TORY Brexit Secretary David Davis exploded a bomb under the leadership of PM Theresa May on Sunday with his resignation from the cabinet.
May had emerged from a 12-hour long cabinet meeting on Friday crowing that the entire cabinet was behind her and her latest surrender plan to keep British capitalism firmly under the control of the EU by remaining in the Customs Union and the Single Market.
Facing down and dominating the Brexiteers in her own cabinet was May’s number one priority if she had any chance of fulfilling the requirements of the bankers and bosses to tear up the referendum result and ensure that the working class, who voted to leave, was put firmly in its place and told to leave such decisions to their lords and masters in Parliament.
This show of unity lasted a mere 48 hours before Davis delivered his shattering blow to May’s leadership with his resignation following a weekend of contemplation leading him to the conclusion that she is pursuing a ‘dangerous’ strategy of ‘giving away too much and too easily’ to the EU.
His resignation was quickly followed by that of his Brexit deputy Steve Baker. By Monday it was clear that May is clinging on to her position as prime minister and leader of the Tory party by the slenderest of threads. Despite Davis and Baker appearing on TV and radio to insist that what they wanted was a change in policy, not to see May kicked out, the fact remains that if the ‘lady is not for turning’ she will have to seek other support to remain in office.
Half a dozen Tory MPs are reported as having already sent letters expressing no confidence in May’s leadership and many more are believed to be on the point of joining them. 48 letters are required to trigger a leadership election, a move that would inevitably lead to a general election. One thing is certain, May’s days are numbered and her only chance of survival hangs on being able to secure the support of Labour MPs to defeat any motion of no confidence.
This was made clear when it transpired that her chief of staff, Gavin Barwell, was organising briefings yesterday afternoon on the latest ‘deal’ not just for Tory MPs but Labour, SNP and Lib Dem MPs as well. This joint briefing with opposition MPs has, according to one source, driven ‘Tory MPs off-the-chart demented’.
If Tory MPs are being driven demented by this open showing of a national coalition to ‘save’ May and trash the referendum, then the same cannot be said of Labour MPs. In all the chaos and public meltdown of the May government the Labour leadership has refused to demand May resign and call for an immediate general election.
Instead, Labour front bencher Andy McDonald appeared on the BBC to insist that May’s new deal didn’t go far enough and that the official Labour Party policy was now for a ‘comprehensive customs union’ that would keep Britain tied to the EU forever, a complete reneging on Labour’s election manifesto to break with the EU decisively.
While May and the right wing of the Labour Party are actively plotting to shore her tottering leadership up and Corbyn remains completely silent on bringing down the Tories, the trade unions must intervene and stop their shameful fence-sitting.
Since Labour will not, the trade unions must defend the NHS and the jobs and wages of the working class by bringing down the Tories and bringing in a workers government. This must carry out Labour’s 2017 general election manifesto and break with the bosses and bankers EU, including the Single Market and the Customs Union, renationalise the railways and expropriate the bosses and bankers to bring in a socialist UK.
Such a huge advance will encourage the workers of the EU to rise up and overthrow the bosses and bankers EU and replace it with the Socialist United States of Europe. The huge class struggles that are erupting in France, Germany, Italy, and Greece show that the working class of the EU is more than ready for revolutionary mass action! Only the WRP and the Young Socialists fights for this perspective. Join them today.
