Yes. One forgets that the tories continued to have sufficient sense to realize that no Brexit deal was possible right through the May era (which is why every plan was voted down).Poor old William is a bit late to the game again. They entered the 'death spiral' when Johnson's Brexit cabal got their majority in December 2019
Unfortunately they then did the lunatic thing of deciding that even though no deal was possible, the solution was to just leave anyway, and blame the PM. Sensible tories then sat back and let the ERG get on with it, using Johnson and his cheeky charm to front the exercise. And what did they do? Opt for one of the plans that they themselves had voted down when May was pm.
What were they thinking? It isn't as if there was any opposition to outwit at the time, with Corbyn offering nothing in the way of leadership and vision. These wounds are 100% self-inflicted.
Rather than flounce if Johnson returns (or tries to return) why did they not have the balls to say 'look, the Brexit vote was advisory and now we have looked at it, we can't work out a safe way to do it, so let's leave it'. Corbyn and Farrage would have continued to back 'leave' and sensible tories would have won the next GE with the loonies split between Corbyn and Farrage (who would have risen from the dead if we had remained). It seems that the tory MPs will instead embrace any sort of devilry or lunacy just to remain in power. Even devilry with which they profoundly disagree.
Ironically the only consistent voices here are the ERG, who have never wavered, never had any plan other than leave-EU, don't care about anything else, and remain relaxed. Some people admire people who never 'U-turn', never change the plan. As in many contexts, acquiring a simplistic vision and sticking with a simplistic stance, even after it has been demonstrated to be foolish or dangerous, is the mark of an unsound mind. It is the reason parties lose power, managers are sacked, careers founder and relationships collapse. We should be in the political era of Potter, now, but instead we have had 10 years of John Beck.
Incidentally, I have seen people say, a year or so ago, that a bit of post-Brexit pain would be worth it in the long run. Is there anyone left on this board, I wonder, who is prepared to argue that despite subsequent events (the emergence of Johnson, the debasement of the office of PM by Johnson, the deposition of Johnson, and the tory collapse), making leaving the EU the top agenda item all those years ago, then backing Johnson in order to 'get Brexit done', remains the right course of action?
