largely excluded, the PM, her deputy and Chancellor work with a small group of advisers who believe the referendum result was a spectacular own goal against the long-term interests of the British people.

Now I hear the echoes of the public statements made last week by colleagues (even as some were preparing their own leadership bids) saying that we “must get behind the Prime Minister” and “get on with it”.

But get on with what, precisely? In reality, the PM does not have the confidence of much of the Conservative party, nor the necessary support for her apparently unalterable deal. Curiously, the Government approached the vote on the Withdrawal Agreement on the basis that the DUP (principled and tough negotiators) would simply fall into line and vote for it. But this was never going to be the case on an issue of such fundamental importance to them and tinkering with the wording is unlikely to change that.

The leadership vote was an opportunity for Conservative MPs, including those enjoying office or hoping for it, to put the views of most of their constituents first by doing the only thing they could to honour our 2017 Election Manifesto. We fudged decisive action on the promise of a different leader for 2022 and a pretty flimsy commitment to obtain a legally binding assurance that the backstop will be temporary.

When leadership survives on patronage and unwillingness to face reality, authority must eventually be restored. There are several good people out there who will not polarise the party, and who can reset things with an EU that needs things from us too.

I hope the PM can renegotiate the Withdrawal Agreement but I suspect this is unlikely. As someone who first won their marginal seat from Labour with a majority of 654, I would very much regret but do not fear a motion of no confidence and a general election.

Of course, none of this is likely to be in our control for another 12 months. But if an election comes, with the right leader we can win back our majority by running an optimistic campaign that offers the British people a picture of a confident, global Britain in full technicolour, rather than the image of a vassal state attached to the ball and chain of the EU having given away most of its leverage. Crucially, a general election could also give the people what the wider political class seem determined to deny them. The decision of last week just makes things harder and postpones what is inevitable.

Adam Holloway is Conservative MP for Gravesham

I would very much regret but do not fear a motion of no confidence and a general election