Uk politics

Monday

Freddy Gray

The British government is in crisis, again. Enter Trump, stage right, again

Trump says he likes things ‘nice and complicated’ – well, in that case, he couldn’t be coming to Britain at a better time. Theresa May’s newly hatched soft Brexit plan, announced on Friday, has triggered two major resignations from her cabinet and another political crisis in Britain. David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, went late last night. Then Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary followed early this afternoon. Westminster is now alive with whispers of an imminent leadership coup; the Tory party looks hopelessly divided, the political system unable to cope. We may even have another general election, the third in four years.   Enter Trump, stage right. He must be licking

Katy Balls

Theresa May faces the music in the Commons

When Theresa May envisaged herself giving a statement in the Commons on the Cabinet agreement made at Chequers, she didn’t expect to do so with her Brexit Secretary and Foreign Secretary no longer by her side. And so it was after a morning of high drama, a lonely Prime Minister this afternoon had to face questions from a divided party over a Brexit position she yesterday thought her Cabinet agreed upon. It wasn’t a pleasurable experience for the beleaguered Prime Minister. Labour’s Kevin Brennan asked May whether the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg was right that 48 letters had been sent calling for a ‘no confidence’ vote. May simply said she was

Robert Peston

The Tory Brexiters’ ultimatum to Theresa May

With the resignations in the past 24 hours of two of Theresa May’s four most senior ministers – Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary, and David Davis as Brexit Secretary – something very important died. But it is not clear whether what has been snuffed out is Theresa May’s Brexit plan or Theresa May’s leadership of the Conservative Party. That at least is what Tory Brexiter MPs tell me. Like Davis and Johnson, they see her Brexit proposal – to permanently be governed by EU rules for the making of goods and food, and also to collect EU tariffs at our borders – as a betrayal of the 17.4m people who

Isabel Hardman

Theresa May’s troublemakers resign. What now for the PM?

In the past 24 hours, Theresa May has lost two of the Cabinet ministers who have caused her the most trouble. Boris Johnson and David Davis were widely considered to be immovable, despite a number of crises entirely of their own making. The only way for them to go was by resignation, which lends them an appearance of strength. This strength has little to do with the achievements of either minister, though. David Davis had been increasingly sidelined from the negotiation process, which does appear to have been a key factor in his decision to go, given no-one likes to be treated as though they don’t matter. But it isn’t

James Forsyth

Boris Johnson resigns as Foreign Secretary

Boris Johnson has resigned. The Foreign Secretary becomes the second senior Cabinet Minister to quit over the deal agreed at Chequers, which he reportedly called a ‘turd’. At the weekend, those close to Boris were clear that he wouldn’t resign. They said that the only people who would benefit from his resignation would be Michel Barnier and co and that he intended to stay and fight against further concessions to the EU. So, what has changed? Well, a cynic would say David Davis’s resignation. But I understand another factor for him has been how he would defend this plan in public. The more he thought about it, the more he

Robert Peston

Dominic Raab’s appointment is a smart move by Theresa May

The appointment of Dominic Raab as Brexit Secretary to replace David Davis is very smart politics by the prime minister. He is regarded by the True Brexiters as one of them. In fact, David Davis sees Raab as his protege. For what its worth, his promotion shows the influence in Downing Street of the director of communications, Robbie Gibb – late of the BBC – in that Gibb has been a fan of Raab’s for some time. If there is a mystery, it is why Raab took the job. The point is that it is pretty unlikely that he fundamentally disagrees with Davis that May’s plan to take EU rules

Steerpike

Watch: Steve Baker savages Theresa May’s Brexit plan

Theresa May’s nightmare Monday morning is going from bad to worse. Steve Baker, who followed David Davis out of the exit door at the Brexit department, has savaged the Prime Minister’s Chequers plan on the Daily Politics. When asked whether the Brexit blueprint was delivering Brexit in name only, he had this to say: ‘The problem with this particular Brexit is that it will not allow us to have proper control over what goes on in the United Kingdom. We need to get out from treaty obligations that automatically oblige parliament to accept any particular rules and instead be in a position where what we do it is a matter for

