In defence of Olly Robbins

I dislike the attacks on Theresa May’s Brexit adviser Olly Robbins. Mr Robbins is a capable and patriotic official charged with the exceptionally demanding task of extricating Britain from the European Union. This job is as difficult and complicated as taking Arizona out of the United States. I detect no evidence to support claims that Mr Robbins, whom I have not met, is sabotaging Brexit. He understands that his job is to carry out the orders of the government of the day as smoothly and skilfully as possible. The Conservative party has historically been dedicated to the preservation of our great institutions: parliament, monarchy, civil service, rule of law, etc. There’s now a faction, led by Jacob Rees-Mogg, who of all people ought to know better, that wants to tear them down. The same tendency is at work in the United States, where the Republican party has been captured by a revolutionary gang which is at war with the institutions it claims to want to save.