Can the Prime Minister dare to dream that her Brexit deal will pass – perhaps as soon as next week? It is striking how Brexiters from the ERG group are lining up to tell me how reasonable they are trying to be. After well over a hundred Tory MPs failed to vote for Yvette Cooper’s amendment last night, which simply captured the PM’s u-turn pledge to allow MPs to delay Brexit, one senior Tory texted me to insist this was “more cock up than conspiracy”.
He said:
“Bit of a mess. Nobody expected Cooper to move the amendment. Letwin had said they wouldn’t. People had left the chamber. Others thought the position was to abstain as the government didn’t shout yes and didn’t shout no. Whips didn’t chase people until nearly five minutes in to the vote. Some of the abstentions were government, they thought it was over…I wouldn’t over read it”.
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