Addressing the meeting of the 1922 Committee that will define her premiership – and Brexit – Theresa May made two seemingly impossible promises: not only would she win back her sometime allies in the DUP, but she would do so by wringing a legally binding promise on the Irish backstop from the EU.
On one level, her doing so is a belated recognition of reality. If Labour MPs are unwilling to rebel in any significant numbers – which, as the past month has shown, they are not – then the prime minister cannot pass her Brexit deal is by securing the support of the 10 MPs who still, notionally at least, keep her power.
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