No matter how many times Theresa May reminds us, it is easy to forget that Labour’s manifesto committed it to delivering Brexit. Equally it is hard to remember that the notorious motion passed by the last Labour conference that opened the door to the party’s possible support for a Brexit referendum – as a last resort – was also a restatement of the party’s pledge to deliver its own vision of how to leave the EU.
So it was rational for the Prime Minister to respond in good faith to Jeremy Corbyn’s written offer to negotiate Brexit terms that he and his party could support. And quite apart from the convention that manifesto commitments should be honoured, she will presumably know – since almost everyone else in the UK does – that Corbyn is less attracted to a referendum than he would be to a job offer from Goldman Sachs.
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