Letwin and Bercow may have unintentionally saved Brexit

For the time being, I am breathing a sigh of relief. Until Tuesday night it seemed that, without any scrutiny, the prime minister might succeed in pushing through his allegedly “great new deal” to take the UK out of the EU. While I cannot bring myself to thank either of the men who wrecked the PM’s plan - Oliver Letwin and John Bercow - Brexiteers should be grateful that there is now time to rethink.

I am the first to acknowledge the difficult circumstances under which Boris Johnson is working. He leads a minority government and a divided party. His every move is bitterly confronted by opposition MPs in the Commons. These realities partly explain why he has called a general election on 12 December. The Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid’s admission that the UK will no longer leave the EU as planned on 31 October is another factor.

Yet the agreement he reached in Brussels last Thursday is not the answer. Under its terms, Britain is being asked to sign up to a new EU treaty, binding in international law, at huge expense, in return for a new set of negotiations.