That it should have come to this! In a desperate last throw of the dice, yesterday Theresa May announced several measures which appear to run counter to the Brexit strategy she has developed over the past couple of years.
The opportunity to vote for a second referendum, last-minute concessions over workers' rights and environmental protection, and a possible temporary embrace of a customs union — all these are proposals that amount to nothing less than a political bombshell.
There is little doubt that many Leave voters will be shocked by the scale of the volte-face. My bet is that the happiest person in the kingdom will be Nigel Farage, to whose Brexit Party Mrs May has just delivered another lorry load of votes before tomorrow's European Elections.
British prime minister Theresa May delivers a speech setting out a new proposal for her Brexit deal in London, Britain, on 21 May 2019
Flawed
But let us, just for a moment, try to see it from Mrs May's point of view. Three times she has been defeated in the Commons by a combination of hard-core Tory Brexiteers and Remainers, Labour, the Scots Nats and the ever-intransigent Democratic Unionist Party.
For my money, the Withdrawal Agreement as it was previously presented, though undoubtedly flawed, honoured the outcome of the 2016 referendum — and I am sorry that it did not command a majority in the Commons. It was far preferable to this latest compromise.
British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday outlined a series of incentives for MPs to support her Brexit deal, saying there was 'one last chance' to end the deadlock
One can understand why a Prime Minister with an eye on history, and a heart committed to delivering Brexit, should have struggled to find another solution to the political impasse in which we find ourselves. She deserves our commendation for that.
And many would also agree with Mrs May when she said the deadlock over Brexit was having a 'corrosive' impact on British politics, and stopping progress in other areas. Half the country is mad with frustration, the other half with boredom.
So Mrs May's 'one last chance' is in principle to be supported. Even now, though I am aghast at some of these concessions, particularly the possibility of a second referendum, I am tempted to doff my cap at this stubborn, spirited woman who never gives up.
And yet this latest version of her deal will challenge the loyalty even of sane, pragmatic Leavers without winning the backing of enough Labour Remainers in the Commons. Understandable though this latest gamble may be, I fear it is above all an act of political ineptitude.
What she has done is to appeal over the heads of hard-line Brexiteers to Labour, much as Ted Heath did, with ultimate success, when as prime minister in 1972 he piloted the European Communities Bill through Parliament which led to our joining what was then called the Common Market the following year.
But whereas 47 years ago there was a sizeable minority of Labour MPs ready to defy their party whip and vote with the Conservative government, it seems unlikely that more than a handful of their modern-day counterparts will do the same.
Even Labour MP Lisa Nandy, in whom No. 10 has invested hopes as someone who might switch to its cause, indicated after Mrs May's speech yesterday that she won't support the Government. It's possible she and others will change their minds if Labour receives a drubbing in
