It was a semi-victory. A partial triumph. A success with many strings attached. Yesterday the House finally approved a Brexit deal but prevented itself from passing it into law. Today Boris took half a lap of honour at PMQs. He was keen to trumpet his achievement.
‘It’s remarkable that so many Members were able to come together and approve the Second Reading.’
‘Alas,’ he went on, ‘the House willed the end but not the means’.
Jeremy Corbyn quoted a statement made by Boris a year ago that customs checks might ‘damage the fabric of the Union.’
Boris called Corbyn a terrorist-hugging hypocrite.
‘It’s a bit rich to hear from him about his sentimental attachment to the fabric of the union… when he has spent most of his political lifetime supporting the IRA.’
Ken Clarke made a helpful intervention about Boris’s Halloween deadline.
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