Just when Corbyn ought to be riding high, even the chairman of the Labour Party is ignoring whipped votes.
The Letwin plan has not exactly delivered the promised clarity. Instead, the Commons has again said what it does not want.
“Consider the consequences for trust in politics if this House forces an outcome on the people that they no longer desire.”
His choice: amendments from Baron, Boles, Eustace, Clarke, Corbyn, Cherry, Beckett, Fysh.
They are at least on-brand in refusing to accept the result of the vote on the proposal which has already taken place – which they lost.
“Cooper? Who is Cooper? My name is Grieve Incognito.”
Trickett argues that there are other topics, like crime, which voters want to talk about too.
“I’m not sure that there’s a majority in Parliament…but it’s a coherent proposition”, the Chancellor tells Sky News.
Critics of the deal need to compromise and accept the actual choices on offer. Refusal to do so risks an outcome far worse, or no Brexit at all.
The Opposition, which instructed its MPs to abstain, split three ways on the question.
No wonder: there’s fundamental division among the move’s backers at having today’s vote at all. Labour abstains.
Longer extension, Customs Union, ‘Common Market 2.0’ and so on all have severe downsides.