Whatever the deal, it will never satisfy the Brexit bunch

In Thursday’s Times, Tim Montgomerie announced that after 28 years, he was leaving the Conservative party. Such a momentous decision requires an equally momentous explanation. Tim has failed to provide one. The gravamen of his charge was that David Cameron is no Margaret Thatcher. Without in any way casting doubt on Lady Thatcher’s achievements, or on her right to be regarded as our greatest peacetime Prime Minister, the reality is more complex than Tim’s hagiographic version would have us believe.

‘It wasn’t just the colour of her politics, but the strength.’ True, she was strong, on many occasions. But what about the Rhodesia/Zimbabwe settlement, the handover of Hong Kong, the Anglo-Irish Agreement, the Single European Act, the deal to renew the Common Agricultural Policy: what about her entire record on public spending? On all of those, we could argue about the detail for the rest of this Century, yet one point is clear.