Theresa May lives to fight another day – but the only allies she can rely on now are the sands of time

All that's left for the prime minister to do is hold a vote on the withdrawal agreement when it is too late for her detractors to do anything else

Such is the scale of the crisis in British politics – and entirely self-inflicted one because of Brexit – that even a leadership challenge to a sitting Conservative prime minister is taken in its stride by the political classes, though of course the atmosphere in Westminster is unusually febrile.

Dramatic as events were, from the rumours circulating on Tuesday evening, the breaking of the news at breakfast the following morning, through to the evening vote, it was something of a one-day wonder. She made it, again.

In many ways Ms May has been fortunate in her enemies: they lack nous, have poor timing, and are too fractious and too chaotic themselves to mount a serious opposition. Ms May can now isolate them and concentrate on building a cross-party coalition to back her deal. She has failed, rather dismally, to do that so far.

She has also failed to score the kind of victory that would truly silence her critics. The vote against her was uncomfortably high and will have been unwelcome. Nonetheless, we know her instinctive reaction to adversity is to press on.

Kenneth Clarke, who clashed with her in the coalition government, since remarked, in an unguarded moment, that she was “a bloody difficult woman”. She leads a bloody difficult party, and leader and backbenchers temperaments are well matched.

Is Theresa May indestructible? Not quite, though the rules of the game say that she now enjoys security of tenure over her party for another 12 months, at least. Whether she would actually want to serve for much longer is another issue.

After the disastrous snap election last year it was reported that she had indicated, and her party had insisted, that she would not lead them into a further general election. That seems to have been half forgotten, but the fact remains that her principal usefulness lies in taking the heat during the Brexit talks.

Whether she has to – or wants to – complete the next round, on the actual future trade deal, is unclear. It could take a very long time indeed. It would be understandable if she wished to hand that task to a colleague. Ms May, as is apparent to anyone who looks at her record, has a profound sense of her duty, but everyone has their limits.

Her first electoral mandate of any kind from her party – for she was elected unopposed in 2016 – is especially problematic for her rivals, most obviously Boris Johnson. In truth, his best chance for leading his party and the country was immediately after the 2016 referendum, before Michael Gove stabbed him in the front and his campaign imploded. After his “chuck Chequers” resignation he had a further opportunity, but funked it and ran away.

Despite many rhetorical flourishes and entertaining newspaper articles since, Mr Johnson’s prospects have been on the slide. There are doubts about his personal reliability and his constancy to any particular cause (when he was mayor of London he was an enthusiastic Europhile), and younger, less problematic future leaders in all parts the party are emerging.

If Britain leaves the EU next March, many of the current splits in the Tory party will become irrelevant. It should heal. You might say they will all be Brexiteers then, of one stripe or another. Anyone from Dominic Raab to Boris Johnson’s brother Jo might then be looked to give the Tories a facelift and a new, post-Brexit appeal. They will surely be more united.

There is still some way to go, however. It remains true that the EU is unlikely to offer her much in the way of reassurance about the notorious backstop, and therefore it is by no means clear that the EU-UK withdrawal agreement will pass the Commons when it eventually gets put to a vote. Ms May is plainly hoping that the sands of time will prove her most formidable ally.

She will hold her vote when it is (supposedly) too late to do anything else. She will, then, eventually try to force the pro-European MPs in her party and across the opposition benches to make a tough choice between her deal and the dreaded no deal, the latter being supported by only a faction in her party and the Commons – as was demonstrated in the confidence vote.

Theresa May, then, lives to fight another day. It has become a way of life for her.