Theresa May bows to the inevitable

You can take obstinacy so far, then it looks crazy. That has happened to Theresa May this afternoon. All day yesterday she and her spokespeople and ministers were saying that there was absolutely no way the prime minister was going to delay the historic vote on her Brexit deal. No No No. The vote due tomorrow (Tuesday) was going to take place whatever anyone said to the contrary. Until of course Mrs M actually stood up in Parliament and told MPs that she had decided to delay the vote because it was quite clear that if it went ahead she was going to lose big time. Well, that's what all her advisers, including her defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, had been saying for days. Delay delay delay, Prime Minister. But the Theresa obstinacy came into full play. She wanted the vote to happen because somewhere in her head she must have imagined that all the naughty MPs who were going to throw out her Brexit deal would suddenly change their mind. Her Commons spies told her otherwise. Her spies of course are the Whips, the delightfully named eyes and ears for Downing Street in Parliament. They knew that the numbers didn't add up to victory for Theresa, just total defeat. So, very sensibly, she backed down. The trouble is it doesn't look good, does it, for the prime minister of this once-great country to be seen to be cowering under the onslaught of her opponents. Maggie Thatcher, famously/infamously once said: "This lady is not for turning." A classic line which reminded the whole country that the Iron Lady was made of steel through and through, no matter what the political opponents were demanding. It caused her downfall in the end. But Theresa has now shown she IS for turning when confronting defeat. She did the right thing, but it's still a humiliating moment for a prime minister who seems to have few political friends around her. Everyone is scheming and it's not a pretty sight.