It's been the wildest day in British politics since the last wildest day (Monday). Theresa May is fighting to hold onto power after her own Conservative party MPs forced a confidence vote against her. And that has once again raised the eternal question: WTF is going on with Brexit right now?
To try to answer this, BuzzFeed News reporters got out a pen and paper (and then a bigger pen and a whiteboard) and spent the day arguing over/trying to work through the various permutations. Frankly, it was terrifying. Like this.
Anyway, a few key points:
• Extending Article 50, a general election, and a second referendum all look far more likely than they did 24 hours ago.
• Jeremy Corbyn ends up as prime minister in four of our scenarios.
• A so-called People's Vote on Brexit is also an increasingly realistic option.
• And less likely but still possible: If May's deal is voted down, like-minded MPs from various parties could band together to form a "government of national unity" to get us through Brexit. The last time that happened in Britain was World War II.
As you can see from our scribblings, this doesn't make happy reading for Brexiteers. They have to navigate some seemingly insurmountable hurdles to reach their desired outcomes of either convincing Brussels to ditch the backstop or going for a no-deal.
Having said that, there's no clear path for the Remainers or soft Brexiteers to their preferred outcomes, either.
Disclaimer: BuzzFeed News accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of this information after *checks watch* 4:35pm GMT on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018.
