Theresa May sells Tory members an empty promise: are they as gullible as she thinks they are?

What is Theresa May playing at? I mean, it’s one thing to treat the Conservative party’s remaining members as fools but it’s quite another to think the same of the rest of us.

Her speech yesterday in which she attempted to carve a middle way through the Tory euro-forest has been generally well received. And, as a piece of political positioning, May’s ‘Reluctant Remain’ approach allows her to be with the Prime Minister but not enthusiastically so and against Boris but not comprehensively so. It is, if you like, a Tory Goldilocks approach.

All of which is all very well and good and if this is the sort of thing you admire it’s the sort of thing you admire.

Unfortunately, as a matter of policy, May’s speech was garbage. That, actually, is probably putting it too kindly. The most eye-catching piece of drivel was the Home Secretary’s suggestion that the United Kingdom could, indeed should, leave the European Convention on Human Rights while remaining a member of the European Union.