May ploughs on but referendum may soon be her least bad option

Theresa May’s “you called me nebulous” outburst at Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels on Friday came at the end of a week that was extraordinarily challenging even for a politician with her legendary resilience.In the space of five days she was cajoled by her cabinet into pulling the meaningful vote, forced to cut short a whistle-stop tour of EU capitals to plead with her own colleagues to let her stay in Downing Street, and then suffered the indignity of being told by EU leaders