In a week of chaos, two more Conservatives have resigned. And they did this just hours after Theresa May claimed she was “looking ahead to a busy week” with her “productive” new cabinet.
The distance between what May says and what is actually happening grows bigger by the minute.
Collapsing
Conservative vice-chairs Maria Caulfield and Ben Bradley are the latest to resign over May’s Brexit policy:
BREAKING: Maria Caulfield and Ben Bradley have both resigned as vice-chairs of the Tory party just now because they oppose the Chequers policy…
— Jim Pickard 🐋 (@PickardJE) July 10, 2018
These resignations follow those of former cabinet ministers David Davis and Boris Johnson. But at 10.47am on 10 July, May tried to create the image that everything was going well. She sent a tweet from her (hastily) reshuffled cabinet meeting:
Productive Cabinet meeting this morning – looking ahead to a busy week. And sending our best wishes to @England for tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/Zs3nV8ft6L
— Theresa May (@theresa_may) July 10, 2018
But as the responses to May’s tweet show, no one believes her. And that was before the latest resignations.
Resign. Resign.
In Caulfied’s letter of resignation, she stated that she could not “support the direction of travel in the Brexit negotiations” because she could “not fully embrace the opportunities that Brexit can provide”. And in a similar critique of May’s so-called “Chequers compromise”, Bradley said it offered “the worst of all worlds” and would “not deliver a Brexit in spirit”.
But something must be going on behind the scenes. Because just five days ago, Bradley offered his full support for May:
Whilst everyone gets very excited about Chequers tomorrow, truth is PM has been consistent with her #Brexit wishlist from day one – control of money, borders and laws. We should support her, get behind her and deliver precisely those things!
— Ben Bradley (@Ben_Bradley_32) July 5, 2018
And it’s not just Bradley who’s turned on May. Because in response to her ‘everything’s fine’ tweet, it’s virtually impossible to find a single word of support for the prime minister.
Mayday?
At the time of writing, May’s tweet has over 1,400 responses. But there is little – if any – support for her. In fact, many comments seem to come from former Tory voters:
https://twitter.com/LizzieDulally/status/1016645978454155264
https://twitter.com/matthew_norfolk/status/1016621004809007104
I lent my vote to the Tories as i guess many others did, that favour will now be withdrawn. However you try to spin it we have been taken for mugs so our only option is revenge at the ballot box. #BrexitBetrayal
— Paul Williams #BuyBritish #UKmfg #NuclearEnergy (@HIP_Energy) July 10, 2018
And these don’t seem to be empty threats, because the latest polls put Labour two points ahead at 40% and the Conservatives at 38%. The Conservatives have dropped three points in just two weeks. And some apparent Tory voters have openly said they will now vote Labour:
https://twitter.com/graham100200/status/1016756635639996416
Meanwhile, lots and lots of people have called for her resignation:
The only productive outcome we want from you is your resignation #MayMustGo
— givarche (@givarche) July 10, 2018
https://twitter.com/P_G_Thompson/status/1016670194704535552
And May’s efforts to weave football with politics didn’t go down too well either:
https://twitter.com/hippocrates16/status/1016676032307453952
https://twitter.com/C_Mac1986/status/1016636002994147328
A very long week
A week – so the saying goes – is a long time in politics. And this week has been exceptional.
If May clings on, it’s now utterly beyond doubt that her government is fractured. And it seems the only person who won’t acknowledge that is May herself. But the distance between what she says and what’s actually happening grows bigger every minute.
With resignations now coming on a daily basis, the country is watching with bated breath. Who’ll go next? Get the popcorn…
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Featured image via screengrab
