EU leaders agreed the Withdrawal deal and the political declaration in a low key summit in Brussels yesterday. Even before that, Theresa May sent a begging letter to us, the public, published in all the national newspapers and on news outlets on the web. The BBC has it HERE. Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC's Political Editor says the PM's message is "this is all there is". In other words it's the best I could get and nobody is going to get anything better. It's not a very inspiring message is it? You wouldn't want to see that on the side of a bus would you?
It is clear she is trying to appeal to the public over the heads of MPs. The iNews (HERE) says precisely this:
"Her strategy is to go over MPs’ heads by appealing directly to voters to support her agreement as the only show in town".
And the BBC's Norman Smith said the same thing this morning, adding that the PM is to undertake a national tour to "sell" the deal. Laura Kuenssberg herself says:
"Again today she used the platform to 'talk directly to the British public', to explain how her (now rather pink) red lines, on "money, laws and borders", have been followed".
This is the kind of thing populists and nationalists have always done. Appeal to the great mass of the populace over wiser heads. But unfortunately, we the public don't actually have a vote. It is like being MP for Cleethorpes but doing all your campaigning in Auchtermuchty isn't it? Bracing in winter perhaps but not very effective. Mrs May herself is adamant that we won't get a vote but she is appealing to us anyway, ignoring the 650 people who will decide her fate.
Unless the public have a vote it's useless. She is appealing to the voteless to change the mind of the MPs who do have a vote. It does not make any sense. It could prove to be her last big mistake, in a very competitive field I should add, and perhaps fatal to her short, disastrous premiership.
Unless the public have a vote it's useless. She is appealing to the voteless to change the mind of the MPs who do have a vote. It does not make any sense. It could prove to be her last big mistake, in a very competitive field I should add, and perhaps fatal to her short, disastrous premiership.
She ends her letter:
"I will be campaigning with my heart and soul to win that vote and to deliver this Brexit deal, for the good of our United Kingdom and all of our people."
I think she knows the battle was lost months ago. She never tried to take with her the majority of moderate MPs in the House, those whose votes she now needs to get the deal through. Note that BuzzFeed's running total of MP's who have publicly declared opposition to her deal has now hit 94. Before Christmas she is going to need a serious Plan B, not the one I posted about yesterday. If she wants to appeal to the public, let them have a vote on the deal and we shall see if she has really been fulfilling the 'will of the people'.
