Katy Balls

It's fair to say that the government announcement that British passports will be blue once more after Brexit has received a mixed response. The Sun say it's a no less than stunning Brexit victory for the paper - which had been campaigning for the move - and Nigel Farage has also been quick to express delight. Others have questioned Theresa May's Brexit priorities. However, the issue that should worry the government isn't so much what shade they ought to be but the confusion over how much they cost. There are reports online that the colour change will cost the taxpayer a cool £500 million.

The news of Damian Green's 'resignation' (some would call it a polite sacking) as First Secretary of State has broadly speaking been accepted as necessary by Conservative MPs. David Davis has valiantly reneged on his pledge to resign from Cabinet in protest if Green was shown the door. Meanwhile, the at times outspoken Andrew Bridgen has busied himself on the airwaves this morning waxing lyrical about the government. What helps May is that Green broke the ministerial code because he made misleading statements – meaning she hasn't had to make the decision based on a judgment on his alleged actions. The next question: will May replace Green?

Although staffers in No 10 have been busy this week celebrating Theresa May making it to Christmas, the Prime Minister had to first make it through an appearance in front of the Liaison Committee this afternoon. Summoned to give evidence on everything from Brexit and the intricacies of alignment to the now defunct social mobility commission and sexual harassment, May found herself in a very different position to the one she was in when she last appeared before the committee a year ago. With no Conservative majority and a divided party behind her, May was reminded of her problems by the very presence of the new chair of the committee Sarah Wollaston.

Today the Cabinet finally held its first discussion on what type of relationship the UK should have with the EU post-Brexit. The reason the discussion had been put off for so long is that it is potentially a toxic one – with strong feelings on both sides of the debate. In recent weeks (or months, if you're a regular Coffee House Shots listener) the two tribes in Cabinet have come to be known as the divergers and the aligners. The first camp – composed of the likes of Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Gavin Williamson – think it's vital that Britain is able to diverge from EU regulations in any trade deal.

The Conservatives have a youth problem. The average age of a Tory party member is 57, Labour leads by 35 points among 18 - 24-year-old voters and – to add the cherry on the cake – those young conservatives who do wish to get involved have no obvious party youth organisation to join. So, surely it must have been a case of warm prosecco at the ready in CCHQ when the winner of this year's I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here was announced. The newly crowned queen of the ITV reality show – which boasts viewing figures over 12m – is not only a Tory but a young one at 23-years-old. Georgia 'Toff' Toffolo first made her name on Made in Chelsea, the E4 reality show, before charming the nation in the jungle.

It's official. Theresa May's Christmas wish has been granted. At the EU council meeting today, EU leaders agreed to move Brexit talks on to the second phase of talking trade. Announcing the news on social media, Donald Tusk, the European Council president, sent his 'congratulations' to Theresa May. https://twitter.com/eucopresident/status/941630669939249152 Moving forward, the EU withdrawal agreement will now be formalised and  talks will move on to the new relationship between the UK and EU post-Brexit. The first issue to be discussed will be the transition period with Brussels insistent that all EU Law will apply until the end of the transition and all four freedoms will continue. This means freedom of movement is set to continue.

The decision made by 11 Conservative MPs to rebel and back Dominic Grieve's amendment for a 'meaningful vote' on the final Brexit deal has received a mixed reaction in the Conservative party. Nadine Dorries – a one-time serial rebel herself – has suggested they ought to be deselected, while Henry Smith managed a slightly more nuanced tone on the Daily Politics when he said the rebels had 'betrayed' voters. Add to this, several hostile front pages naming and shaming the rebels and there's a feeling that ostracism is the preferred way to deal with them. As Robert Peston writes on Coffee House, in practical terms the Brexit rebellion is an embarrassment for May, not a disaster.

One of the things MPs complain about when it comes to Brexit – aside from its handling by the government – is that it means there is little time left for the Conservatives to pursue much in the terms of domestic policy. The one area which appears to be the exception to the rule is the environment. Since Michael Gove was appointed Defra secretary, there have been a raft of good news announcements coming from the department. From a £140 million fund for developing countries to tackle climate change and a clean energy programme to reintroducing beavers into the wild and saving trees in Sheffield, the Conservatives are on a mission to rebrand themselves as the party of the environment.

What is Gavin Williamson playing at? That's the question on the lips of Conservative MPs after two weeks of mayhem which have seen the beginnings of a defence budget rebellion complete with a briefing war with the Treasury. Since his surprise appointment as Defence Secretary, the former Chief Whip has been keen to prove his credentials – and commitment to his department – even if he does lack a military background. So far, this has involved banning Philip Hammond from flying in RAF jets until he paid his outstanding bill (now paid), a call for British jihadists to be hunted down and killed in the Middle East rather than allowed to return to the UK and a prominent role (including photo opp) in a campaign to save a pair of service dogs.

