The prime minister has two oppositions, her majesty’s loyal opposition, aka the Labour party, and her own disloyal one, some 40 Tory MPs. The latter have become vicious, destructive and without scruple. They are openly campaigning to dislodge their leader, peddling the absurd thesis that “deals with the rest of the world” can serve Britain better than the EU customs union. These MPs have no such deals in mind, any more than they have any other plausible plan. Their antagonism is based on personal ambition and the poison fostered by lobby journalism and the social media. For an MP to hide behind anonymity in seeking to “knife” the prime minister is beyond inexcusable.
May’s problems began two years ago when she obfuscated and double-talked about her Brexit strategy. Sooner or later she would have to confront the last-ditchers. She should have done so at the start. The UK had to remain part of the European Economic Area, at least for the time being. Business universally wanted it. Employers wanted it. Opinion polls wanted it. There was never any lobby for hard Brexit. The prime minister should have grasped that fact.
Given her decision to leave hard Brexit roaming free, May had the option of recruiting a wider coalition of parliamentary support for remaining in the customs union, certainly among Labour and the Scots. Instead she left herself exposed on both sides. Now there are just weeks to go. No one with an ounce of responsibility believes the UK’s best interest lies in “crashing out”. It will cause commercial chaos and real human disruption. May has to negotiate a deal, and has to be supported by parliament in doing so.
The vitriol directed at May by some of her supporters may not be surprising. What is surprising is the absence of support from other MPs who must recognise her difficulty – and the necessity of what she is seeking. At least raw sympathy might be in order. May has made mistakes, in her time in the Home Office as well as Downing Street. They have not won her the affection of the public or of many of her colleagues. But then neither had her predecessor, Margaret Thatcher, in similar trouble in 1980-81.
That is for tomorrow. At this turn in the nation’s affairs, only one thing matters, a workable Brexit transition. For Tory and Labour MPs merely to knock down each proposal as it surfaces, and savage the woman putting it forward, is not loyal opposition but disregard of the national interest. Just now, it is not a prime minister who is on trial, but British politics. Its current image is appalling.
• Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist
