Theresa May is continuing her efforts today to persuade Tory MPs to back her Brexit deal. It is clear that she is not going to get Commons approval for that deal on Tuesday, and is too late to drop it beforehand without another vote. What’s unclear is whether the Prime Minister is actually making the situation any better.
The tally of Tory MPs who have declared in public that they will vote against the deal isn’t falling, but rising, even as backbenchers are summoned into meetings in Number 10 and the Prime Minister appears in the Commons dining rooms to try to sweet talk her party.
A recurring theme among MPs I’ve been speaking to is that the Prime Minister still isn’t listening to their concerns, merely thinking that having a meeting will be good enough, and that the whips have been offering pork barrel and patronage when this issue is too big for such things, even for those MPs who are usually dazzled by such baubles.
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