The Prime Minister is meeting EU leaders to seek the “legal and political assurances” on the backstop she promised MPs yesterday.
Len McCluskey’s opposition to a second referendum is explicit, Seamus Milne’s Euroscepticism is unshakeable, and so on. The People’s Voters need Labour’s whipping power, but they won’t get it.
May wins – but not by enough to break free from her internal opponents. Too strong to fall and too weak to win, she is, if anything, more exposed to them than before.
Sir Graham Brady’s announcement of the voting figures came as an icy shock to the Prime Minister’s supporters.
“A significant number of colleagues did cast their votes against me, and I’ve listened to what they said.”
Rumour and counter-rumour fly round the Palace, and those with walk-on parts have a wonderful time.
The Prime Minister can take comfort in the decisive break for in her favour from those presented with this forced choice.
The danger zone is between about 105 to 120 or more votes against her – i.e: a slice more than a third of the vote.
And her message amounts to warning that the alternatives wouldn’t work, so we might as well plod on as we are. It’s not very convincing.
She stresses securing an EU deal that delivers the result of the referendum as she speaks outside Downing Street.
“The Prime Ministers will address colleagues at the 1922 Committee meeting at 17.00 and immediately after that meeting a ballot will be held between six and eight.”
The logic is clear enough. The EU’s choice would be between no backstop and nothing else either; or no backstop and agreement on everything else.