It was exactly two years ago today that Brexit, if it happens, inexorably changed
Video: The moment the 2017 exit poll was announced
When the history of Brexit is written I suspect the 8th of June 2017 will be seen as the most momentous day in Brexit history, even more so than June 23rd 2016.
The moment Mrs May lost David Cameron’s majority might be the seen as the moment the Brexit mandate was superseded by those opposed to a No Deal Brexit, indeed Labour’s manifesto was explicit in that, nor did it commit to an exit on the 29th of March 2019.
Without a majority Mrs May became reliant on the DUP who value the Union ahead of (a no deal) Brexit. The hardline, leave at any cost, Leavers may well regret not ousting Mrs May back in June 2017.
The irony is that had George Osborne remained an MP he might have been best placed to ensure her ousting in June 2017 (without becoming leader himself), something a Leaver told me recently, Brexiteers may regret cheering Osborne’s decision to stand down as an MP.
For two years we ended up with a Prime Minister, despite her public pronouncements, refused to take the country out of the EU without a deal. Once Brexit stopped being inevitable then there was always a risk it might not happen, I wonder if the ERG will eventually realise that.
It has allowed the Brexit Party and the Lib Dems to outflank the Tories to the point where we are now talking about the next general election could be an extinction level event for the Tories.