Are the Conservatives on the Ropes?

Is the Conservative Party really on the ropes or are they taking punishment in a Muhammad Ali “rope-a-dope” trick to lure the opposition into a trap?  The last few days have been very tough on Conservatives in general and supporters of Brexit in particular. Personal discomfort has been exacerbated by the grinning TV media who have been unable to conceal their delight in the Prime Minister’s difficulties.  Boris was below par at PMQ on Wednesday and a speech at a Police Academy in Wakefield today reported as “chaotic and rambling.” Successive government reverses in have shown that it will be impossible to carry out current/future manifesto and deliver Brexit on present parliament.  How can we have allowed ourselves to get into this position and how can Conservative strategy have been so naïve as to fail to anticipate the rebel alliances and the Speaker’s vindictive spanners in the works?  It would be easy to despair.  But the clue to the salvation strategy actually lies in the apparently desolated battlefield of recent tactical reverses.  The intention was never to see off the rebels and hold a deal/or no deal by 31 October line in parliament – that plan could succeed but was much more likely to fail, as has proved to be the case.  The only sure way to sustain a Conservative government, and by manifesto, deliver Brexit, was to win the election that has been inevitable since Mrs May lost her authority in 2017.  The win must be a knockout blow to neutralise the opposition and ensure the smooth passage of promised legislation. Far from a failure to anticipate events, the Cummings’ strategy will capitalise on apparent reverses with the single unequivocal mission of obtaining a substantial Conservative Party parliamentary working majority.  As any military strategist throughout history will tell you, selecting and maintaining the aim is the essential ingredient of success.  Seen through the prism of the mission statement, most of what has gone on may be explained as either contributing to the grand strategy or written-off as the inevitable casualties of conflict, twenty one rebels included.  I do so hope I am right in my optimism.

Meantime, if Labour and the other parties, with all the parliamentary power at their disposal, will not vote to remove the Prime Minister, how can they complain if he acts against their wishes?