Theresa May and the new Tory awkward squad

The Tory party has always had an ‘awkward squad’ of MPs ready to stir up trouble against their party leadership at the slightest pretext. Its members used to be right-wingers marked out by their penchant for extravagant attire – stripey blazers and bow ties loomed large – and their failure ever to get near a career on the frontbench. These days the awkward squad is made up of a dispossessed establishment of former ministers who served under Theresa May. And it is led by May herself.

When the former PM stood up in the Commons today to question Home Secretary Priti Patel about her new deal with Rwanda to take asylum seekers, it hardly came as a surprise when she immediately stated her opposition to it on grounds of ‘legality, practicality and efficacy’.

May followed that opening broadside by making the highly emotive claim that the removals deal could lead to the increased trafficking of women and girls.