At last we remainers have some good news, David Davis, Secretary of State at DEXEU has resigned along with Steve Baker, his junior minister. I can't remember two more useless ministers ever, and I go back to the early 1960s. I don't know if there's a word to describe what the stage beyond international laughing stock is, but we need one - urgently. This morning a new DEXEU Secretary will be announced, amid rising calls for the PM herself to go. There is almost certainly going to be a leadership challenge, although I suspect she will win it. Davis' resignation letter is HERE.
Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary was on the Today programme this morning saying, with phenomenal understatement, that we are at a delicate and dangerous moment in the negotiations. We triggered a two-year process, effectively putting the EU in charge, since they alone have the right to extend the time limit. The lack of planning or preparedness and the interminable delays, including a general election and now Davis' resignation, in reaching a consensus of what we actually want, has now placed the fate of the nation firmly in the hands of the EU.
The old bruiser, selected because of his SAS hardman image to give Brussels a pasting, has now thrown in the towel himself and retired from the ring, face bloodied from battles with his own team and without landing a blow on the immaculate Michel Barnier.
In the Sunday Times yesterday, there was a long report about last week's Chequers meeting. This is by Tim Shipman, usually a reliable source with good contacts so I tend to believe the substance of the story. According to Shipman, the cabinet Brexiteers met on Wednesday in the foreign office to decide their tactics, having received a copy of Mrs May's third way (or as some wags are now referring to it, the turd way).
It's reported that Penny Mordaunt and David Davis were "bullish about producing an alternative plan to present at Chequers". Well this had me laughing. After two years of being unable to produce a plan with the help of thousands of civil servants, they actually thought they could do it themselves on a hot Thursday in Westminster.
The editorial says the PM was "helped by the absence of an alternative. David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, had contemplated submitting his own plan at Chequers but decided not to do so". Presumably, his resignation will give him the opportunity to produce this plan,
And to give some meaning to the whole thing, Dominic Lawson, son of the former chancellor and not himself noted for his intellectual capacity, said in his column that someone who had spoken to a member of Barnier's team after they had received a summary of the third way proposal, said the team was " categorically negative" about it. He also quotes a CDU MEP Christian Ehler about May's plan:
"It would lead to unknown dimensions of complexities, as between goods and services, and collecting others' taxes, based on an as yet non-existent customs IT system . I mean, I believe in miracles, as I'm a Roman Catholic, but not this one. Either you are in or out of the single market".
Doesn't this say it all? This is what we are arguing about and what Davis has resigned over. Stunning.
I think two things are clear. Firstly, nobody on this side of the Channel has a realistic plan. It does not exist. In spite of the Brexiteers dreaming of it night and day for thirty years, they never stopped to think of a plan. Even the entire weight of the civil service, after two long years has failed to arrive at a workable solution. What they agreed at Chequers was the best compromise they could come up with, taking into account everything promised and committed to, from the Irish border to freedom of movement with all the PM's cherished red lines.
Second, we know it is unacceptable to the EU because it is asking them to undermine the single market, grant us far more than any third country has ever had before and put them to an awful lot of trouble to do it. They are not going to fatally damage themselves to satisfy some people who are ideologically opposed to their very existence.
So, what's to happen? Either it's no deal or CETA or an EEA solution - or remain in the EU.
