Katy Balls

On Wednesday, 52 Labour MPs chose to defy Jeremy Corbyn's three-line whip and vote against Brexit in the Article 50 vote. With rebels Clive Lewis, Rachael Maskell and Jo Stevens all resigning from the frontbench as a result, Corbyn has today had to begin a reshuffle of his shadow cabinet. The Labour leader says he is 'pleased to announce' that Rebecca Long-Bailey will replace Lewis as shadow business secretary, with Peter Dowd moving to fill Long-Bailey’s previous position as shadow chief secretary to the Treasury. Christina Rees replaces Stevens as shadow Welsh secretary, while Sue Hayman will succeed Maskell as shadow environment secretary.

For a second day running, the government yesterday defeated all amendments proposed to its Brexit bill. Most notably, MPs voted down Chris Leslie's Labour amendment that would have stopped ministers striking a Brexit agreement until it had been passed by MPs and peers, by a comfortable majority of 33. This was an issue the government worried would inspire a Tory rebellion. David Jones, the Brexit minister, attempted to placate Parliamentarians by announcing that MPs would have a say on the final draft Brexit agreement before it was voted upon by the European Parliament. While Keir Starmer was quick to hail this as a ‘huge and very important concession’, it turned out that the shadow Brexit secretary had actually mistaken crumbs for bread.

The last time Theresa May met with EU leaders en masse, she was caught on camera being shunned by her European counterparts. At today's Malta EU summit, the Prime Minister managed to avoid any lonesome moments. On the walkabout she was seen with Angela Merkel, but then a planned bilateral meeting between the two was cancelled on the grounds that they discussed all they need to discuss. The Prime Minister struggled when it came to selling her new friend President Trump to the 27 EU leaders. Asked if May could act as a 'bridge' between the EU and Trump’s administration, Francois Hollande rebuffed the suggestion: 'It is not about asking one particular country, be it the UK or any other, to represent Europe in its relationship with the United States.

The government's Brexit bill has been given the green light by Parliament. On Wednesday evening, MPs voted in favour by 498 votes to 114 to give Theresa May the power to trigger Article 50 and begin formal Brexit talks. A separate SNP amendment to stop the bill from progressing was also defeated, by a comfortable majority of 236. The bill will now pass to the committee stage where there could be more scope for rebellion as MPs try to add amendments. While there could still be Tory rebellions down the line, it was only Ken Clarke who broke rank and voted against the government. It was a different story for opposition parties: not even the Liberal Democrats could get all nine of their MPs into the same lobby tonight, with two abstaining.

As the Trump visa ban row rumbles on, No 10 is under pressure to cancel President Trump's state visit after nearly a million UK citizens signed a protest on the issue. The Prime Minister's spokesman has dismissed the suggestion today -- but re-confirmed that the government does not agree with Trump’s policy, which sees citizens from seven countries temporarily banned from entering the US. However, the most striking aspect of today's lobby briefing came when No 10 appeared to throw the Foreign Secretary a hospital pass. Setting Boris Johnson up for a difficult afternoon, the Prime Minister's spokesman suggested that the decision to invite Trump to the UK for a state visit was first taken by the state visit committee that operates in the Foreign Office.

This weekend Theresa May discovered why it is a prime minister most fears events. After a well executed two-day charm offensive in America cementing the UK/US special relationship, the Prime Minister was plunged into a row over President Trump's decision to stop travellers and refugees from seven Muslim countries gaining entry into the US. May's sluggish response to condemn the move (after initially dodging the question in a press conference in Turkey) has led to her being branded 'Theresa the appeaser'. As Jeremy Corbyn appeared on Peston on Sunday to put pressure on the Prime Minister over her relationship with Trump, May borrowed a trick from Osborne and sent David Gauke to try and clear up the mess on the Andrew Marr show.

Another day, another front-bench resignation from Labour. After Tulip Siddiq quit the front-bench over Jeremy Corbyn’s decision to impose a three-line whip on the Article 50 vote, Jo Stevens has today followed suit. The shadow secretary for Wales has resigned from her post after coming to the conclusion she could not reconcile herself to voting to trigger article 50 as she believed leaving the EU would be 'a terrible mistake'. Stevens' departure is particularly striking as Wales was actually more pro-Brexit than the UK as a whole. However, her seat (Cardiff central) is a Labour/Liberal Democrat marginal that voted heavily to Remain. It follows that this is another example of Labour politicians being pulled two ways.

After the government lost its Supreme Court appeal, Article 50 must now be triggered by an Act of Parliament. As a result, Theresa May must now put a bill through Parliament on triggering Article 50 to take the UK out of the European Union. Today the two-clause bill was given its first reading -- and can now be published:   While the majority of MPs are not expected to block Brexit, many are hoping to amend the legislation so that it involves a range of caveats regarding the terms of Britain's exit from the EU. In this vein, the SNP -- before even seeing the bill -- promised a whole 50 amendments, while there is expected to be Labour opposition too (though not necessarily from the Labour leader).

