Theresa May is the true villain in this latest Tory Brexit war

The blond bombshell has criticised Sunak’s new Windsor Framework as not passing the Brexit test of taking back control. He’s made clear that he believes abandoning the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill is a terrible idea and says he will find it very hard to vote for his successor’s measure.

In return, Sunak loyalists are muttering about it being Johnson’s mess – i.e. the original disastrous protocol that he agreed and then oversold at the tail end of 2019 – that their man has been clearing up.

In fact, they both have good reason to feel chippy – but not with each other. For the true villain of the piece has altogether escaped accountability. That villain is The Leaning Tower of Theresa, the woman who so theatrically tilted into a horizontal position in her seat in the Commons this week when Sir Bill Cash dared to mention the Maastricht Treaty.

Mrs May’s handling of the early stages of Brexit negotiations set in motion a chain of events that was destined to lead either to the whole UK not Brexiting properly or to Northern Ireland alone not Brexiting properly.