Katy Balls

Why No 10 made Dominic Raab Brexit Secretary

Dominic Raab has this morning been appointed as David Davis’s successor as Brexit Secretary. Raab moves from his role as minister of state for Housing to his first Cabinet post as Secretary of State for Exiting the EU. Well-liked among colleagues, Raab is someone who is seen to have been consistently overlooked for promotion. He was recently asked in a television interview, why he hadn’t been promoted given that he was so consistently loyal in defending the government’s position. He is also a savvy hire by No 10 thanks to the fact Raab is a Davis ally and a dedicated Leaver. It will help to send the signal that this

Stephen Daisley

There’s nothing principled about David Davis’s resignation

David Davis has walked away. It’s what he does best. DDexit was inevitable from the moment he was appointed Brexit secretary. Davis is a quitter, not a fixer; asked to compromise, his preference is always for blowing the whole show up. Reports suggest he was especially irked by the No. 10 briefing about ministers being stuck at Chequers without a working local taxi number. The bloke was in the SAS Reserves and couldn’t figure out how to download the Uber app. It’s no mystery why the Brexit negotiations have been going nowhere.  There isn’t much affection for Davis, even among his fellow Brexit ultras, but some will try to paint

Tom Goodenough

David Davis breaks his silence on his resignation

David Davis has broken his silence on his resignation. Unsurprisingly his comments on the Today programme are devastating for Theresa May’s Brexit strategy. The now-departed Brexit secretary said his position was no longer tenable because he simply didn’t believe in the PM’s approach. In his resignation letter last night, he had said that ‘that the national interest requires a Secretary of State in my Department that is an enthusiastic believer in the approach, and not merely a reluctant conscript’. He went further on the Today programme, calling the PM’s approach a ‘dangerous strategy’. What is worrying for May is not only that Davis himself couldn’t get behind May’s approach but also that he

Sunday

Chris Key

Don’t blame Cameron for the government’s Brexit mess

I listened to the Coffee House podcast about Danny Dyer’s David Cameron rant. Fraser Nelson appears to live in a parallel universe. It is true that Cameron probably expected to be in a coalition with the Lib Dems again in 2015 and to never have to fulfil the promise of an EU referendum. However it is absurd to lay the blame for the government’s disastrous handling of Brexit negotiations at Cameron’s door. After all, was it David Cameron or Theresa May who triggered Article 50 with no clear negotiating plan? Was it David Cameron or Theresa May who called a snap election in a fit of hubris only to lose

James Forsyth

Why David Davis resigned

The Brexit Secretary David Davis has quit. Davis’s resignation is the biggest political crisis that Theresa May has faced since the loss of her majority in the general election and leaves her facing a battle to save her premiership. Davis has gone because he could not stomach the opening UK negotiating position agreed at Chequers. Davis has long been clear that he wanted a final deal that was, essentially, a souped-up version of the Canada free trade deal. But the position agreed at Chequers envisaged a relationship very different to that, one far more firmly in the EU’s regulatory orbit. As Brexit Secretary Davis was meant to promote the Chequers

Saturday

Robert Peston

How Theresa May trounced the Brexiteers

Tory MPs and ministers have consistently under-estimated their leader. What Theresa May achieved at Chequers yesterday was extraordinary. She persuaded her cabinet to sign up for a Brexit plan that drives a coach and horses through what the Brexiters in her team – especially Boris Johnson and Michael Gove – said Brexit was all about, during that historic referendum campaign. What is more, at Chequers yesterday, Gove was a cheerleader for a plan that would enshrine in treaty what is supposedly anathema to his Brexit cause – that the UK now and forever would be subject to European Union rules and regulations governing the quality and safety of the goods

James Forsyth

The reason May’s third way won approval? Cabinet Brexiteers have no alternative plan

Theresa May is through Chequers with a plan that proposes having the UK follow EU rules on goods and agri-foods. This isn’t what the Cabinet’s Brexiteers would have expected two years ago, or even nine months ago. But as I say in The Sun this morning, the biggest single reason they are putting up with this is that they don’t have an alternative plan. When Boris Johnson invited the Cabinet’s Brexiteers plus Gavin Williamson and Sajid Javid, who were pivotal to the Brexiter inner Cabinet’s rejection of Theresa May’s new customs partnership plan, to his office for a meeting on Wednesday morning it only highlighted the group’s problems. First, Javid

Friday

Katy Balls

Cabinet back Theresa May’s soft Brexit plan. How will Brussels respond?

