THERESA May yesterday sought to escape Westminster's Brexit pantomime via the stage trapdoor. After dispatching her ministers far and wide over recent days to sell the withdrawal agreement and telling us it was the best deal on offer, the Tory leader got cold feet on the eve of the meaningful vote.
It appears her plan is to return to Brussels later this week in the hope of squeezing a concession on the backstop from the EU. But surely the prime minister's optimism is misplaced, as anything that undermines the provisions in the backstop means it no longer fulfils its purpose as a guarantee against a hard border, and while we may be entering the season of goodwill, all the signals from Europe yesterday suggested she is wasting her time. Yet somehow the Tory leader must satisfy competing and contradictory interests, find a way of assuaging the doubters who see the backstop as a trap, while winning over those who regard Brexit as a disaster. It's a circle that just can't be squared, however, and therefore deferring the vote is nothing more than a stay of execution, which delays the outcome of the vote but won't alter it.
The future remains as uncertain as it did yesterday morning and the potential scenarios as numerous and as convoluted. While she has enjoyed plenty of uncharacteristic sympathy on this side of the Irish Sea, the Tory leader is as far from 'strong and stable' as it's possible to get, continuing to hang by her finger tips and remaining in charge simply because there is no viable alternative that can command broader support.
The majority in Northern Ireland appear reluctantly to back Mrs May's deal, believing it is infinitely better than driving off a cliff. Ironically though, the region's most vocal party at Westminster are obsessing over the possibility of regulatory checks between the north and Britain, and are ready to put ideology ahead of potential prosperity.
The only thing we – the ones in the eye of this storm – can take some solace from is Westminster's own backstop of sorts, a belief among a majority of MPs that no deal is the worst of all outcomes and should be avoided at all costs. Unfortunately though, there's no unified idea on how this concern can be harnessed and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn seems happy to watch the chaos intensify while failing to provide an alternative the opposition can rally around.
Meanwhile, Ireland, north and south, stands to become the collateral damage in a messy British political battle in which allegiances are blurred and short-term political ambitions often trump strategic thinking.
It's time to hang on to your seat because it looks like the situation is going to get worse before it gets better.
