Anna Bailey

Donald Tusk just couldn’t resist. It was September 2018, and an informal European Council summit was taking place in Salzburg. As the leaders relaxed after lunch, someone snapped a photo of Tusk offering a tray of small cakes to the then British prime minister, Theresa May. Tusk posted the picture to his Instagram with the caption: ‘A piece of cake, perhaps? Sorry, no cherries.’ The joke/dig (depending on your point of view) worked because everyone knew what was being referred to. Ever since Article 50 had been triggered in March 2017, the British side had been attempting to ‘cherry pick’ – to try and gain the advantages of EU membership (in particular frictionless access to the single market) without the obligations or constraints of membership.

Has Boris Johnson done a Charles I and shut down Parliament indefinitely? The headlines this week might lead you to think so. 'Uproar as Boris Johnson shuts down parliament to protect Brexit plan', reported the FT. John Bercow called it 'a constitutional outrage'. 'It's tantamount to a coup against Parliament,' raged former attorney general Dominic Grieve. Nicola Sturgeon called it 'a dictatorship'. Yet the reality hardly lives up to the rhetoric. These are the facts: Parliament will return from summer recess on 3 September as planned. Parliament will not sit from mid-September to early October during the three-week party conference season – also as planned and as happens every year.