The rise of the Brexit Party has changed everything, and the PM must be forced out of office immediately

If she had even a shred of dignity left, Theresa May would have resigned. She has ruined the Conservative Party, turbocharged the return of Nigel Farage and her disgraceful Withdrawal Agreement stands no chance of getting through Parliament. Her temperament, character and interpersonal skills have been cruelly exposed as not up to the standard required for the job. Her record is one of unmitigated failure, and a Prime Minister with more self-respect would have stepped down of her own accord, if only to put a stop to this horrific, never-ending humiliation.

Instead, she chose to lock herself away in her bunker, surrounded by her coterie, refusing to meet hostile ministers, pretending not to hear calls for her to quit, better to convince herself that nothing had changed. Mrs May’s Withdrawal Agreement is a veritable booby trap, designed to blow up her successor, and her party is in open, angry revolt. Rarely has such a senior figure been so deluded; even Gordon Brown, who sought to cling on in Downing Street after his time had gone, had more self-awareness. Andrea Leadsom rightly chose to quit the Government rather than continue to play along with this farce.

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But it’s not just the Prime Minister who is letting the country down: the Tory party’s institutions are failing equally badly and threatening its very viability as the UK’s dominant force on the centre-Right. The 1922 Committee once again passed up on the opportunity to change its rules: at least Mrs May is due to meet Sir Graham Brady on Friday, where he will hopefully turn up the pressure. But will that really be D-Day? Or will the can be kicked down the road again?

The root cause of the problem is that too few Tories realise that we are in the midst of the political equivalent of a bank run: the depositors are queuing to take their money out, and the whole system is about to implode. The choice is either urgent, decisive and painful action, or a Canadian-style collapse for the Tories when the inevitable general election comes. Every passing day is an embarrassment, further toxifying the Tory brand, and each one of Mrs May’s pronouncements is costing the party yet more support it will struggle ever to recover. The European elections will be a catastrophe.