Brexit

If as a country we cannot take a big decision about whether or not we should be in the European Union, which is based on sovereignty, which is based on controlling our borders; there are arguments on both sides. We ought to be able to have a reasonable and civilised debate on that, and then have a vote. What we are now getting is not a reasonable or civilised discussion. It is a discussion where both sides seem to be throwing insults at each other. And I find that deeply depressing; and frankly, if a government cannot take action to prevent some of these catastrophic outcomes – whatever position you take on the EU – it illustrates a whole lack of preparation that doesn’t tell us anything about whether the policy of staying in the EU is good or bad.

Funnily enough, MPs across the Commons were today very keen to welcome Jeremy Hunt to his position as Foreign Secretary and suggest that he might garner more praise from them than his predecessor. At his first departmental questions in the new role, Hunt also had to address one of the messes left by Boris Johnson - and explain what his priorities were for the aspect of the portfolio that Johnson resigned over: the EU. The priorities of a Secretary of State can often be divined from which questions he or she chooses to answer at these sessions, and which ones are farmed out to his junior ministers. Hunt answered questions on the mass killing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma, the detention of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in Iran and Brexit.

C.S. Forester, creator of Hornblower, a great student of Anglo-French relations, wrote a now often overlooked exhortative novel titled Death to the French. Contemporary readers might consider it triggering if not racist, yet it captures well a traditional British reaction when angry Frenchmen start throwing missiles at us. Here in the south of France we are some distance from the troubled waters of the Guerre de Coquilles Saint Jacques. On the shores of the Mediterranean, oysters are favoured and war fever muted, although nobody at Chez Trini’s café doubts that the perfidious English are up to their usual conneries. I tend to agree, but then I’m applying for an Irish passport (thanks to my Belfast-born grandmother).

The International Trade Secretary says he is going to turn Britain into an ‘exporting superpower’. To which countries did we export the most goods in June? Exports / Year change US £3.99bn / +12% Germany £2.95bn / -8.1% Switzerland £2.41bn / +184% China £2.16bn / +71% Netherlands £2.14bn / +13% France £2.10bn / -0.6% Ireland £1.68bn / -1.

After a weekend of politicians feuding over the merits of a second referendum, Barry Gardiner, Andy Burnham and Conor Burns have become the latest politicians to criticise the People's Vote campaign to do just this. Meanwhile the BBC reports of a leaked memo which shows that the group has its eye on changing Labour policy – encouraging MPs and activists to submit a motion at Labour conference next month. As I reveal in this week's Spectator, the People's Vote campaign – which argues the public should have a say on the final deal – has a three-point Parliamentary strategy when it comes to bringing about a second referendum.

Between shows at the Edinburgh fringe I find myself addressing a rally supporting a People’s Vote on the final Brexit deal. I have some sympathy for Theresa May — she keeps going to Switzerland, Dignitas keeps sending her back — but her white paper published this summer is in effect the second draft of a Brexit manifesto (the first being her Lancaster House speech in January 2017, snubbed at the subsequent election). It is therefore the first time in my experience that the manifesto has turned up more than two years after the vote. Time for another, then. People may object this is a betrayal of democracy. I believe it would be an affirmation of informed democracy. There can be no doubt that we are better informed and more aware of the issues than we were in 2016.