Uk politics

Has Theresa May's Mufasa just transformed into No 10's most troublesome minister? Geoffrey Cox – the Attorney General – shot to the public consciousness this month thanks to his star turn as the warm up act for May at Conservative party conference. The seasoned QC gave a barn-storming speech (which drew Lion King comparisons) calling for his fellow Brexiteers to get behind May and prepare to compromise in their quest for a good deal for the UK. As regular Coffee House readers will be aware, this was the second time Cox had thrown May a lifeline. Prior to his appointment to the Cabinet, the Conservative MP demonstrated his loyalty to Theresa May at a difficult 1922 committee after Boris Johnson had resigned over Chequers by defending the Prime Minister’s plans.

It's been a curious day in Parliament after Labour MPs en masse came to John Bercow's defence amid a damning report into bullying in Parliament. Despite the report concluding that the Speaker is among those who should consider their position, numerous Labour MPs have said that he should stay in place. It seems that treating employees well pales in comparison to having a chair sympathetic to your party's Brexit opposition. The majority of Labour MPs (see Steerpike's full roll call of shame) have been vague when it comes to their real intentions. However, in an interview with the BBC, Margaret Beckett has broken rank and offered an honest explanation as to why she and her colleagues want Bercow to stay in place: Brexit – which apparently 'trumps' bullying.

In the Prime Minister's statement to the House, Theresa May did her best to insist that despite an impasse in the Brexit negotiations it was business as normal. However, for all May's claims that the differences between the UK and the EU were solvable, the hostile questions that followed from MPs showed just how hard it would be to get any deal through Parliament. Jeremy Corbyn's attempts to say that the government's 'Groundhog Day' Brexit plans would fail Labour's six Brexit tests were met with laughter and derision. The Leader of the Opposition's shouty performance gave the beleaguered Prime Minister little reason for worry. However, the questions from the backbenchers did.

No one has their finger on the pulse in the House of Commons like the government’s chief whip. To make sure every bill gets through parliament unscathed, the whip has to understand exactly how every MP in the party plans to vote, what they're thinking about the government - and work out how they can get rebellious MPs to change their minds. But it looks like Theresa May’s chief whip Julian Smith has drawn up the drawbridge tonight. The man in charge of relations with backbenchers might just have had enough of talking with his own MPs. The government enforcer posted this picture (without caption) on social media at 9 p.m. tonight: https://twitter.com/JulianSmithUK/status/1051567081177698310 What possibly could the whip be receiving this many calls about on a Sunday night?

Sunday night was when the deal on the Irish backstop was meant to be done. But, as I say in The Sun this morning, this now seems unlikely to happen. The UK  and the EU are just too far apart on too many issues. There are two big issues at play. One, whether there should be a UK-wide backstop or one for Great Britain and another for Northern Ireland. I am told that at Thursday’s meeting of the inner Cabinet, ministers were told that the EU has not yet agreed to a UK-wide customs backstop. The second question is whether the backstop should be time limited. One member of the inner Cabinet who attended its discussion on Thursday night tells me that the meeting ‘didn’t really settle anything’. I am told that ‘The PM chaired as opposed to opined’.

With Theresa May's Brexit proposals looking increasingly difficult to get through Parliament, the so-called 'People's Vote' campaign has stepped up its efforts to bring about a second referendum... sorry, 'vote on the final deal'. The campaign group runs on the idea that the facts have changed so it's only fair that there's another vote. In that vein, they have released a new advert packed with on-message celebrities. https://twitter.com/peoplesvote_uk/status/1049985514324066304 Among those proclaiming the benefits of a second referendum are people's champion Gary Lineker, thespian Dominic West and Steve Coogan. In it, blogger and writer Scarlett Curtis declares 'this is not what we voted for'.