Theresa May’s Brexit strategy was to play chicken with parliament. Boris Johnson’s is to play chicken with the EU.
Theresa May believed that if she pressed on with her deal, parliament would – ultimately – blink and pass it. Her thinking was that MPs’ scared of no deal would vote for her deal to avoid that outcome. While Brexiteer MPs who didn’t like the deal, would back it in the end to be sure Britain did leave the EU.
May’s approach failed because she was trying to squeeze two groups simultaneously with two different messages. Crucially, she also blinked – she didn’t resist the Cooper, Letwin, Boles attempt to force her to seek an extension. If she had, she would have found out how many Labour MPs were prepared to vote for her deal to avoid no deal.
Boris Johnson’s strategy is to play chicken with the EU.
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