Deal or no deal

They say a week is a long time in politics.  Over here, we’re discovering just how true that is.

Tuesday, it was announced that there was a draft of a deal between the EU and the UK concerning our withdrawal from the EU.

Theresa May had individual meetings with each member of the Cabinet to sell the deal to them.  (Slightly ominously for May, the last sitting PM to have such individual meetings with their Cabinet was Maggie Thatcher, who resigned as PM the very next day.)

Yesterday, there was a 5 hour Cabinet meeting, after which May announced that the Cabinet has agreed the deal.

All done, right?  It’ll go to a vote in Parliament, it’ll pass and we move on, right?

Erm, not so fast.

Labour, as was expected, announced that they would not vote for the bill because it fails their six tests.  The Lib Dem, who want the whole thing called off anyway (or, at least, a second referendum with remain on the ballot) have unsurprisingly announced they are voting against the bill.  The SNP have announced they are voting against.

The DUP have announced the same.

The bill is fucked, even if every Tory MP votes for because they simply don’t have the votes anymore.

There’s a very good chance that May is going to face a Vote of No Confidence within the party.  If she wins, her position of leader of the party is safe.  If not, she’s out.

Oh, and it turns out the Cabinet may not be as united as people think.  Three ministers have resigned their position.

One is the Northern Ireland Secretary.  One is the Work and Pension Secretary.

The third is Dominic Raab.  This one is notable, as he was the Brexit Secretary.

He said in his letter of resignation that he could not support the deal.  Part of his role was, guess what, negotiating the deal.

I’ll let that sink in.

The Secretary for Exiting the European Union resigned today because he could not support the deal he was in charge of negotiating.

That sentence sums up Brexit perfectly.

Will