Chequers Brexit plan puts the Tories in a perilous position as Theresa May’s party sinks in the polls
Theresa May's ongoing survival as Prime Minister is fascinating for the fact that it rests so heavily on the lack of a politically-viable, workable alternative.
Her party, and Westminster as a whole, are so factious that no group has both the ability and the incentive to remove her from power, no matter how much they wish she was gone. Being caught in the middle of numerous Brexit-backing and Brexit-bashing factions is a daily headache for the PM but also the source of her continuity.
May's plan to push Brexit through parliament also, somewhat perversely, rests on this stalemate. Each time she is presented with a challenge, she manoeuvres just enough for the majority of MPs to view the government's position as the lesser of two immediate evils.
This tactic will be tested again on Monday when the taxation (cross-border trade) bill returns to the Commons. May's message at the weekend, as she called for support for her Brexit position formulated at Chequers, was to "keep our eyes on the prize".
She added: "If we don't, we risk ending up with no Brexit at all."
Read more: Another Tory resigns from Theresa May's government over Brexit
The timing of her statement suggests the PM was directing her comments at parliamentary colleagues. However, her words, written in a national newspaper, were addressed to "the country". The article could easily be seen as a response to the way the Chequers deal has gone down among voters.
A hat-trick of opinion polls conducted since 10 July show Labour out in front, reversing a long string of surveys dominated by Tory leads. One shows the Conservatives plummeting six points in the wake of the Chequers deal, with another reflecting a four-point drop.
Dig into the data and the picture is arguably worse. Three quarters say the government is doing "badly" at negotiating the UK's exit from the EU, according to YouGov. Nearly seven in 10 people who voted for May's party last year agree with this damning verdict. And just 13 per cent of people think the Chequers deal would be good for Britain.
While the PM's attempt to steer Brexit through a largely Remain-backing parliament is entirely understandable, the weekend's polls are a bleak reminder of the dangers of focusing policy on Westminster rather than the wider electorate. Brexit has put the Conservatives in a perilous position, and with Jeremy Corbyn waiting in the wings, it is a peril that threatens the UK as a whole.