There’s nothing brave about the so-called ‘Tory rebels’

I have a real problem with the term ‘Tory rebels’. Because it’s questionable, to put it gently, that either of these words apply to the Conservative Party MPs who are threatening to side with Labour and the Lib Dems in tonight’s parliamentary battle against no deal. They don’t sound much like Tories. And rebels? Do me a favour.

Phillip Hammond, Ken Clarke, David Gauke, Phillip Lee and the others — the ‘Gaukeward Squad’, as some refer to them — pose as valiant insurgents against Boris and his overreaching executive. The media madly flatter these pretensions by talking up the MPs as the bravest politicians in living memory.

They’re referred to as the ‘rebel alliance’, as if they were Luke Skywalkers facing down Darth Vader. The ‘Remainer rebel alliance’ is growing, we’re told, conjuring up images of khaki-clad heroes meeting in a secret bunker to devise their plan to defeating Boris and his goons.