Brexiteer Corbyn helps out the Tories, again. Is it deliberate to deliver Brexit?

Westminster’s default setting is stuck on “chaos” right now. Even though today looked set to be a relatively calm affair, after some dramatic u-turns, botched tactics and general chicanery, Theresa May is now set to face a Commons vote of (no) confidence in her leadership.

As is the norm lately – nothing was straightforward. This afternoon Jeremy Corbyn threatened to table a vote of no confidence unless May announced a new date for the vote on her Brexit deal (which was postponed last week). In a statement to the Commons this afternoon May announced the week of the 14th January for the meaningful vote, and Corbyn withdrew the threat of tabling a no-confidence motion in his response.

Labour claimed their victory – this threat forced May into announcing the date for the Brexit deal, John McDonnell said, which was not true because May’s people had signalled the January 14th date days ago. And then… Corbyn in a point of information tabled a motion of no-confidence anyway. Still with me?

Crucially however, Corbyn did not table a motion of no confidence in the government. But what Corbyn has brought forward – a motion of no confidence in the prime minister – is non-legally binding and symbolic. So Labour isn’t taking the government down anytime soon with these latest antics.

Corbyn has also succeeded in uniting Tories – Brexiteers and Remainers, and even the naughty DUP – behind her leadership, temporarily, because they all want to deny Corbyn a victory.

It’s unclear exactly what Corbyn, then, is trying to achieve with the gimmick – beyond adding to a general sense of chaos that has descended SW1 in recent weeks. With all the talk of a meaningful vote, Corbyn’s meaningless vote may just be another minor headache for the beleaguered prime minister.

Or perhaps he is a master tactician, dragging it all out, confusing everyone. Just wasting the days until Brexit day and departure from the EU, a  cause to which he (a fan of King Eurosceptic Tony Benn) has been devoted for decades. Just a thought.