It’s said that when Iain Dale, overseeing last night’s Conservative hustings in Manchester, announced the news that Oliver Robbins, the senior civil servant in Theresa May’s Brexit team, was leaving his post and the Civil Service, many of the Tory audience cheered.
I’m told Iain Dale just read this tweet out at the Tory hustings and there was a huge cheer https://t.co/BxTjMXcdJt
— Tim Shipman (@ShippersUnbound) June 29, 2019
By doing so, they underlined several of the most striking, and troubling, elements of Britain’s Brexit drama.
First, the cowardice of politicians who seek to blame the civil service for failing to deliver impossible goals and for pointing out that some things are impossible. Olly Robbins has been traduced, and cannot – yet – even answer those who traduce him. He deserves better, not least from the Prime Minister whose strategy he attempted to implement.
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