Sometimes I feel that British politics is built in such a way that it corrects itself and prevents extremism; but this morning, catching up on the weekend’s op-ed pieces, I feel nothing but an extreme sense of anxiety, gloom and despondency. It seems that the Prime Minister is determined to commit ritual Hari-Kari with the country and, worse, that he still has the support of large parts of the country and a rump of incendiary MPs, including many in the cabinet, to leave Europe whatever the costs, in spite of the fact that this was not what was on the ballot paper or in the manifesto at the last election. Look at the WhatsApp message from the Rt. Hon Iain Duncan Smith, ‘We must stand fast and stand together. The Chief is right. The government has the right to demand that we do not hand power over to parliament’. In other words, they are encouraging him to ride rough shod over parliament and break the law. They are doing so in the most childish and puerile language as if it is a war game, not the fate of the country at stake.
I fear that you are right. He is destroying the Tory Party, sacking many of the best MPs – Ken Clarke, Rory Stewart, Nicholas Soames, Oliver Letwin and more. No wonder that so many decent MPs, like Nick Boles and Amber Rudd want to get out.