After the excitement of last week's Brexit negotiations – which saw Theresa May's working lunch that didn't work, the DUP veto the government's Brexit plans and a last minute Brexit agreement on Friday - today's statement from the Prime Minister proved a rather tame affair. With Jean-Claude Juncker recommending that the EU Council allow the Brexit talks to now move onto trade, the Prime Minister appeared at the despatch box to try and calm nerves over the contents of that draft agreement. May told MPs that it has been 'give and take' for both the UK and the EU when it came to reaching 'sufficient progress'.

There's relief in No 10 today after Theresa May and Jean Claude Juncker finally reached deal on the Irish border, EU citizens' rights and the so-called Brexit bill. The European Commission have subsequently recommended that 'sufficient progress' has been achieved in time for this month's EU council meeting – and that the Brexit talks should move on to trade in the new year. In order to get to this point, May has agreed a £40bn Brexit bill, time-limited ECJ role and a promise of no hard border between Northern Ireland and the republic. However, for the government the hard work is only just beginning. The second round of negotiations is where the real battle will take place.

After the DUP took issue with government's handling of the Irish border question on Monday, Theresa May had to return home from her lunch with Jean-Claude Juncker empty-handed. What's more, there's no indication that a solution is in sight anytime soon. The DUP worry that the wording in the draft text – promising regulatory alignment in relation to the Good Friday agreement – could see Northern Ireland treated differently than the rest of the UK – and result in an Irish sea border. Meanwhile, some Brexiteers worry that agreeing regulatory alignment between the UK and Ireland could mean an end to the clean Brexit they envisaged. So, one could be forgiven for thinking Tuesday's Cabinet meeting must have been a tense affair.

A government minister has just appeared at the despatch box to discuss the state of the EU negotiations. Unfortunately for Theresa May, it wasn't the victorious address No 10 had in mind when they earmarked time in the Chamber for today. Instead, David Davis was summoned to Parliament to answer an urgent question from Labour's Keir Starmer on the state of the EU negotiations ahead of this month's EU council meeting. After May's efforts to agree 'sufficient progress' in Brussels yesterday were torpedoed by concerns from the DUP over concessions on the Irish border, the shadow Brexit secretary accused the government of giving new meaning to the phrase 'coalition of chaos'.

Following Theresa May and Jean Claude Junker's press conference to announce that no deal has been reached (yet), Tory MPs were summoned to the Committee room corridor to be given a briefing on the progress – or lack there of. Only the meeting's organisers, Gavin Barwell and Steven Baker, didn't appear to have all that much to say – telling MPs that both sides were working hard to iron out the final issues holding up 'sufficient progress'. Or, as one MP puts it, 'what we were told is nothing has been agreed and nothing has been ruled out'. One Tory walked out with their hands in the air – though a more cheery attendee describes it as a 'positive' meeting with progress expected to come soon.

Jeremy Hunt has managed to get both Remainers and Brexiteers in a spin this weekend with his appearance on Peston on Sunday. Following reports of growing eurosceptic anger over concessions Theresa May is expected to make on the ECJ in a bid to get 'sufficient progress' at this month's EU council meeting, Hunt said his Parliamentary colleagues have a simple choice – May's Brexit or no Brexit at all: 'I think there's an even bigger point here, that the choice we face now is not between this Brexit and that Brexit; if we don't back Theresa May we will have no Brexit - and she is doing an unbelievably challenging job amazingly well.

There was a rare sight in No. 10 this week: backbench MPs being given direction. With the government beginning to function again after shambolic few weeks, the Tories are slowly regaining their confidence – as evidenced when Gavin Barwell gave Tories a lesson on Tuesday in changing the narrative. Barwell – the prime minister’s chief of staff – sat down Tory MPs over tea and coffee and said that they needed to re-establish what Conservative values are. This involved a seven-point lesson in what the Tories can offer voters, a handy print out to take home and revise from – and an emphasis that these instructions need not be taken as gospel – or in other words repeated word by word.

The most important thing coming from No 10 this morning is not anything they have said – but instead what they haven't said. Following a report yesterday that the UK's Brexit divorce bill has been agreed as being somewhere in the region of £45bn, the government have not tried to deny it nor pour cold water on the sum. Sensing an opportunity, the Opposition today tried to capitalise on the news. Labour have tabled an amendment to the EU withdrawal bill that would commit the government to giving MPs a vote on the Brexit financial settlement. It would also require the sum to be assessed by the OBR and the National Audit Office.

Ahead of the crunch EU council meeting next month, the government is doing everything it can to try and ensure the UK is given the green light from Brussels to move the negotiations on to trade. As part of this, talk has been rife that Theresa May is ready to considerably up her financial offer for the so-called Brexit bill. This afternoon, Peter Foster, the Telegraph's Europe Editor, reports that British and EU negotiators have reached a deal over the bill in good time for Theresa May's lunch with Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday. British and EU negotiators have reportedly agreed that the final figure, deliberately left vague, will be somewhere between €45bn and €55bn.