How Remainer MPs helped Boris Johnson become Prime Minister – Brian Wilson

Opposition MPs who voted against Theresa May’s Brexit deal are partly responsible for putting Boris Johnson in 10 Downing Street, writes Brian Wilson.
Boris Johnson during his time as Foreign Secretary in Theresa May's CabinetBoris Johnson during his time as Foreign Secretary in Theresa May's Cabinet
Boris Johnson during his time as Foreign Secretary in Theresa May's Cabinet

Back in November, this column asked a simple question – what if Theresa May and Jean-Claude Junker are telling the truth and it really is a case of “this deal or no deal”?

It predicted many mini-dramas along the way (correct) but ultimately, the test for all parties might lie in how they would respond, if and when that question became inescapable. The interim posturings would be the easy bits.

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Now the question is back with a vengeance and those who have basked in the role of accusers may yet find themselves as the accused if they conspire in leading us over the “no deal” precipice, while protesting righteousness.

Sneering dismissals of Mrs May’s legacy are not difficult and there is no shortage of competition. She made huge mistakes – now largely acknowledged – including time wasted on seeking unity within the Tory snakepit.

For unlimited access to Scotland’s best news, sport and expert analysis, SUBSCRIBE to The Scotsman website hereREAD MORE: David Mundell says Boris Johnson must avoid no-deal Brexit or risk UK splitWooing the ERG MPs with their entirely incompatible agenda – essentially, to get rid of her and install a replacement in their own image – was a doomed venture. They have now achieved that, but not without a lot of help.

Whatever her wider record, I offer three reasons for respecting Mrs May on Brexit. The first, straightforwardly, is that she accepted her inherited mandate to honour the referendum result and achieve an optimum deal for the country – and acted accordingly.

That may now sound like a hopelessly outdated principle, overtaken by tumultuous events. However, it is worth recalling it is where all parties stood in the 2017 Election. None – Labour, SNP, even Lib Dem – offered outright rejection of the referendum result or demanded an instant replay.

That came later, through varying shades of opportunism, the prerequisite for which was hyperbolic denunciation of “the deal” on grounds bearing little relationship to its actual merits. This was the cynicism that repeatedly put Labour, SNP and Lib Dem MPs into the same lobby as Rees-Mogg and the ERG.

Secondly, I respect Mrs May’s unswerving resolve to avoid a hard border within Ireland and the logic which flowed from it. From the outset, there was a choice. Was this one tricky issue among many – or was it primus inter pares; an inescapable moral and political imperative which must condition other outcomes?

Every political party in Ireland (bar, ironically, the DUP) supported the “backstop”. But when nip came to opportunist tuck, Corbyn, Blackford, Cable and, of course, the ERG treated it as no more than a pawn in the game of rejecting the deal that had been negotiated. Ultimately, the Home Counties lady who ran through wheatfields showed more respect for the imperative of an undivided Ireland than the guy who revelled in rubbing shoulders with Gerry Adams or Celtic fringe politicians who proved heavy on rhetoric but light on the courage to back it up.

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My third reason for respecting Mrs May’s efforts is that, in departing, she called out the Scottish Government with a degree of accuracy that some of us could have advised her of in advance but will continue to offer lessons with daily application.

In her Stirling speech, Mrs May said: “Over the past three years, I have learned that ... an SNP Scottish Government will only ever seek to further the agenda of separation. That, I am afraid, is a simple fact of political life.” I’m afraid it is – and it is greatly to Scotland’s cost.

Remember the year wasted on rubbish about “power grabs” when the only imperative for Scottish ministers was to reach microphones first to denounce some fictitious betrayal? That permanent grievance agenda has achieved precisely nothing for Scotland.

Ms Sturgeon glibly assumes that helping Mr Johnson into Downing Street advances her sole cause. I doubt it. Two years is a long time in politics and the prospect of one cliff-edge will not send voters, like Gadarene swine, in search of a far more dangerous one.

Meanwhile, the bottom line is that all parties which repeatedly rejected the EU-UK deal have succeeded in replacing an honourable if limited Prime Minister with, well, Boris Johnson... Not a great half-time score. Let’s hope they know what they are doing after the break.