How utterly, utterly miserable it could be for a minority Conservative government. They can forget their lacklustre, un-costed manifesto now. They are not going to get any of that through. But how even more miserable would be it for the government’s negotiators in Brussels, stripped of their authority. Theresa May is finished, that is clear. She would be treated with even more contempt than she already is by Jean-Claude Juncker and his henchmen.
But would it be any better for some unstable coalition or pact cobbled together by Jeremy Corbyn? No, it would be just as miserable. He wouldn’t get his programme through the Commons, either. And neither would he have much authority in Brussels.
The more you think about it, the more it comes down to one solution, unthinkable though it would have been a few weeks ago: a coalition between the two parties which do at least agree on the most important matter facing the country. Yes, some kind of arrangement between the Conservatives and the Labour party really is the only option now that can save us from national humiliation. We need a Churchill and an Atlee who can work together – until Brexit is complete, at which point we should have another election.
There will be jeers at that suggestion, of course. It just isn’t how British politics is done. How can Conservatives be expected to work with a Labour party led by anyone, let alone one led by Corbyn, hard-left, terrorist-appeasing throwback from the 1980s that he might be?
To which I say: think of something better, then. We have had a national government before – and one which predated the emergency of the second world war, so why can’t it work again? The Tories need a new leader and one who is prepared to work with Jeremy Corbyn as deputy Prime Minister. That is the direction in which tomorrow’s agonising discussions should go.
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