As someone who’s always said the vibe in parliament could do with being less cross and more cross-party, when Theresa May’s “Dear colleague” letter landed, assuring MPs her door was always open, I jumped at the chance. In the Commons chamber, I waved it at the prime minister to test her sincerity and, televised for all to see, as all MPs’ utterances are, asked about my turn.
On Thursday, I found myself in May’s Downing Street lair, face to face with the PM I had faced publicly so many times before across the party divide.
I thanked her for granting me an audience and the televised address and said that extending the hand of friendship to Jeremy Corbyn was a huge improvement on her recent call for the public to take their Brexit anger out on their elected representatives. “Some of us have tormentors who need no encouragement,” I said.
We each had one note-taker. When I asked if Keeley Hawes’s home secretary in Bodyguard was an accurate depiction, she turned nonplussed to hers (who has since been promoted to health minister due to gaps in government that needed plugging). My mention of Fleabag drew a blank too. They both chanted in unison that she “prefers NCIS”.
Cod-psychological articles in the foreign press shared gleefully on social media by Remainers have claimed May’s character is unsuited to negotiation due to her lack of charm and inability to deviate from script.
Other MPs say May mostly listens and then declares the meeting over, so I avoided rabbiting and threw a series of questions her way. Some she responded to with questions: when I asked about the possibility of budging on the customs union, she replied: “What would one want to achieve with one?” On whether the Brexit deal would be coming back to the House, she answered: “It depends.” Regarding the illegality of Leave, she said there were discrepancies on both sides. A fresh “people’s vote” was resolutely rejected. I asked which red lines had changed. She raised her eyes to heaven before lowering her head on to the desk in a swooping movement of mock exasperation, demonstrating a sense of humour and contradicting the Maybot stereotype.
Tories say they have been to No 10 many times this year for miscellaneous drinks in the run-up to the first meaningful vote. Alas, I had only snuck in to Downing Street once before when I half-inched my sister Konnie Huq’s invitation to Gordon Brown’s Eid party.
As a non-DUP/ERG backbench opposition MP, I wanted to voice Remain concerns. I didn’t ask what bribes she could offer, notwithstanding constituency infrastructure inducements allegedly dangled at Labour Leave seat MPs.
This has all unfolded in the wrong order – cart before horse. As a minority government, reaching out the hand of friendship across the aisle would have been better done after the general election when her majority was so carelessly lost, rather than folding one’s arms or throwing overtures to those on her own side trying to knife her in the back. I pointed out she had been to my own suburban west London seat (won from the Tories in 2015 by 200-odd votes) during the 2017 election campaign when they were polling 20 points ahead with the expectation of taking it back. The constituency now has a Labour majority of about 14,000, swelled by Tory Remainers worried about their financial passporting rights.
Unlike the riots predicted if we don’t leave the EU, no one fears the wrath of Remainers, who have essentially been told to shut up and acquiesce. It’s said that Waitrose was empty on the day of the “people’s vote” demonstration. Certainly the million individuals marching with polite placards dramatically contrasted with the angry mob (Tommy Robinson et al) in Westminster on 29 March when the meaningful vote was lost a third time – which has put many Labour MPs off voting for a Leave deal, as I told the PM. I cited the 6 million people who have signed the petition to revoke article 50, including 23,000 in my own seat (more than the Tory votes cast in 2017), and admonished her that she risks not only breaking up the union but also losing London because of a policy that is at least as much of a dud as the poll tax. I reminded her that at least Margaret Thatcher had the good sense to ditch the policy.
I emerged blinking into the sun. A not unpleasant experience but I’m not sure I’m any the wiser.
• Rupa Huq is Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton
