One might have expected today’s Commons statement to go rather badly for Theresa May. After all, she had gone to the European Council seeking legal and political assurances and come back with very little. Her anger was shown by the way she confronted Jean-Claude Juncker over his description of her as ‘nebulous’. But it actually turned out rather well for her.
May’s decision to say that the meaningful vote will take place in the week of the 14th of January meant that Jeremy Corbyn’s threat – that he’d call a no confidence vote in her personally, if she wouldn’t name a date for the meaningful vote – lost whatever force it might have had. Without that, Corbyn’s response lacked impact and direction. May’s reply to him was one of the shortest I can remember from a Prime Minister to a leader of the opposition.
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