The Tories' Opponents Have Found an Effective New Way to Criticise Them

The Conservative Party during PMQs, courtesy of UK Parliament

At David Cameron's final PMQs he was prodded by Jeremy Corbyn about the slow pace of government. Cameron said he was outraged that he was being "accused by the right honourable gentleman of sloth in delivery".

Cameron made his face go extra purple, like he used to do when he was feigning indignation. "Let's just take the past week – we've both been having these leadership elections; we've had resignation, nomination, competition and coronation, and they haven't even decided what the rules are yet," he jeered, jabbing his hand at the Labour benches.

You might think it a bit rich, Cameron cheering the fact that the Tories anointed their leader without any kind of vote or democratic process, but that has been the remarkable story of the Conservative party since the Brexit vote: they've acted as a strong united party and simply ignored ideological disagreements. This is a party that has been torn apart by division and upset, especially over Europe. After the Brexit vote there should have been all-out war between the Gove-led Leavers and the Cameron or Osborne-led Remainers. There should have been a bitter leadership election and then a fight over which wing of the party would take control of the exit process.

But in Theresa May, the Tories found a perfect compromise. Herself a quiet Remainer, she kept the Brexiteers happy by appointing their unlikely leaders – Liam Fox, Boris Johnson and David Davis – into the key negotiating posts.

Ever since, she has come under sustained pressure from the press and opposition parties for failing to have a plan for Brexit – being unable to decide what to ask EU leaders for, never mind how to get it. But she has brushed it aside, claiming that she will not give a running commentary on negotiations, and the party has held a united front. Tories have watched with delight as UKIP's poll numbers crashed and Labour's popularity reached new lows, both parties stricken with in-fighting and strife over what they stand for. Meanwhile, the Conservatives' popularity has grown,the party maintaining a nine-point lead over Labour and very high approval ratings throughout the country as a whole, and particularly Tory voters.

This week, though, there seems to be a new tact among the Tories' opponents. Turning their strength – party solidarity – into a weakness.

This starting gun for this new tactic was fired from an unlikely source: Deloitte, the professional services firm. On Tuesday, a memo from the firm – supposedly meant for the Cabinet Office – was leaked. It began by accusing Theresa May of prioritising political unity over progress in Brexit negotiations:

The memo continued in this vein, making the case that although having three separate departments for dealing with leaving the EU (Trade, Foreign Office and the Brexit department itself) may be good for internal party politics, it has meant there are many separate Brexit plans but no overall government strategy.

Initially it was thought that the government had commissioned the document, but Deloitte admitted last night that it simply represented their own views. Many Conservative ministers and MPs have accused the company of lashing out at the government because they were unhappy with the way Brexit has been handled – essentially accusing Deloitte of leaking the memo themselves, pretending that it was a big deal to gain more coverage and then retracting after it had hit headlines. If that was the company's aim, they've done a remarkably good job – Tory ministers spent the next day trying to quash fears that they were delaying the Brexit process in order to keep the party together.

After the memo leaked, others were lining up to bash the government for putting their own success ahead of the country's. Nigel Farage, the UKIP leader emboldened by his bros-before-hoes relationship with the president-elect, attacked the government for knocking back his suggestion that he could act as a go-between in negotiations with the Trump administration and the British government.

He said May was "betraying the national interest" and her government was "more concerned about petty party politics and trying to keep me out of everything", again using the line that May's desire for party unity was bad for Britain.

This seemed to have an immediate impact. Today, aides to Farage said that Donald Trump will consult Nigel Farage about any policy proposals which will affect Britain before he contacts Theresa May. They pointed to Farage's close friendship with Trump and close ties to his senior adviser, white-nationalist Steve Bannon.

Even Labour, who have struggled to land a blow against the Tories, managed to exploit the way May was governing the party. At a speech in London, John Mcdonnell, the Shadow Chancellor, talked about Philip Hammond's isolation from the rest of his party. Hammond is seen by many as a pro-business moderate who is uncomfortable with the government's Brexit strategies.

McDonnell said: "We appear to have a Chancellor who is slapped down by his Prime Minister when he makes an announcement, and ignored by her as she sets his economic policy for him. According to other reports he is also isolated by his Cabinet colleagues to such an extent that it seems he has to read about the Brexit negotiations with the rest of us in the newspapers." He then pivoted to demanding the chancellor end austerity after 2020 and help struggling households.

All of this led to lunchtime today, when Jeremy Corbyn attacked Theresa May during PMQs over the lack of preparation pointed out by Deloitte, and hammering her on Brexit disagreements. Commentators from the left and the right, including leading Conservative Tim Montgomerie, claimed it was one of Corbyn's best performances so far.

After Corbyn had finished, a Tory minister asked whether or not May would give Farage a peerage and she refused to comment, which is a long way from the damming language she was using about the UKIP leader earlier in the week. A peerage would allow Farage to join the government, and Farage himself has not ruled out rejoining the Tories. It seems the Conservative Party has been forced to row back on the UKIP leader.

The Tories are still rising high in the polls and have managed to keep tensions between ministers mostly behind closed doors, but this week it seemed a new narrative has emerged with which to attack them: party unity is coming at the expense of progress.

@samwolfson

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