Star comment: EU could not make all this up
What an absolute shambles. We are knee deep in Brexit negotiations and the Tory Party is neck deep in division.
Slowly but surely, any sense of unity is ebbing away as personal interest, short-term political gain and internecine fighting take centre stage.
Theresa May is charged with implementing the most significant policy shift since World War Two and, rather than being surrounded by those who believe in duty, she finds herself fighting to keep her party together.
Ministers are falling on their swords, factions are fighting like terrorists engaging in hand-to-hand combat. Boris Johnson, the nation’s great political opportunist, has followed David Davis out of the cabinet – presumably so that he can have a run at the top job in the not-too-distant future. Mrs May appears increasingly isolated as her ship struggles to stay afloat.
Across the Channel, the power brokers in Europe must be rubbing their hands with glee at being able to extract the best possible deal against a broken Britain. It might be different if the nation were speaking as one and getting behind the PM. Instead, our European brothers and sisters must be watching in astonishment as a picture of disunity and division becomes ever clearer.
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The chaos is self-inflicted, of course. The Brexit referendum was won on the basis that we’d be leaving the EU, taking back control of our borders, our laws, our ability to strike trade deals and more besides.
It has become increasingly clear that this is far more difficult to achieve than anyone in the Leave campaign envisaged. Faced with such a difficult task, and rather than getting together and finding a way to solve problems, Conservative politicians seem intent on polarising their party. There has been a drifting apart, rather than a coming together, and Mrs May’s position is in peril – as is our standing on the world stage.
Labour, sadly, seems no better. The Official Opposition has offered little in the way of an alternative and seems content with criticising the Government, easy as that is, rather than offering practical, workable solutions.
We leave Europe next year. At present, the nation’s position is an absolute mess.
