Theresa may

What a surprise: a government trying to make it easier to get legislation through the House of Commons. Today's Huffington Post story that Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom is trying to ensure that there is a Tory majority on every committee scrutinising legislation is just the latest example of Theresa May's government making every effort to make life easier for itself. Journalists at the Number 10 lobby briefing today pointed out that the Tories haven't actually won a majority and therefore do not deserve to have a majority in public bill and delegated legislation committees. Rather astonishingly, the Number 10 spokesman responded that 'the government has a majority on the floor of the House'.

Some things never change. It's the end of the first week of the new term and the Conservatives are finishing it with a row about Brexit. Although there are several rows currently brewing on Brexit – from amendments to the EU (withdrawal) bill to David Davis's 'stability' – the one that is giving the Prime Minister the biggest headache involves a letter and a minister. The letter – thought to have been destined for the Sunday Telegraph – says that Britain should not pay into the EU budget during a transition period and must be able to sign trade deals straight after Brexit. These demands go further than current government policy and it has been circulated among Brexit-backing Tories, with dozens said to have signed it so far.

Today has been a reminder of just how hard getting the Brexit legislation through parliament will be for Theresa May. In the Commons today, various Tory MPs made clear their concerns about the EU withdrawal bill and the powers it gives to the executive. While the bill will pass easily at second reading, the government is almost certain to have to give some ground to get the bill through committee stage. Already there is talk about a compromise involving votes on statutory instruments on the floor of the House. At the same time, there’s been the leak of a letter that is being circulated among clean Brexit Tory MPs which sets out that not only should the UK leave the single market and the customs union but that this country should be able to do trade deals throughout the transition.

Nearly all Tory MPs now agree Theresa May should stay on as Prime Minister. She must get the party through Brexit, they say. A leadership contest now would risk splitting the party over the European issue. One senior Tory who was agitating to depose May back in July has told me that he has now decided it would be best if she stays until 2019. But this desire to keep her in place for Brexit should not be confused (especially not by Mrs May) with a desire to see her fight the next election. The number of Tories prepared to even contemplate following her into another battle remains vanishingly small. Memories of her performance in the general election are far too vivid, and painful, for that. So if Brexit is her main job, how is it going?

Who does Theresa May want to promote in her reshuffle? On our Coffee House Shots podcast today, we discuss how the Prime Minister actually feels powerful enough to even consider moving ministers around, and why she might want to delay that reshuffle for as long as possible. But there's another question worth asking, which is who wants to accept Theresa May's offer of a promotion? One of the names being mooted is Tom Tugendhat, currently the chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. Tugendhat has only recently taken that position, but it wouldn't be an unprecedented move: Rory Stewart left his position as Defence Select Committee chair in 2015 after less than a year because he was offered a ministerial job.

When Parliament returns tomorrow, Theresa May will come back to work to find her position a bit more secure than it was when she left for the summer break. With no obvious leadership challenger and her party vaguely united behind her, May looks safe in No 10 in the coming months – even if her claim that she could lead her party into another election looks dubious at best. It follows that talk has now turned to how she could shore up her position and assert her authority on her party. The Times reports that the prime minister and her allies are planning to use the threat of a reshuffle to further bolster her authority.

Britain will have to pay some kind of Brexit bill to leave the EU, accepts the Sun. But that shouldn’t mean having to ‘pay a penny more than is due’. The Sunday Times reported yesterday that Theresa May is considering offering £50bn to keep Brussels happy. The Sun has a simple message: we hope that Brexit secretary David Davis is telling the truth when he describes such reports as nonsense. It’s not only the PM who comes under pressure in the Sun’s editorial today; the paper also takes aim at Brexit chief negotiator Michel Barnier for saying the UK needs ‘educating’ about the price of leaving the EU.