Katy Balls

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 is still a Brexit Brexiteers can get behind. Also getting a Brexiteer to take on this job shows that the revolt against the Chequers deal is, still, relatively limited.

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 new changes in the future take place without the approval of our Parliament.

It's the night before the Chequers summit and it's all starting to kick off. After James revealed on Coffee House that the key Brexit customs paper passed by No 10 to Cabinet Ministers ahead of tomorrow's meeting could be perceived as effectively ruling out a post-Brexit trade deal with the US, Brexiteers have been quick to see red. Right on cue, Jacob Rees-Mogg has said that if May's proposal is as reported it spells vassal state. The Brexit Secretary has written a letter to the Prime Minister outlining his problems with the government approach. Meanwhile, 46 Tory MPs – including 11 former cabinet ministers – have written to Theresa May, urging her to listen to business ahead of her crucial Chequers meeting on Friday.

How is Theresa May's big £20bn funding pledge landing with the public? That's the question Tory MPs are beginning to ask. The Prime Minister's – currently unfunded – early birthday present for the NHS to celebrate its 70th birthday was announced to much fanfare last month. It was meant as an agenda setting policy that would help to define her premiership, show there was more to Mayism than Brexit and boost the Tories' standing with voters. As of yet though, signs of an immediate Tory boost are absent. A YouGov poll – taken 25-26 June about a week after it was announced - puts the Tories ahead with a five-point lead on 42pc and Labour on 37pc. However, it's not that the Tories have gained since the last poll – just that Labour have fallen behind.

'It’s not just backbench Conservative MPs who expect ministers to pull together behind May: the great swathe of the electorate which either voted Leave, or voted Remain but recognises that a united team will achieve a better trading relationship for the future than a divided one, expects it too.' This is the warning Graham Brady issued to badly behaved Tory ministers over the weekend. Writing in the Guardian, the chair of the all-powerful 1922 committee of backbench Tory MPs, presented the feuding Cabinet with a choice: get behind May or prepare for a Corbyn victory at the next election similar to 1997. This isn't the first time Brady has had to speak out in a bid to get his party to take a minute to breathe before going into self-destruct mode.

Collective responsibility is dead. Long live cabinet irresponsibility. This seems to be the message from Theresa May’s government this week. After Gavin Williamson kicked off the week with a supposed threat to bring down the Prime Minister unless she gave him £10bn ASAP, Boris Johnson and Philip Hammond have kept busy with a proxy battle over business Brexit warnings. The bad behaviour appears to be contagious. In a speech last night to the London School of Economics, Liz Truss – the Chief Secretary to the Treasury – took aim at Michael Gove’s eco-warrior status and the Defence Secretary's ‘macho’ calls for cash.

'What you can see is someone who has the instincts of a Brexiteer, but the cautious pragmatism of a Remainer, which is where I think the British people are.' This is how Jeremy Hunt tried to sell Theresa May's leadership on the Andrew Marr sofa this Sunday. After a choppy few weeks for No. 10, the Health Secretary made clear that he felt May was still the right person for the job of Prime Minister. Perhaps it's just pure coincidence then that one could also substitute Hunt's name with May's in that endorsement. Like May, Hunt is a Remainer turned Brexiteer. A point he also proved on Sunday when he said that Airbus's Brexit 'threat' over potential loss of jobs was 'inappropriate'. The blunt comments were surprising given that Hunt was once seen as mild-mannered.

How do you find the money to pay for a £20bn NHS funding pledge? Usually such discussions – and eventual calculations – would be made before the money was announced. However, Theresa May decided to ditch the rulebook this week when she unveiled her government's funding package to boost health spending by an average of 3.4 per cent over the next five years. Far from a fully costed pledge, May referred to a rarely-sighted Brexit dividend, potential borrowing and future tax rises. The uncertainty has led to criticism from Jeremy Corbyn's Labour – not usually known for fiscal restraint. But happily it seems the Treasury now has a plan – or at least a plan to come up with a plan.

It's that time of the week again: crunch time for Theresa May. Tomorrow MPs will vote again on Dominic Grieve's meaningful vote amendment along with the government's 'compromise' meaningful vote amendment. The problem with that compromise is it's already been rejected by several Remain Tory rebels – who say the Prime Minister personally misled them last week on the issue. The problem with their preferred amendment is that it has been rejected by the government on the grounds that it would tie their hands in the negotiations. Only one side can come out of this the winner. Government figures are sounding increasingly confident that they have the numbers to defeat Grieve's amendment.

