An anti-Brexit protester (Marc Fairhurst / Alamy Stock Photo)
Theresa May has been putting a brave face on her widely despised draft EU withdrawal deal. Talking to Sophie Ridge on Sky News on Sunday, she called it "the right deal in national interest".There's an implicit threat to hardcore Brexiteers in evoking "the national interest" – namely, that if the government fails, you risk a Labour government – which is a key part of May's strategy to get her deal through and keep her job, however unlikely that feels. It's also supposed to focus minds on the seriousness of the real-politik here – it could be this deal or a no-deal, and do you really want to be responsible for Britain running out of Mars bars? This is real life, not some Age of Empires-type strategy game where you can use a cheat code when things get difficult.When this compromised line gets regurgitated by loyal Tory members who are also big Brexiteer ideologues, it's less polished, like putting something through Google translate and then back into English. But perhaps more honest. This was demonstrated by Councillor Tom Ashton, of Boston and Skegness, on BBC Radio 4's World This Weekend on Sunday. He said:
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But continued:“As a life long Eurosceptic, as a supporter of Brexit it feels to me to be perhaps the greatest humiliation of British international diplomacy since the treaty of Dover in 1670. I mean, the last two years seem to have been the greatest failure of nerve and vision in our body politic, since our country became a world power.”
In other words, this is pretty much the worst thing in the history of the world, but we have to vote for it anyway. Just really, really bad. Let's definitely do it. Forget the Suez Crisis, or the Fall of Singapore, this is much more humiliating – let's go for it. I’m sorry, mate, but we’re going to have to down these pints of piss to avoid that keg of anthrax.Given that nobody thinks the proposal is actually good, this is effectively the compromise the government is asking Brexiteer MPs to make.@SimonChilds13“At this stage I feel our choice is between this deal and either chaos, no Brexit or a Corbyn government. I hate this deal with a passion, but at the same time, the Conservatives are the party of good and sound government… I would urge colleagues in Parliament to vote for it, albeit with very great and grave reluctance. Much as though I really dislike this deal on every possible level, the alternatives seem only worse."