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Leavers may try to use the delay to force her out

eavers may try to use the delay to force her out

Could this finally be the end of the line for the Prime Minister? She is begging the EU to delay Brexit until June 30, but is hinting that she will resign if the date slips further. As ever with Theresa May, nobody, perhaps not even herself, knows whether she actually means it, or if it is just more verbiage designed to facilitate another round of can-kicking.

If she is serious, this might prove to be the first piece of good news in a long time for beleaguered Brexiteer MPs. Even if she is not, it might jolt them into devising a proper post-May strategy, rather than simply whining and complaining while the forces of Remain slowly crush them.

Mrs May is now the Remainers’ greatest asset: she has gone along with all of their destructive plans, at least since losing her majority in the 2017 election. She has refused to sell Brexit to the people, presenting it entirely as a problem to be solved, poisoning the public debate and preventing us from uniting behind a positive vision.

She has worked for the civil service establishment, rather than the other way around. She signed up to the warped trap that is the backstop, setting in motion a course of events which now looks like delivering a choice between her awful deal and an even

In an ideal Remainer universe, Mrs May would remain as PM in name only, a powerless, angry figurehead forced to do MPs’ bidding, clinging to her office in the vain hope that buying time will somehow pay off for her. She would be forced to negotiate a permanent customs union, single market membership and buy into most other aspects of the EU. This would take longer than June 30 to pin down, so the UK would need a lengthier extension.

Such a pathetic set-up would be a perfect case of Remainer cake-ism: Tories, Labour, SNP, Lib Dem and TIGs forming a coalition in all but name without having the courage to overthrow the existing Tory-DUP Government. The Cabinet would keep their salaries, perks and cars but with the exception of Philip Hammond and the Remainers, would be robbed of any meaningful power. The constitution would be wrecked, the country ungovernable, but the Remainers wouldn’t care: they want to thwart Brexit regardless of the consequences.

At some point, of course, this sorry arrangement would implode, especially given that the negotiations would take ages: Parliament would prove itself incapable of governing without civil servants and the kind of support that the executive branch requires. But it would be too late for the Brexiteers: the final step would simply be a cancellation of Article 50, and the end of Brexit, for now at least.

None of these clever schemes work if Mrs May resigns. The Remainers don’t want a new Prime Minister and a leadership challenge: they know that it will prove impossible to prevent at least one real Brexiteer from making it to the final two MPs, and thus being selected by members. A new, dynamic and charismatic pro-Leave PM who could actually win an election and prevent a Corbyn calamity, if such a person exists, would transform the political scene and rescue Brexit from the dead. That is why the Remainers backed Mrs May in December, and that is why they aren’t ready to precipitate her downfall now.

 

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