STEPHEN GLOVER: Reluctantly, I believe that if May offering to quit gets her deal through, she should go 

By Stephen Glover for the Daily Mail 01:51 26 Mar 2019, updated 16:20 26 Mar 2019

From the moment she became Prime Minister in July 2016, Theresa May has fought with astounding commitment to honour the result of the EU referendum which took place the previous month.

We’ll never know what would have happened if the Brexiteer duo of Boris Johnson and Michael Gove hadn’t come to blows, and found themselves in the driving seat that has been occupied by Mrs May. 

Conceivably they would have secured a better deal.

But it’s certain they would have had to grapple with the same ineluctable difficulties, foremost among which have been the single-minded determination of the EU to drive a hard bargain, and its remarkable success – in defiance of the predictions of some Brexiteers – in staying united during negotiations with the Government.

Johnson and Gove would have had to deal with the same disputatious Parliament, overwhelmingly pro-Remain but fractured into numerous factions, each with its own inflexible notion of the best way of delivering – or not delivering – Brexit. 

Of course the Prime Minister has made mistakes. We can all recite them with the benefit of hindsight. 

The fact remains she was dealt a much more difficult hand than she or anyone else realised. 

Leaving the EU on satisfactory terms was bound to be a monumental challenge.

What can scarcely be denied is that she has shown awe-inspiring resilience. Despite being a diabetic who injects herself with insulin five times a day, she has discharged her duty tirelessly. 

She has recovered from set-backs that would have floored most human beings.

It is therefore hard, because she has these heroic qualities, to say that the best chance she has of rescuing her deal, and delivering what she has battled for so magnificently, is for her to sacrifice her prime ministership.

If she accepts this bitter truth, she will go down in history as the woman who, despite enormous problems, delivered Brexit. 

But if she can’t bring herself to offer up her own political life, she will probably be led from the stage ignominiously, without Brexit having been accomplished.

Let’s examine the options cool-headedly. Other than Mrs May’s deal – to which she made clear yesterday in the Commons she remains committed while accepting there’s ‘still not sufficient support for it’ – there are two options on the table.

One is accepting membership of the customs union, as Labour and Remainer Tories have long argued we should. The other is again extending Article 50, so that we don’t leave the EU for many months, if at all.

Note I don’t suggest No Deal is properly on the table, despite the EU’s contention yesterday that it is becoming increasingly likely. 

Naturally one can’t entirely rule it out. But with a majority in the Commons and the Cabinet against such an outcome, and Mrs May herself opposed, it’s difficult to see how it could transpire.

So we should consider the two plausible options I’ve mentioned. If the Commons with Labour support now endorses membership of the customs union, the Prime Minister couldn’t embrace such a policy without losing all credibility.

She has fought against it at every turn, and insisted that the 2017 Tory Party manifesto reject it.

Alternatively, the Commons may not vote in sufficient numbers in favour of continued membership of the customs union, or the Government might ignore it if it did, as Mrs May suggested yesterday it could choose to do.

In that event, the only sane alternative would be to seek a further extension from the EU, in which case the UK would be required to hold elections for the European Parliament in late May.

The Prime Minister could not survive such a humiliating debacle, any more than she could embrace membership of the customs union while retaining any vestige of political authority. One way or another she would be finished.

Of course she might take the nuclear option of calling a general election, in which case her political career would be over since she could hardly with honour remain as Conservative leader.

Moreover, in such circumstances, with the Tories bitterly divided, I certainly wouldn’t bet against a Labour victory and a Marxist Corbyn government. Mrs May surely does not want to bequeath such a legacy to the British people.

So we return to her deal – a ‘compromise’, as she herself conceded yesterday – but the best, and probably the only, practicable way of extricating this country from the EU.

The idea has been growing over recent days that intransigent Brexiteers in the Tory European Research Group and the Democratic Unionist Party would reluctantly support the Prime Minister’s deal if they could be sure she would stand down once it had passed the Commons.

Former Cabinet minister and veteran Eurosceptic John Whittingdale indicated he might back Mrs May in such circumstances, and even rebel-in-chief Boris Johnson hinted he might be persuaded to fall into line if Mrs May made clear she was ready to resign. Other Tory MPs have said similar things.

The reasoning of such people is that she has forfeited the confidence of many in her party. 

They have little faith that, in the crucial trade negotiations with the EU which lie ahead – remember, the Withdrawal Agreement is only a beginning – she will be sufficiently robust and forensic.

And – let’s be honest – there are some in her party who have had enough of her sometimes abrasive and unbending style.

There is a hunger for change, for a new pair of hands, for a more imaginative approach.

Needless to say, it makes no sense to think of getting rid of her at the moment, and any plan for an immediate coup, such as was reported over the weekend, is idiotic. 

Her instant removal would only plunge us into a state of even greater chaos than the one we are in.

But if Theresa May were to suggest that, in the event of her deal being passed by the Commons, she would step aside though stay on as Prime Minister while preparations for a Tory leadership contest were put in place – well, that would be a kind of deliverance for the country, her party and perhaps for her.

She couldn’t know, and we can’t know, whether such an undertaking would be sufficient to let her deal pass, and it might be argued there would be no point in her sacrificing herself unless she had such an assurance.

On the other hand, if every other outcome seems certain to lead to her undignified exit, wouldn’t it be better if she arranged her departure on her own terms and in a way that commanded widespread respect?

I can see how difficult it would be for her to resign after achieving all that she has fought for. 

But if that is the only way of securing her deal, her sense of duty should argue in her heart for this final act of self-sacrifice.

How else can we escape from the impasse we’re in? How else can the outcome of the 2016 referendum be honoured? 

This is the best – one can truthfully say, almost certainly the only – way of achieving that.

I believe history will be kind to her if she displays such courage. The Prime Minister who delivered the Brexit she promised. 

Out of this appalling crisis she alone can fashion something positive for herself, something good for our unhappy country.