Unusually for the Conservatives they've become engulfed in a row over Trident. The Sunday Times reported that a dummy Trident missile had misfired in a test in June and veered towards the US, rather than Africa. After Theresa May refused to say four times on the Andrew Marr show on Sunday morning whether she had known of the reported malfunction when she told MPs the nuclear deterrent should be renewed, the row rumbled on today. No.10 announced that the Prime Minister had been aware of the Trident missile test that reportedly misfired, but left it to Michael Fallon to attempt to hose down the mess this afternoon as he faced MPs in the Commons.

This morning Theresa May appeared on the Andrew Marr show to talk Trump and Trident. While the Prime Minister successfully batted away suggestions that she wasn't doing enough to challenge the US President on feminism -- stating that the fact she will be there 'as a female prime minister' when the two meet is the biggest statement to be made about the role of women -- she struggled on the latter topic. Following a report by the Sunday Times that a serious malfunction in June of Britain's Trident nuclear weapons deterrent was covered up by Downing Street, Marr asked May if she had known about the Trident misfire when she told MPs it should be renewed.

With Theresa May opting to give her speech in the grand settings of Lancaster House rather than the Commons, it fell on David Davis to face anxious MPs in the House. With many MPs feeling sidelined by the Prime Minister, the Brexit secretary summarised May's speech -- re-asserting that the final deal will be put to a vote in the Commons and adding that Britain will seek an interim agreement in order to avoid the economy falling off a cliff edge. Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, responded by announcing his disappointment that May had avoided answering questions in the Commons. However, while Jeremy Corbyn took to the airwaves to accuse May of wanting to have her cake and eat it, Starmer did find some praise for the Prime Minister's Brexit plan.

Listen to Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth and Ayesha Hazarika on Tristram Hunt's departure: Another month, another Labour MP resigns. Following Jamie Reed's resignation in December, Tristram Hunt has quit as the MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central to take on a role as the director of the V&A. In his resignation letter, Hunt says that 'there were very few jobs' that would have convinced him to stand down but 'the post of Director of the V&A -- the world's greatest museum of art, design and performance -- is just that'. However, given that Hunt is one of Corbyn's most vocal critics -- and branded 'hostile' by the leadership -- few will see his decision as Hunt merely being wooed by a better job offer.

With the Home Secretary's conference speech officially recorded as a 'hate incident' after an Oxford University physics professor complained to the police, the academic today appeared on the Daily Politics to explain just why he had spoken out. In an interview with Andrew Neil, Joshua Silver said Amber Rudd's speech -- in which she spoke of her wish to ensure foreign workers 'were not taking jobs British workers could do' -- was 'picking on foreigners': AN: Why's it picking on foreigners to suggest that British people should need to get on in life? JS: Well, she did say... there were briefings that she was going to keep lists of foreigners. AN: No actually that's not what the briefing was, I was at the conference, it was a press report that said that.

Philip Davies originally wanted to be a journalist but decided against it after coming to the conclusion that he lacked the confidence: 'It was my ambition in life but I just realised I was too shy. You've got to have a confidence that I think I probably never had.' Now an unruly backbencher, it's hard to believe the MP for Shipley is one to suffer from self-doubt. Westminster's pantomime villain, Davies has a reputation for championing unfashionable causes – from talking out bills that help the vulnerable to standing up for men's rights in the face of 'militant feminists'. Last month he gave his critics fresh cause for complaint when he was elected – unopposed – to the Women and Equalities select committee.

Just a day after Sir Ivan Rogers' resignation as Britain's ambassador to the EU, his successor has been named as Sir Tim Barrow. Currently political director at the Foreign Office, Barrow is a career diplomat who is a former ambassador to Russia with significant experience of Brussels. Speaking on LBC, Rogers' old boss Charles Crawford, a former British diplomat critical of the EU, says that Barrow will be a popular choice with the Foreign Office. He adds that Barrow will be 'fearless' in putting to ministers the choices ahead: 'If you have to choose someone for this job, he is -- given where we are -- as good as it gets at the moment. He will get on with people because he's charming. But he's not soft, he's not someone who's going to dither.

With Brexit negotiations just months away, Sir Ivan Rogers has unexpectedly resigned as Britain's ambassador to the EU. The news apparently came as a surprise to No.10, with Rogers previously expected to leave the post in November. While Rogers is yet to give a reason for his departure, the decision comes after reports of growing tensions between No.10 and Rogers over Brexit. Rogers caused upset last month when it emerged he had told ministers it could take 10 years to negotiate a free trade deal with the EU. At the time, Rogers was accused of casting a 'gloomy pessimism' over Brexit amid reports that the knives were out for him.