Brexit Bulletin: The Impossible Job

Bloomberg – 113 Days to Brexit, Five to the Vote.

Today in Brexit: May’s whips are furiously trying to convince rebels. It’s not looking good.

Theresa May has five days to pull off the impossible.

Chief Whip Julian Smith is trying to talk skeptical members of Parliament into voting for the prime minister’s Brexit deal, but so far he has little to offer them. One Tory who joined a meeting with him yesterday said Smith was simply listening to the criticism of May’s deal, Kitty Donaldson reports. He’ll meet more lawmakers today. But the government will need something new, and big, up its sleeve to sway the rebels, who probably number as many as 100.

Things are looking so bad for May that Cabinet ministers are telling her to pull the vote, The Times reports. There’s a summit of European Union leaders on Dec. 13-14, which could become one final opportunity to go back and ask for tweaks to the deal, even though EU leaders have made pretty clear that the current plan is their final offer.

Some Tory rebels do want to come around. The argument is that rejecting May’s deal risks ushering in a softer Brexit, a second referendum, or no Brexit at all. It’s an argument Trade Secretary Liam Fox and May’s pro-Brexit former adviser Nick Timothy are both making forcefully — one that’s become stronger since Parliament voted to give itself more power over the endgame.