Katy Balls Katy Balls

Theresa May has outmanoeuvred herself with amendment 381

This week a Conservative politician managed to get both the SNP and Labour to applaud them in the Chamber. Unfortunately for Theresa May, it wasn’t in response to government policy. Instead it was Europhile – and Tory grandee – Ken Clarke, who took the opportunity to explain why he thinks Nigel Farage is the ‘most successful politician’ of his generation, why bent bananas won’t be making a comeback and, most importantly, why MPs ought to oppose Theresa May’s Brexit date amendment (also known as amendment 381) to the EU Withdrawal Bill.

Announced in the Telegraph last week, May has put an amendment in the bill which would mean the date of Brexit (11pm GMT, midnight in Brussels, on March 29 2019) will be written into law so as to ensure that the process of leaving the European Union will not be derailed.

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