Tories have few Brexit answers
May faces new threat from party
AS THERESA May prepares to make a number of unpalatable concessions in a bid to secure Labour support for a Brexit compromise of sorts, the Tories are again plotting to oust the Prime Minister from power as potential successors, headed by Dominic Raab, intensify their leadership campaigns.
That much – and little else – is clear as the Conservatives, once again, turn on themselves following the party’s worst performance in local elections since 1995, the year when John Major, the then premier, had to trigger a vote of confidence in order to assert his faltering authority.
Yet this Tory turmoil, coupled with the fallout from the shock sacking of Gavin Williamson as Defence Secretary, ignores the fact that the outcome of last Thursday’s election was – in many respects – a protest against the failure of Conservative and Labour MPs to resolve Brexit.
Mrs May does appear to recognise this as she looks to forge a “customs arrangement” with Labour. By writing in a national newspaper that “more formal talks” are due to take place on Tuesday, it appears that the pace of negotiations is stepping up as neither many party wants to contest the EU elections on May 23.
However, while the PM wants any deal to remain in place until 2022 when the next election is due, Labour – or the rest of the country for that matter – are none the wiser about who will succeed Mrs May and whether they will be compelled to honour any compromise.
And then are those jostling for the top job. Home Secretary Sajid Javid is trying to prove his Brexiteer credentials – he backed Remain in the June 2016 referendum – while Mr Raab’s profile pieces overlook the fact that he was briefly Brexit Secretary before resigning from the Cabinet late last year.
Yet Mr Raab, the Tory front-runner, gives little away on how he would solve Brexit – a change at the top does not alter the fact that the Tories do not have a Parliamentary majority – or intend to reward supporters like Haltemprice and Howden MP David Davis, another former Brexit Secretary, who endorsed his protégé’s candidacy over the weekend.
This is why the Conservatives need to think very carefully as backbench rebels prepare to give Mrs May a new set of ultimatums about the timing of her departure – it will take more than a change of leader to resolve Brexit and begin to unite the country.