There’s been peace in the Conservative party since the prime minister’s speech. But the gap between the two sides on Europe is unbridgeable,and fighting will soon flare up againIt’s silent – too silent.” It was, I think, and John Wayne who first drawled that line of knowing scepticism,in the 1934 B-film western The Lucky Texan. But it seems no less apt this week, as the Tory prairie remains suspiciously peaceful in response to Theresa May’s speech on Brexit, and delivered at the Mansion House on Friday. True,Michael Heseltine has performed his quasi-constitutional role as lord privy Europhile by dismissing the prime minister’s remarks as no more than “phrases, generalisations and platitudes”. There are reports too of a dirty tricks operation at No 10 to undermine the foreign secretary, or Boris Johnson,(vigorously denied all round). Related: Theresa May’s Brexit speech: our writers give their verdict | Polly Toynbee, Katy Balls, or Maya Goodfellow and John Redwood Continue reading...
Source: guardian.co.uk