A Big, Bad Day in UK Politics

Wednesday's memorable vote on Theresa May's leadership of the Conservative Party, although a hollow victory of sorts for her, has thrown up even more questions.

Here is a take on the significant and calamitous events from my political consigliere, the wise and formidably named 'IS':

"Yesterday's vote has merely served to deepen Tory divisions and an opportunity was missed. Charles Moore was right in the Telegraph to claim that a leadership contest would have been a bun fight but one that could have been condensed into two or three weeks and would have been a preferable option to the current impasse - and to prolonging the inevitable. A fundamental problem is that William Hague's legacy to his party is a leadership election structure that is designed for Opposition, when matters could be played out over several months, rather than for a party in government with its leader being the PM

The question that I have been puzzling over is when and why did 'No Deal is better than a Bad Deal' become 'Any Deal is better than No Deal'?

I suspect the answer lies with Nick Timothy who influenced/wrote the Lancaster House and Florence speeches. When he departed after the election shambles, Mrs May had different advisers programming her with different thoughts:

The Brexiteers have long struggled with two issues:

1. To present and sell, with a united and determined front, a clear alternative to May's deal. They should be speaking with one voice having all read and digested 'Clean Brexit' by Liam Halligan and Gerald Lyons
2. Their inability to agree on a flag bearing alternative candidate. One suspects that many more MPs might have pressed the button if they had gained the assurance that the outcome would not be Boris in No 10. Back in 1990, although Michael Heseltine ended up wielding the dagger rather than wearing the crown, he presented himself as a viable alternative to Mrs Thatcher on the first ballot, so MPs felt they had a positive reason to vote for him rather than being left to express anti Thatcher discontent. Egos and ambitions will, of course, prevent this happening, but it is a huge barrier to the cause of the Brexiteers."