Steerpike

For the first time in living memory, MPs seized control of the parliamentary timetable today, in order to hold a series of indicative votes to work out parliament's preferred Brexit outcome. As expected, the constitutional upheaval precipitated by Oliver Letwin has provoked a fair amount of controversy in the House of Commons, with MPs opposing the move pointing out that if the Letwinites were not happy with the way the government was handling Brexit, they ought to  trigger a no-confidence vote in the Prime Minister. But the debate turned into something resembling a public school squabble this afternoon when Tory MPs Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nick Boles squared off in the Chamber.

After the chaos in the voting lobbies two weeks ago, when ministers claimed to not know they’d rebelled against the government, the Conservative whips were taking no chances ahead of yesterday’s crunch vote. MPs were warned early on which motions they should support, and as soon as Oliver Letwin’s amendment was passed, a quick-fire email whipped round reminding Tories of their responsibilities. But even if the whips were on top of things this time, it appears that some MPs were still struggling to keep up. When it came to the vote on Letwin's amendment, it seems that backbencher Ed Vaizey intended to rebel against the government, but accidentally went through the wrong voting lobby and ended up supporting their motion anyway.

This evening MPs voted to take back control, as they backed an amendment tabled by Oliver Letwin to seize control of the parliamentary timetable on Wednesday in order to hold a series of indicative Brexit votes. And while some in the Chamber were clearly happy to see parliament flex its muscles against the government, others were far less impressed to find Letwin suddenly in charge of the Brexit negotiations. Shortly after the motion passed which put into place the indicative vote plan, Tory MP David TC Davies stood up say: 'I don't wish to pay tribute to the honourable member for West Dorset [Oliver Letwin], but since he now since to have installed himself as a kind of jobbing prime minister, could you tell me Mr Speaker how it is that we hold him to account in this house?

Ever since MPs first voted to trigger Article 50 everyone has been told that Britain, by law, will be leaving the EU on 29 March. And if that date was ever to change, then Parliament would have to vote for it to change. That's the British constitution which can be summed up in eight words: 'What the Queen-in-Parliament enacts is law.' As the Supreme Court debacle reminded us, only Parliament can change laws that Parliament makes.  So unless Parliament can approve a new Brexit plan, then we leave on Friday next week. Only this week it all got a bit complicated. After the Prime Minister sought an Article 50 extension in Brussels this week, EU leaders offered her two options: 1. For Article 50 to be extended until May 22 on the condition May passes her deal 2.

In these divided times the politics of centrist parties is all about building connections and crossing divides, so what better flyer design for a by-election in Newport, Wales than a local bridge? Unfortunately for the anti-Brexit Renew party, the bridge they chose for their election flyer was the Claiborne Pell Bridge in Newport... Rhode Island, USA: Realising their mistake, the flyer was quickly corrected by Renew, but it's hardly a great look for a party trying to shake off its middle-class, London-centric image. The party are trying to win a seat in Newport West, which voted leave, and is holding a by-election following the death of Paul Flynn.

With Theresa May's premiership on the ropes, there's an expectation of a Tory leadership contest later this year. It follows that Conservative heavyweights are currently working their hardest to lay the groundwork for a future campaign. In that vein, the latest register of interests shows that rivals Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab, Amber Rudd and Michael Gove are among the Tories to get recent donations which could prove helpful in the months to come. However, there is one donation that Mr S suspects could come back to haunt its recipient. Boris Johnson has been given a donation of £16,000 by Johan Christofferson. Christofferson is a hedge fund manager with a history of fox hunting – as a one time master of a fox hunt in the Isle of Wight.

It’s not just the government who have been caught by surprise at Bercow’s vote announcement yesterday, it raised eyebrows in Germany too. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted this morning 'I must confess I was not familiar with the rules of order of the British parliament from the 17th century'. Of course, Mr S, a well known expert on Jacobean constitutional conventions, saw it coming a mile off. But Mr S can’t help wondering how different the Withdrawal Agreement could have been had EU leaders known that without, in the Speaker’s words, 'substantial' changes, the deal wouldn’t be voted on at all.

Today, the Speaker John Bercow dealt a harsh blow to the government's Brexit strategy after announcing that he would block a third vote on Theresa May's withdrawal agreement, unless it changed in a substantial way. Not content though with just one attack on the government, the Speaker also found time to launch a dig at his favourite rival in the House of Commons: Andrea Leadsom.

Leo Varadkar is meeting Donald Trump today but the Irish Taoiseach's bid to drum up a trade deal between the EU and the United States has just backfired spectacularly. In their televised chat in the Oval Office, Varadkar told Trump: 'I look forward to talking to you...about trade, and how much I would like to see a trade deal done between the US and the EU. We've done one with Japan, we've done one with Canada - we'd love to strike a deal with the US, too.' But Trump was not impressed: 'OK, well we'll see, because the EU, as you know, has been very tough to deal with, and frankly it has been very one sided for many, many years. So we're changing that around. And we're starting to get somewhere and if we don't we'll win anyway.' Oh dear...

Following the government's defeat on a motion ruling out no deal, Brexiteer MPs in the Tory party will be asking themselves one key question this evening: if Brexit might not happen at all, should I support May's deal? The issue already appears to have split some of the Brexiteers in parliament, with MPs such as former Brexit secretary David Davis swinging behind May's agreement, while ERG chairman Steve Baker has said he'll continue to vote it down. One parliamentarian who doesn't like he's going to budge though is Brexiteer and ERG member Mark Francois. Speaking to Sky news presenter Beth Rigby following the vote against no deal, Francois was asked: 'I don't understand: why you don't just take her deal and bank the win?