The brilliant slogan of the winning side in the Brexit campaign in 2016 was “Take Back Control.” But it would be very unkind to ask the Prime Minister just now: “How’s that going, then?” Theresa May has, by all accounts, lost control of Parliament, of her Cabinet, of backbench Tory MPs, of Conservative constituency associations, and of the negotiations in Brussels.

The brilliant slogan of the winning side in the Brexit campaign in 2016 was “Take Back Control.” But it would be very unkind to ask the Prime Minister just now: “How’s that going, then?” Theresa May has, by all accounts, lost control of Parliament, of her Cabinet, of backbench Tory MPs, of Conservative constituency associations, and of the negotiations in Brussels. As she staggers from day to day, crisis to crisis, the European Union looks like of a rock of stability by comparison.

Brexit was an exceptional political challenge at the best of times, and Mrs May is an exceptional politician only in a negative sense. Next week she has to try to postpone the United Kingdom’s departure from the EU by amending the withdrawal legislation, though there is no guarantee even on that issue that Parliament will do what she wants. Disastrously, she continues to act as if she calls all the shots. After she lost her majority in the general election in 2017 she spoke as if she had just had a resounding victory. She still acts as if she has a comfortable majority in the House of Commons. The subtle wiles required to run a minority government are beyond her skill set.

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