Quote Originally Posted by Muddy Retriever View Post
But the point was why the case of the ERG rebels is different from the Remainer rebels.

My defence of the Tory MP's who voted against the WA is that it didn't honour the Conservative's manifesto pledge. This was firstly to leave the Single Market - the WA keeps us closely aligned with EU rules and maintains the supremacy of the ECJ in a number of areas. Secondly the pledge was to leave the Customs Union. As we all know, under the WA we cannot leave the Customs Union without the EU's permission because of the backstop. The deal was Brexit in name only.

I made the distinction with the more recent Tory rebels because they have voted explicitly against their party's manifesto pledges.

So that's why I think the rebellion of the latter is of a different magnitude to that of the former.
I agree but would go further.

You see the party got behind the 2017 manifesto and May's set piece speeches at Lancaster House and Florence.

Much is discussed of May's red lines, but she didn't really have any. As far back as Dec 2017 it was said that her red lines needed a new coat of paint as they were looking a bit pink.

It was May that moved away from her own commitments on the Single Market by offering very close alignment and then came up with the facilitated customs arrangement at Chequers.

It was May who came up with a 2 year transition, extendable to 4 years, and then the backstop which we couldn't leave without EU permission.

These were all new, and not party or manifesto commitments.

It was up to May if she withdrew the whip, but we did have numerous ministerial resignations over these creeping move from what most would call a clean Brexit, to a half-in Brexit.

Varoufakis on Question Time described it as an agreement only a country defeated in war would consider.

It polled at one point as only 12% approval by the public and of those supporting it in the Commons, most were on the Government's vast payroll.

More should have resigned, particularly Fox, Leadsom and Mordaunt. However, they will claim it was a deal that was a compromise and they were reluctantly willing to accept.

What is different now is that:

1. The Tory leadership contest gave a clear direction for the party. The lead 4 contenders supported by 92% of MPs on practically the same policy.

2. The Vote before them was not a vote against a Govt policy, it was a vote for an opposition policy - that is a huge difference.