There is a creeping realisation amongst Conservative MPs that Brexit has become a Tory project. Protesters may have shouted “it’s your fault Jeremy!” at Corbyn in the days after the referendum but Labour is successfully wriggling away from any responsibility. Like the debacle of crashing out from the Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992, the Tories will own this for the next 20 years. If Brexit couldn’t win them a majority in June 2017, why should it mean a Conservative victory in 2022 when the negative consequences will be plain to see?
That thought has been troubling some Tory backbench MPs for a while. It is a concern shared by many ministers who remember with a shudder the party’s long, miserable years in opposition under a succession of short-lived leaders. But, they ask in despair, how can we get out of this mess? David Cameron’s referendum has left the Tories in a prison of their own making.
The deification of the referendum result by sections of the media has had a chilling effect on MPs in all parties. That ominous phrase “the will of the people” unsettles them and they worry about the consequences of being seen to defy voters. And yet they know that the government’s leaked Brexit economic forecasts are in line with what most economists say – that the UK will be poorer after Brexit. Worse, it is the areas of the country that voted Brexit by the highest margins that look likely to suffer the most. How do Tory MPs square their responsibilities to their constituents with respect for the referendum?
Cameron believed a referendum would unite his party. It hasn’t worked out like that. Instead, the poison that ran through the veins of the Tory Party has now infected the entire body politic. Surely holding a new referendum on Europe would only make things worse? Well, not for the Tories.
A new referendum would force Corbyn to take an honest position on Brexit. No more hokey-cokey over the customs union, no more hedging bets about the single market. Labour would have to come down on one side or the other. The Tories would be able to look younger voters in the eye and say: “If you really want to stop this, now’s your chance”. And, crucially, the party could stay united this time. After two votes, a decision would finally have been made.
This is a powerful argument that Conservative MPs are beginning to listen to. They know that the Cabinet’s away-day at Chequers will be like a lot of half-term holiday outings this week, marred by tantrums and sulking. There is no path towards Brexit that can unite ministers. But a new referendum is the last chance to unite the party.
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Edited by Hugo Dixon
I cannot see forgiving the Tories in their present form for this fiasco. If they were to reform…perhaps by forcing their right-wing group (Redwood, Rees-Mogg, IDS, Boris, Fox, DD and the rest of the crew) to form a UKIP-Lite and let the remainder get back to proper Tory principles. Those extreme right-wingers forced their dogma upon us and blocked our proper participation in the EU for decades. Their treachery, to coin a phrase, should never be forgotten.