No. 9 - The Brexit Crisis: A Plea for the People to Decide.

Dear James, 

The Brexit crisis deepens. The British people are confused, worried and despondent. They want a resolution of this crisis and, being British, the great majority want that resolution to be fair and honest. And quick!

In the meantime however, Mrs May continues blindly down her tunnel vision track. She has considered delaying next Tuesday’s vote. She has tried to assuage her critics by offering them more parliamentary say in future decisions after years of keeping parliament out of the discussions, And today she is sending thirty Ministers into the country to try to persuade the nation of the benefits of her deal. In other words Mrs May is thrashing around like a landed cod, desperately seeking clear water that is no longer there. What she is unable to see is that it is all too late. The game is up and the message is in her deal. Everyone can see that it will make us poorer and make us ‘vassals of the EU’, to use Mr Rees-Mogg’s memorable phrase. Even he is finally having to face the reality that his alternative would mean, at very best, years of further angry negotiations and uncertainty, the like of which would make Mrs May’s Withdrawal Treaty seem like a walk in the park.

I have every sympathy for your plight James. Even though you and I disagree about many things to do with Brexit, you have been admirably loyal to your party and its leader.  I also bow to her own remarkable stamina and resolution. However, the time for a decision is fast approaching. You may well vote for Mrs May’s deal next Tuesday but thereafter you will be in uncharted waters.

At that point you will have to consider whether, a) to act in the National Interest or, b) to stick to whatever Tory position has by then emerged. The first of these will demand of you to consider what you, as an honourable individual, separate from any party loyalty, consider to be our nation’s needs at this critical juncture in our history.  The second of these is the principle that you would follow whatever party line emerges from the current mess. A vote of no confidence, a leadership challenge, a new leader are all possible outcomes but your decision would also show that you are either a 'party man' or a man of conscience. A decision like that comes rarely in a political career but now is one of those times. I respectfully ask you to make your decision in the National Interest rather than prolonging the agony of our country by voting purely along party lines.

It could just be that the Tory Party does align itself with the National Interest but I agree with you. I fear that it is already split in several directions. I cannot see how these divisions on Europe can be reconciled and we may well be at the point where the Tory Civil War is at last decided. In my view it would be better if the Tory split were formalised. This would be the decision that you would have to take.  Are you a Tory Royalist or a Tory Roundhead? 

In summary, I hope that, once Mrs May loses her vote, you will urge your Party, if it is still intact, to do the best thing for the National Interest. In my view the only fair and honest way to clear the air and solve the parliamentary deadlock is to press for a People’s Vote.

Kind regards, 

BH - Your Concerned Constituent