A Tale of Four Power Grabs

Theresa May's power-grabbing tendencies are showing again. Despite the fact that her party did at that time have an overall majority and therefore still won all the divisions, she called a General Election because MPs from other parties were daring to vote against her even in the full knowledge that they were not going to defeat her. Had she gained the three-figure majority that she had anticipated, then would she have expected them to stop? Apparently so.

And now, not only the EU (Withdrawal) Bill that Tony Benn would have opposed, and not only the jaw-dropping attempt by a party without an overall majority in the House of Commons to claim a majority on the committees of the House, but also that party's three-line whip to abstain on Opposition Day motions, and its proposal to reduce the number of MPs but not the number of Ministers.

Still, the tide may be turning. The EU (Withdrawal) Bill is lost in the undergrowth, and Conservative MPs are starting to express doubts about the reduction of the House to mere debating chamber. Although even in those, both sides vote.