The Observer view on why our leaders are neither bold nor flexible

In one respect at least, Brexit Britain has already adopted the Norway model. Last week’s drama in parliament most closely resembled the maelstrom (moskstraumen) found off the Lofoten archipelago in the Norwegian Sea. A maelstrom is a powerful system of whirlpools, currents and tidal eddies, an angry, swirling vortex of water and air. As those pioneer Europeans, the Vikings, knew well, unwary mariners and entire ships could be sucked into its dark, forbidding depths, never to be seen again. It is nature’s version of pure anarchy or, figuratively, “a situation or state of confused movement or violent turmoil”.

Theresa May will surely recognise this phenomenon, having done so much over the past two years to create identical chaotic conditions in Westminster and the country. She got Brexit wrong from the start, adopting an unjustifiably hardline interpretation of the 2016 referendum result, prematurely triggering article 50, and laying down unrealistic “red lines” that betrayed a basic lack of understanding of Europe and the British people. She even failed to heed Remainers in her party, preferring to appease nationalist, hard-right Tory Brexiters.

Having committed these fatal errors, May has refused to budge, confusing determination with sheer bloodymindedness. She ignores mounting evidence that even the softest Brexit will make this country worse off. She closes her eyes to opinion polls that show an increasing majority for Remain. She shuts her ears to calls, especially from younger Britons, for a second, people’s vote. And she rejects both the pleas of well-disposed European leaders for Britain to reconsider and their baffled warnings of looming catastrophe.

Now, after watching her EU withdrawal agreement go down to the historic defeat in parliament that almost everybody except she had long predicted, May wallows in denial. By sticking to her misconceived “red lines”, she is effectively thwarting the evident desire of a cross-party Commons majority for an agreed, consensual path out of the crisis that avoids a disastrous no deal.

May’s talks with opposition MPs and party leaders will get precisely nowhere unless she is prepared to compromise on key issues. If at this critical moment she cannot summon the vision, strength and common sense to bend, then she must either break or, for the sake of the country, be broken. It’s plain that her premiership has all but run its course. Britain can ill afford this sort of blinkered, self-indulgent intransigence.

That’s a message Jeremy Corbyn, too, would be wise to heed. As May’s deal went down in flames, Labour’s leader had a golden opportunity to seize the initiative from the prime minister, take charge of the Brexit process and vindicate his hopes of succeeding her. Once again, he fluffed it. Having unsurprisingly failed in his bid for a general election, he squandered the advantage May’s defeat gave him. By setting a prior condition for talks with May that he knew would not be met, he gave Tories the chance to smear him as the wrecker of Brexit dreams.

Corbyn could have placed himself at the head of the large majority opposing May’s deal. Instead, as is his wont, he struck out alone. It was an elementary political mistake, but one that can still be corrected. Of course the leader of the opposition should talk to the government at a time of national emergency. And of course, if May still refuses to give ground, if she still rejects reasonable suggestions about a future customs union and close single market alignment, Corbyn should quit the talks and explain who is to blame, loudly, publicly and repeatedly. If and when this happens, the clock that May is cynically running down may turn against her. It could then be she who runs out of time.

Bold, flexible leadership of this type appears foreign to Corbyn. But he is going to have to show it soon if Labour is ever to stop the Tory civil war over Europe doing irreparable damage to the working people it represents. If Corbyn shows a strong lead, most Labour MPs, including those from Leave-supporting constituencies, and most party members would gladly follow him. So, too, might the SNP and the Liberals – and some Tories

Given the current chaos, such bold leadership will almost inevitably mean throwing Labour’s full weight behind a people’s vote. Corbyn may not like it, but it’s the right thing to do – and it’s his party’s winning route to power. For if May cannot compromise, parliament cannot agree, the government cannot govern, a general election cannot be obtained and a no deal cannot be countenanced, then what else is left, logically, but to extend or rescind article 50 and ask voters to break the deadlock?

In the midst of a howling maelstrom, with anger and frustration rising across the land, with business and industry crying out for direction, with the NHS and other vital services already coming under no-deal strain and with Europe preparing to cut us adrift, there must be an end to dangerous dithering and indecision at the helm. May has had her chance. She failed. She is a hindrance, not a help. Yet still Britain waits for Corbyn to rise to the occasion. This is his moment, if he can grasp it. For him and Labour, it is now or never.