ATTEMPTS to defeat a government in the House of Commons rarely succeed, even when (as now) it lacks a clear majority. MPs’ natural wish to support their prime minister, their own ambitions for preferment and the whips’ cruel ways all make for a reluctance to rock the boat. So it proved again this week, when Theresa May saw off threats to amend the European Union withdrawal bill to give MPs, not the government, the decisive say over what should happen if a no-deal Brexit looms next year. She yielded on just enough points to lure most would-be rebels into the government lobby.
This produced the bizarre spectacle of Dominic Grieve, a former Tory attorney-general who had drafted the text under scrutiny, voting against his own amendment on June 20th. Shortly afterwards the Lords too acquiesced, and the EU withdrawal bill will now duly become law.
Mr Grieve claimed to have won last-minute concessions. David Davis, the Brexit secretary, promised that parliamentary time would be...Continue reading
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