Brexit is working. Parliament is asserting itself

PMQs must be extremely difficult. The commentators assessing the performance of leaders couldn’t cut it at the dispatch box and many of the baying MPs who add colour and noise couldn’t either, but think they could.

Anyone who has ever had to do public speaking and suffered a “brain fade” under pressure can recognise that PMQs must be horrible to do. My brain fade was a question on immigration at a think tank event several years ago in response to a brilliantly direct question from a smart young parliamentary researcher. It haunts me still. I couldn’t get the gears to work because my position was inconsistent and deep down I knew it. Properly getting control of borders meant definitely leaving the EU, a position I had yet to reconcile myself to. I froze. That’s one small audience at a think tank. Imagine May’s position and the risk of that in front of 600 MPS with a TV camera trained on your features.

But those who take the role – Prime Minister or leader of the opposition – do so knowing that the status and pay-cheque comes with PMQs as an obligation. Which is why Theresa May is going to have to get better at it. Not only is Jeremy Corbyn growing in stature (a little, from nothing) but May is not a naturally confident performer. It can be fixed, but it is best to face up to it and get help. George Osborne is the best recent example of a shy person who with hard work and expert assistance turned himself into a steely performer. Hugely to his credit. In contrast, Cameron was born with the gift of the gab and a fluent style. May needs work.

Anyway, May is under pressure more broadly over Brexit, with MPs demanding a vote on the triggering of Article 50 and the terms of the UK’s departure from the EU. This is happening against a febrile background of highly readable Armageddon reporting by some news outlets.

I must confess to finding some of the Remainer panic almost hilarious.‎ The pound is falling! Yes, the Bank of England has been trying to make this happen as an object of policy. The fall has been too dramatic, of course, because Number 10 has its wires crossed. It is not the end of the world though. The UK will import some inflation, probably. Exports will – all being well elsewhere – do well.

It’s chaos! There is no plan! The EU will crucify us! For goodness sake, calm down. The biggest risk to a successful negotiation comes from the EU coming apart at the seams, which may be happening. The recent Bratislava summit of the 27 was an utter shambles on the migration question. The Hungarian government is revolting, seeking to defend “Christian Europe”. Germany and France have elections and watch Austria too. Merkel can probably come through but there are many, many moving parts.

Brexit will bumpy. The process will not be easy and anyone who claimed it would be was kidding themselves and others. But this is hardly World War III (that comes if we don’t start paying better attention to what Putin is up to). it is difficult but manageable and in the end worth it. Like life.

One of the first and most interesting consequences of Brexit is that it is rapidly pulling politics out of shape. This can be seen most glaringly in the welcome assertion by Parliament of its rights. There are those who see in the cross party campaign to force a vote on Article 50 and the eventual terms a coup against the will of the electorate. While it is true that there will be a March of five million angry people on London if parliament tries to overturn Brexit, it is perfectly justifiable and sensible for the Commons to want to test the government, scrutinise the deal and in the right circumstances put what emerges to a number of votes. The UK is leaving the EU, but there is not – yet – agreement on how to do it exactly. Parliament is getting stuck in. Good.

The assertiveness of parliament after the EU-referendum leads to the wonderful spectacle of the Europhile Nick Clegg speaking powerfully, as he did yesterday, of the rights of the Commons to scrutinise the Executive. It was as though he had swallowed several volumes on the English Civil War.‎ Clegg the EU federalist spoke for Westminster. It was magnificent to watch. Others who previously used to scoff at notions of sovereignty now speak up for it in a bid to find a Brexit compromise (perfectly possible when one looks at the natural majority there is in the country for a softish Brexit if it is on offer at some point from the troubled 27).

Now it is the sovereignty warriors, more hardline Tory Eurosceptic MPs, who say “nothing to see here, parliament should pipe down.”

This role reversal process is healthy as well as amusing to watch. It was one of the main points of Brexit. Self-government as practised by crazy countries such as Australia, Canada, India and the USA. It is the spectacle of ‎sovereignty being restored and ancient institutions doing their work again properly. Good.