Brexit

Last night the EU withdrawal bill cleared the House of Commons after MPs approved the bill, which transposes EU law into UK law, by 324 to 295.  With Labour's Brexit position as confusing as ever (just watch Jeremy Corbyn's Peston interview on the/a customs union), readers will be interested to know that the party opposed the bill's third reading. 243 Labour MPs voted to block the bill, with only a handful – Frank Field, Kate Hoey, John Mann and Graham Stringer – defying party orders. The Conservatives have been quick to go on the offensive and claim this shows Labour is trying to stop Brexit.

Ken Clarke is back on his feet talking about Brexit in the Commons again – but his speech has not gone down well with all of his colleagues. Sitting behind him, his fellow Tory MP Sir Desmond Swayne struggled to stay awake as Clarke talked about the rights of EU citizens. Swayne even appeared to nod off at one point. Mr S thinks Swayne could be forgiven for thinking he had heard it all before...

Nigel Farage met Michel Barnier on Monday and is now calling, inexplicably, for a second EU referendum. He wants to rerun the whole thing. Well, I too have just got back from Brussels and no doubt Barnier said the same things to me and my three colleagues as he did to Nigel. That being the case, I think Nigel has lost the plot. I met Barnier on Wednesday along with Digby Jones, John Longworth and John Mills, all experienced and talented businesspeople with a deep understanding of the issues. We had a long discussion with Barnier, put our case for the EU accepting Brexit gracefully and acting with positivity in the up-coming trade negotiations. We all want the same thing: a good deal for both the EU and the UK.

What to make of Nigel Farage talking about why there might need to be a second Brexit referendum? To some on the Remain side, this is a moment—the Evening Standard have splashed on it, the Liberal Democrats have welcomed it and Labour MP Chuka Umunna has declared that Farage for ‘the first time in his life is making a valid point’. They reason that if the man who was so influential in there being a referendum in the first place is open to a second one, surely it will happen? But I don’t think this is right. Farage’s comments were, I suspect, driven as much by a desire to be back in the headlines as anything else. There isn’t yet any sign of a great, concentrated public desire for another vote.

Nigel Farage has called for a referendum on the House of Lords. Earlier this week, on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, wearing his trademark dapper hat and velvet-collared coat, Farage laid into Lord Adonis’s anti-Brexit agitation, branding him a ‘dishonest, disconnected, twisting little weasel’ — ouch! He then said that if Adonis’s antics are ‘what the House of Lords is all about’, maybe we do need a second referendum — not on Brexit, but on the Lords itself, ‘a referendum to sack the lot of them’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om74Me2mTNw This is the most correct and brilliant thing Farage has ever said. We do need a referendum on the Lords, and I know which side I’ll be on: for abolition.

Theresa May's reshuffle is underway. Here are the key points so far: Justine Greening has quit the government; Damian Hinds is the new Education Secretary David Gauke becomes the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Esther McVey becomes work and pension secretary Karen Bradley is the new Northern Ireland Secretary after James Brokenshire resigns due to ill health Matt Hancock is the new Culture Secretary David Lidington appointed minister for the Cabinet Office Claire Perry is the new minister of state for business Brandon Lewis is new Tory party chairman following confusion over Chris Grayling's reported appointment.

First blue passports. Now Brexit stamps. For some, these belong in the same file as the Royal Yacht Britannia and Big Ben’s bongs. See also: filament lightbulbs and fruit and veg sold in pounds and ounces. For some (repeat: some) Remain-voting politicians and observers, this stuff is ridiculous, old-fashioned nonsense, an attempt to drag Britain back to some imagined 1950s idyll and proof to their suspicions that Leavers are old, weird and stupid. Just in case you need an illustration of this, dip into online 'debate' about the Sun’s Brexit stamps campaign. Now, I should declare an interest: I voted Remain and still can’t see any of the possible outcomes of Brexit that is better than those that faced us if we’d stayed.

The last full year before Britain leaves the EU has been foretold by some as a time of increasingly desperate negotiation. According to this view the government is drifting towards an economically painful Brexit, so consumed by the whole sorry business that it is unable to address any of the country’s other problems. Yet there is no reason why 2018 should turn out this way, and every reason to hope that it will prove to be the year when the Conservatives finally emerge from the tumult of the referendum to achieve other things. While the deal struck between the government and the EU in December -- and the prospect of Britain paying a ‘leaving bill’ of around £40 billion -- has offended some Brexiteers, it has transformed the political landscape.

When he isn’t jetting around the world making huge sums of money, Tony Blair now dedicates himself to the cause of blocking Brexit. The former Prime Minister has warned that leaving the European Union will do ‘profound damage’ to Britain, and last month, Blair confirmed he is working to stop the UK leaving the EU. But Blair hasn’t always been so keen on the EU. Back in 1983 when he was first running as the Labour candidate in Sedgefield, a leaflet surfacing on Twitter reveals that Blair told voters: ‘We will negotiate withdrawal from the EEC which has drained our natural resources and destroyed our jobs.’ What's more, this wasn’t the only time Blair has rallied against Brussels.

Andrew Adonis, the former Labour Transport Secretary and newly non-affiliated peer, has quit as the government's infrastructure tsar, slamming the Prime Minister's Brexit direction in the process. Here's the full text: Dear Prime Minister, The hardest thing in politics is to bring about lasting change for the better, and I believe in co-operation across parties to achieve it. In this spirit I was glad to accept reappointment last year as Chair of the independent National Infrastructure Commission, when you also reaffirmed your support for HS2, which will help overcome England's north-south divide when it opens in just eight years time. I would like to thank you for your courtesy in our personal dealings.

From Tim Martin Q. I have campaigned vociferously for Brexit. In my own world of pubs, Leavers prevail. However, my wife insists I attend Remain-dominated dinner parties over Christmas, where I am as popular as Jonny Bairstow in an Aussie team talk. How can I ingratiate myself with the bourgeoisie? A. Subtly encourage the inevitable kangaroo court atmosphere so the rival males can let off steam and use you as a verbal punchbag, asserting their masculinity and showing off in front of their wives. You might initiate a dispute on one of the Leave campaign’s less sound assertions and concede points so they can be seen to have ‘won’. Let Christmas spirit prevail as you use your own unpopularity to boost the group’s self-esteem.