May's latest Brexit promises have done little to convince MPs
One Tory MP who previously backed Mrs May tweeted he would not be supporting the bill again before she had even sat down.
Wednesday 22 May 2019 08:08, UK
"This speech isn't part of a box-set", the prime minister's spokesman told journalists, just hours before Theresa May took to the stage for a speech that felt very much like the final episode in a long-running series.
Standing in the atrium of a business in central London, watched on by six floors of workers who she occasionally looked up at almost pleadingly, Mrs May said she had "tried everything" to get her deal through.
"I offered to give up the job I love earlier than I would like," she said in a rare moment of personal reflection.
MPs were already frustrated that the prime minister had chosen to make her new Brexit offer in an office block instead of in the House of Commons and some were not cheered by the changes she outlined.
One Conservative MP who previously backed Mrs May tweeted he would not be supporting the Withdrawal Agreement Bill again before she had even sat down.
At the heart of the new offer is a set of 10 changes, carefully designed to address concerns on both the Remain and Brexit supporting sides of the fence.
The problem is that in trying to please both sides, Mrs May could end up pleasing nobody at all.
Her offer of a vote on a second referendum if MPs support her bill through the initial stages in parliament might appeal to Labour MPs who want the chance to reverse Brexit, but it is a red line many Conservatives will not cross.
Likewise, offering close alignment on goods and agri-foods may help persuade those who are worried about the Northern Irish border but it will do nothing for MPs who fear the UK will be so closely tied that independent trade deals will be impossible.
She urged MPs to look carefully at the new deal and read the bill before setting their faces against it.
"I have compromised, I ask others to compromise too," she said, warning that the British people will not suffer the "corrosive" debate around Brexit for much longer.
But just minutes after the speech, Steve Baker, one of those Mrs May really must convince, branded it "muddled" - while the Liberal Democrats said the second referendum offer does not go far enough.
"The biggest problem with Britain today is its politics," Mrs May warned.
The problem is many of her MPs do not agree; they think the biggest problem is the prime minister herself.