Hurrah for Theresa May – sensible survivor and architect of a compromise Brexit

It’s been a tough year for Theresa May. File that comment under: Grass is green, sky is blue, Brexit secretary resigns.

In recent weeks May has postponed the vote on her deal, narrowly survived a vote of no-confidence from her party, suffered ritual humiliation at the hands of Jean-Claude Juncker, gotten locked in her car, been shouted at by Corbyn in PMQs, been shouted at by everyone in PMQs, and now she faces the chance of a vote of no-confidence tabled by the Labour party.

That really should be enough to fill the news cycle for an entire year, or prime ministerial term. But despite it all, May is, against all odds, still here, and still trying to deliver on a near impossible ask. Her stoicism is often remarked upon – she has the most thankless task in Westminster, apart from Jeremy Corbyn’s public speaking coach. And she is resolutely varying on, ignoring the noise from the sidelines. But this is usually where the praise for May ends.

The criticism for May on the other hand is seemingly infinite, and vociferous. She’s robotic, she’s not interested in ideas, she should be a civil servant, she is no statesman, she can’t adapt, or improvise, she’s brought back the worst deal in history. Editor of Reaction Iain Martin himself wrote about how we need a Churchillian moment – some magnificent, charismatic, ebullient statesman to come along and make a success of Brexit. He’s not alone in saying that either.

But – actually – the robust, stoic, head-down character is exactly what Britain needed to hammer out this deal with the EU, who haven’t exactly made things easy for her. The uncomfortable truth in the matter is that this really is the only deal available, and whether Jeremy Hunt or Sajid Javid or Boris Johnson or even, God forbid, Jacob Rees-Mogg rocked up at the European Commission tomorrow (or two years ago) we would still have a deal that sees us leaving on much the same terms as we should be doing now.

The deal is unpopular – obviously. But the idea that anyone who fancies themselves as a master diplomat would somehow procure a document that united the concerns of every ardent Brexiteer, every soft Brexiteer, every Remainer, every Remainer-turned-Brexiteer, every Brexiteer-turned-remainer is nothing short of inane fantasy. Of course May’s deal isn’t popular – because it represents one vision of Brexit, when the political class have one hundred competing visions of Brexit. Without wanting to revert to platitudes, but being utterly compelled to anyway – you cannot please everyone.

May cannot deliver a Brexit that simultaneously ends free movement, keeps us in the customs union, sees us leave the customs union, contains no backstop, contains a backstop. Now no one is happy – who’d have thought?

During the course of the referendum campaign the world seemed to be simpler. We had two options – leave the EU or not leave the EU. Leaving the EU was presented as simple, but what was really on the cards with that simplistic vision now seems to have been crashing out, no deal, no terms and no assurances. What May has done is find a tiny sliver in the middle of two options, presenting a deal that allows us to leave on sane terms, while preventing us from staying. That’s practising politics.

The backstop is ever the thorn in May’s side. If (when) her deal fails to make it through parliament it will be because of the backstop. And May was unwise in failing to accept that the DUP were never going to be onside so long as a backstop existed. But the thing about the backstop is this: it already existed before the deal was procured – and it always has. It is encoded in the Good Friday Agreement. And Westminster can’t unilaterally change the functioning of the Northern Irish state. The backstop then, in essence, is a manifestation of the Good Friday Agreement. There is no deal that exists without the backstop. And, the backstop can’t be unilaterally revoked at any time the UK pleases because, well, that’s not a backstop.

May has failed to convey her deal, she’s made many mistakes as prime minister, and even more as home secretary. She’s not the great statesman of our time. Fine – but let’s not pretend that Rees-Mogg would rock up to the European Council, have a chin wag with Juncker and Barnier, and magically produce something that simply does not exist.

It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that you don’t actually dislike her deal, you dislike the realities of Brexit.