Now we know just how much Theresa May is willing to give away to secure Brexit

The thing to appreciate about the Conservative and Unionist Party is that the only principle it understands less than Conservatism is Unionism. The Tories have convinced themselves that these concepts mean their perfect opposite, so that Conservatism is a counsel of market dogmatism and social reaction; and Unionism is the English national interest with brief interludes from Glasgow and Belfast, like a constitutional Last Night of the Proms.

The Tories’ Unionism has always been more honoured in the breach than the observance. If their handling of the Scottish referendum result was not confirmation enough, their pursuit of a hard Brexit has put it beyond all doubt. Tory Brexiteers were warned that their fetid fantasy of national liberation and restored glory would do violence to the very Union they claimed to care about. They either did not believe it, because they are ignorant of the Britain outside the Home Counties, or they did not care, because their obscurant hatred of Brussels has captured their worldview entirely.