THE Tories are in crisis and there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

They tried to ride a wave of nationalism and it has backfired on them.

They thought that the working class were a bunch of ignorant, foreigner-hating bigots.

Fortunately, most working class people are not, especially the young who voted for hope rather than hatred and fear.

The Tories are now forced to negotiate Britain’s exit from the EU from a position of extreme weakness and wily old European politicians like Angela Merkel will take full advantage of Theresa May’s political and personal limitations.

Jeremy Corbyn and John John McDonnell meanwhile will play a clever waiting game.

Deep down neither of them like the EU and who can blame them. The EU is committed to free market economics and limited democracy, which means rule by unelected elites, low wages and privatisation.

Given the chance they will pull Britain out of the EU, but they will offer a Brexit that will put jobs, wages and state control of public services first.

When the Tories’ Brexit strategy fails an election is likely. Labour has a good chance of winning an election with a big majority, because, unlike the Tories, the Labour Party is a genuine mass movement and is lucky to have the most astute political leadership the party has enjoyed since the Attlee government of 1945.

John Gilmore, Bishop Auckland