The most problematic rebellion Theresa May has suffered this week is not on Brexit and the troublesome EU Withdrawal Bill – but on upskirting. In case you've missed it, upskirting is when someone takes a picture up a woman's skirt without their knowledge. At present, police struggle to pursue such offences as if the woman is wearing underwear then the incident can be deemed not 'graphic' enough to be classed as either outraging public decency or as a crime of voyeurism. So, a private members' bill on the issue – brought to the House of Commons by Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse – was today set to change all that and bring it in line with other voyeurism offences.

Oh dear. Although it was widely accepted that either the Tory Remainers or the Tory Brexiteers would be furious when the government published its compromise on the meaningful vote amendment, one had hoped that the peace might have lasted at least until the amendment was out. That wasn't to be. Before the amendment was even out, Remain rebels were crying foul. The important thing to note about the government's so-called compromise amendment is that it says it would be 'a motion in neutral terms. This means that Parliament would only get a 'meaningful' vote along the lines of  'this House has considered...'. That would be unamendable – so Parliament could not amend the government’s proposals.

Although no-one yet knows what the government's compromise meaningful vote amendment will look like when it returns to the Lords, there's a growing feeling in Westminster that it is the Tory Remain rebels who have the upper hand. Even if the government doesn't go far enough to appease these MPs in its verbal promise of some kind of 'meaningful' say on the final deal, this group are bullish and increasingly confident that they can tie the government's hands the next time the bill returns. This has led to increasing concern among the Brexiteers. Talk of 'no deal is better than a bad deal' is now viewed as a hollow threat. Even with no meaningful vote, there's the not-so-small issue that few in Brussels believe the UK has done enough to prepare for the event of a 'no deal' Brexit.

The main takeaway from the confusion surrounding today's meaningful vote amendment is that no-one knows what it means. Although the government technically successfully defeated the Lords amendment calling for a meaningful vote on the final deal, confusion reigns over who is the winner: the Remainers or the Brexiteers. The would-be Tory Remain rebels are convinced that they were assured by the Prime Minister herslef that by voting with the government they would be awarded with a concession that would give them some form of binding vote on the next steps were Parliament to reject the government's Brexit deal.

The farce that is Labour Live rumbles on. With the Jezfest set to take place this weekend, the organisers are still struggling to shift tickets to the musical bonanza – which bills The Magic Numbers and Kate Osamor among its headliners. The Times today reports that 'sales' are still said to be stuck at around the 3,000 mark despite the venue – White Hart Lane Rec – having a 15,000 capacity. Labour MPs are growing increasingly concerned about the whole affair and asking Jenny Formby, the general secretary, who is currently footing the estimated £1million cost of the event. She has kept tight-lipped. But even if it is the Labour party that has to underwrite the cost of what is now expected to be a loss-making event, the damage goes beyond financial.

Unity is the buzzword in the Conservative party this week. With a series of crunch votes due on Tuesday and Wednesday over the EU withdrawal bill, senior Tories have been at pains to tell unruly colleagues it's time to put their differences aside and come together. Over the weekend, Amber Rudd and ex-leader Iain Duncan Smith warned that any Commons rebellions would be a win for Labour – and therefore bring Corbyn closer to entering No 10. It was a message echoed by David Lidington on the Andrew Marr show. No 10 are increasingly confident that this new comradely spirit will prove contagious. Within government, concerns have eased over the two most troublesome votes: the customs union amendment and the meaningful vote amendment.

Is Theresa May a feminist? That's the question that's dominating Westminster today following the Prime Minister's reluctance to back reform of Northern Ireland's strict abortion law. The Republic of Ireland's decisive vote to overturn its own law on Friday has seen May come under pressure from Cabinet ministers and some of her own MPs to bring about such change on the other side of the Irish border. Usually this would be a devolved matter but given that there is no power-sharing executive at Stormont – and there hasn't been for almost 15 months – there are some who think the responsibility falls on the PM. Not No 10, however. Downing Street continues to insist that it is a devolved issue – and no decision should be taken from Westminster.

Theresa May's government is supposed to decide within the next two months what type of migration policy Britain should adopt after Brexit. So it didn't go unnoticed that both Michael Gove and Ruth Davidson used the launch of a new Conservative think tank – Onward – on Monday night to argue for a more relaxed and open system. But despite them speaking out, the person causing No 10 the biggest headache on immigration today is the immigration minister. After Caroline Nokes caused confusion during the Windrush crisis by suggesting in an interview that some migrants may have been accidentally deported, she is back in the line of fire once again.