Theresa May’s Cabinet away day is finally over and the Prime Minister can go to sleep safe in the knowledge that there have been no resignations… yet. In a No 10 statement this evening, May said the Cabinet had agreed its collective position for the Brexit negotiations – for a common rule book on industrial goods and agricultural products. This means the UK would have to in effect follow EU rules in these sectors: ‘Our proposal will create a U.K. – EU free trade area which establishes a common rule book for industrial goods and agricultural products. This maintains high standards in these areas, but we will also ensure that no

Ross Clark

The tragedy of the Brexit Chequers summit

Today has been so bigged-up as a day of destiny for Britain that it can only deliver disappointment. Even if we do have white smoke rising from the chimneys of Chequers by the end of the day, together with a photo full of strained smiles as the Chancellor and Foreign Secretary apparently agree on a blueprint for Brexit full of delicate compromises and trade-offs, why does anyone think that Michel Barnier and his team will give the nod to what is agreed? It is remarkable how little this matter has been raised over the last few days. We have had endless speculation on the internal politics of the cabinet. We

Brendan O’Neill

Theresa May’s Brexit plan is Remain by another name

Stop it. Stop saying we can’t be sure why people voted for Brexit. Stop saying it was just a screech of rage against politicians and so must now be tempered and made into sensible policy. Stop saying it’s fine for Theresa May in her Chequers showdown to ‘soften’ Brexit and keep us entangled in a customs union, and even in the European Court of Justice, because we don’t know if people really want to leave these institutions. This is all untrue. We know very well why people voted for Brexit, and we know that what May is offering is a betrayal of what they voted for. It is testament to

Stephen Daisley

Why is Sturgeon rolling out the red carpet for Catalonia’s president?

Pity the flunky at Bute House, official residence of Nicola Sturgeon, whose job it is to get the red carpet ready for formal visits. The poor lad mustn’t know whether he’s coming or going. Two weeks ago, the First Minister said it wasn’t ‘appropriate at this time for the red carpet to be rolled out’ for Donald Trump. ‘Meetings are one thing, perhaps, but red carpet treatment is another,’ she added. McJeeves shouldn’t store away the crimson runner just yet though. Next Wednesday, Sturgeon will welcome to Bute House, Joaquim ‘Quim’ Torra, the publisher turned politician who was sworn in as Catalan president in May.  The Scottish Nationalists are dabblers

Steerpike

Nigel Farage offers May a Brexit incentive

Theresa May has come under some pressure these last few weeks over her plan for Britain’s post Brexit trade relationship. Both wings of her party have aggressively pitched their preferred version. Today it’s crunch time as the Cabinet head to Chequers to thrash out a position. But has the most convincing argument for the Brexiteer side only just aired? With rumours circling that May is to pitch a soft Brexit, Nigel Farage has threatened a comeback. The former Ukip leader has warned that he will have ‘no choice’ but to return to frontline politics if Brexit is delayed past March 2019. I’ll have no choice but to return to frontline

Thursday

James Forsyth

Number 10: We’ll do a free trade deal with the US

Earlier I wrote about how a paper circulated to ministers before Chequers makes clear that the UK’s plan to follow a ‘common rulebook for all goods including agri-food’ with the EU ‘would not allow the UK to accommodate a likely ask from the US in a future trade deal’ as the UK would be unable to recognise the US’s ‘array of standards’. But Number 10 are absolutely insistent that this doesn’t mean there won’t be a trade deal with the US; they also say that senior figures in government and trade experts are confident that a deal could still be done and that Theresa May wouldn’t be talking to Donald Trump