Steerpike

Theresa May's government may be on the verge of collapse but it's still business as usual on the Westminster summer party scene. At think tank Freer's summer party at the Institute of Economic Affairs, Liz Truss introduced the new Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab – finding time to send him up after he was outed for having the same Pret lunch every day: 'Freedom to choose is very important to me. I want the freedom to be able to eat a donut or drink a glass of wine. Our speaker tonight wants the freedom to eat the same meal at Pret a Manger every day of the week — and I applaud that freedom!

Andrea Jenkyns is regarded by many Tory MPs as a Brexit champion – after the Conservative MP for Morley pre-emptively quit last month as a PPS to fight for Brexit. Since then Jenkyns has become one of the loudest voices calling for a new tack from No 10 in the negotiations. However, Mr S can't help but wonder whether Jenkyn's latest intervention didn't land quite as she had intended. In an interview with the Telegraph, the Tory MP attempts to criticise the Prime Minister for not being a true Brexiteer – not because she's a Remainer but because her passion is... 'what's workable' 'It is time for her to go. I don't think she has passion for either Remain or Brexit, I think she has a passion for what's workable.

In Trumpland, the truth is what you say it is. Donald Trump says he was at his golf course at Turnberry, in Scotland, the day before the Brexit vote, and that he predicted then that Brexit would happen. He told the Sun newspaper yesterday. Clearly, nobody has told him otherwise, because the President doubled down on the claim at his press conference with Theresa May this afternoon. He said: 'I was opening Turnberry the day before Brexit and all they wanted to talk about was Brexit and I said I think Brexit would happen and it did happen.'  Never mind that Donald Trump in fact cut the ribbon at Turnberry on June 24, the day after the Brexit vote. Steerpike was there. You can watch it here. You can check it anywhere.

Theresa May's Chequers' Brexit blueprint hasn't got off to the best start this week. Before the white paper has even been published, she has seen her Brexit Secretary and Foreign Secretary quit – along with a growing backbench rebellion. Now President Trump has offered his verdict – and it's not what you could call a diplomatic help: 'I am going to a pretty hot spot right now with a lot of resignations. I would say Brexit is Brexit. The people voted to break it up so I would imagine that's what they would do, but maybe they're taking a different route - I don't know if that is what they voted for.' On May's plan, Trump says it seems as though the UK is 'getting at least partially involved back with the European Union'.

When Theresa May first met Donald Trump, she was pictured strolling arm-in-arm with the president through the grounds of the White House. But a lot has happened in the 18 months since that meeting, and now it seems May doesn't even want to touch the Donald's hand. When Trump greeted the Prime Minister at the Nato summit in Brussels, May refused to shake the president's hand. Perhaps Trump's overtures to Boris Johnson haven't gone down well...

Just this weekend, the Tories were joining others in rounding on Labour for trying to politicise the World Cup – with a call for a bank holiday. But with the Conservative party now in the midst of blue-on-blue warfare over Theresa May's Brexit position, that memo appears to have gone out of the window. Ahead of England's World Cup semi final match against Croatia on Wednesday, Henry Smith – the Conservative MP – took to Twitter to complain of an invite he had received from Chief Whip Julian Smith on behalf of No 10. The problem? He had been invited to watch the England match at Downing Street – but given that May 'isn't bringing Brexit home' he thought it would be a 'bad omen' to attend: https://twitter.

Theresa May's nightmare Monday morning is going from bad to worse. Steve Baker, who followed David Davis out of the exit door at the Brexit department, has savaged the Prime Minister's Chequers plan on the Daily Politics. When asked whether the Brexit blueprint was delivering Brexit in name only, he had this to say: 'The problem with this particular Brexit is that it will not allow us to have proper control over what goes on in the United Kingdom. We need to get out from treaty obligations that automatically oblige parliament to accept any particular rules and instead be in a position where what we do it is a matter for us.' So why didn't Baker speak out sooner?