Theresa May will drive Tory members into the arms of Ukip, by Norman Tebbitt.

Mrs May, who campaigned for the United Kingdom to remain a part of the European Union and lost, will now go to Brussels and tell Herr Juncker that she made a mistake and that really she wanted to leave. Indeed, she will have to tell him that the deal which Mr Cameron brought back from his negotiations earlier this year was not, as she thought at the time, a proper acknowledgment of the concerns of the British people, but a grudging and inadequate response to our needs.

Mrs May is now set to become Ukip’s greatest recruiting sergeant.

In recent years, the Tory ranks have shrunk from around 400,000 to something more like 150,000. Bitterly disappointed party members who campaigned successfully for Brexit now fear that the remainers have managed to turn defeat into victory and will join Ukip – alongside sensible Labour voters disgusted with both Mr Corbyn and Ms Eagle alike.

Her achievements as Home Secretary are not overwhelming:

Somehow, the words success and failure seem to have lost their meaning. To have turned an immigration target of less than 100,000 a year into an achievement of over 330,000 year and caused the once solidly Conservative ranks of the Police to hate the Tory party are deemed successes. To have been on the losing side in a referendum is not a qualification for the highest office.

hat-tip Stephen Neil