Forty eight

So the Conservative Party have done it again - faced with a national crisis that threatens to destroy our economic prosperity and leave the country hopelessly divided, they have reverted to looking after their own self-interests and personal ambitions.

The breaking news this morning is that the hard-line Brexiteers have finally secured the 48 letters needed to force a no confidence vote in Theresa May as leader of the Conservative Party. The ballot will take place between 6pm and 8pm this evening, and if the rebels (or the bastards, as John Major would call them) are successful then a leadership contest will take place, at precisely the time that the Prime Minister should be in Europe renegotiating her EU exit package.

And where is Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party in all this? He has chosen to sit on the fence and allow the Tories to self-destruct, in pursuit of his own narrow party interest. In normal times that may be the correct course for a leader of the opposition, but these are extraordinary times, and we all should expect better from a man who has ambitions to lead the country.

It is clear that the Tories have failed the country. They have failed to deliver the Brexit many of them campaigned for and they have taken the UK to the brink of disaster. Along with their right-wing allies, they have turned the UK into an international laughing stock.

It is unlikely that Corbyn could negotiate a better exit deal. I doubt if anybody could. He should stop pretending that he can,  as such claims have never been credible. As leader of the opposition, Corbyn should have grasped the opportunity to take the country on a different path. he should have been promoting a referendum on the May deal, with the option to remain in the EU as the alternative.

A motion of no confidence may have been one way to do this, but the clearest way would be to commit Labour clearly and unequivocally in favour of a referendum and to use every Parliamentary means to make it happen.

If Corbyn were to commit to a people's vote, then there would be a clear majority in the House of Commons for a plebiscite. We could then present two distinct and well-defined options to voters, allowing them to decide for themselves how we should proceed, instead of leaving our future in the hands of a bunch of self-serving politicians, whose main concern appears to be their own personal ambition.