A cliff edge approaches, and the Tories – whooping like Dr Strangelove’s Major Kong as he rides the bomb – seem intent on driving us ever closer. Promises of a thriving post-Brexit Britain have been replaced with reassurances that there will be “adequate” food, that stockpiling is taking place, and the army will be on standby. Funny how these never made it to the side of a bus, isn’t it? Britain has been reduced to a man with a gun to his own head screeching: “Do as I say or I’ll shoot,” and the Conservatives are, of course, almost entirely to blame. But they have been aided and abetted by four Labour MPs, and a political reckoning must surely now take place.
Two weeks ago, the government was on the brink of defeat over its plan for customs arrangements with the European Union. If it had lost, so Tory rebels were briefed, a confidence vote and a general election could have followed. Yes, these threats were partly a means to terrify Conservative MPs into submission, but there is no question that a loss on an issue of such magnitude would have posed an existential threat to the government. Ultimately Theresa May was saved in part by the aforementioned MPs – Kate Hoey, Graham Stringer, John Mann and Frank Field. Had they voted the other way, the Tories would have lost. Their rescue of Britain’s most disastrous postwar administration leaves the country galloping at full pelt towards a grave crisis.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2OtFB4I
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