Brexit becomes more like a surreal pantomime by the day. At the start of the week we learned the PM was bowing to parliamentary pressure and enabling a vote on whether the UK could leave without a deal and also if Brexit should be delayed unless there is an agreement in place. It was no more than a recognition of the parliamentary numbers although it was partly or wholly prompted by a cabinet revolt.
On Tuesday cabinet ministers were threatening to resign, fearing Brexit wouldn't be delayed and on Thursday a minister actually did resign because there was a threat that it would be delayed. You couldn't make this up. George Eustice, a junior minister at DEFRA, quit (HERE) because the PM might allow the Commons to vote on a no-deal exit and on extending Article 50. There's nothing like a united cabinet is there? And this one is nothing like united.
How can the Tory party survive? It seems impossible.
As for Mr Eustice he can hardly be a loss to the government if he cannot see or understand what leaving without a Withdrawal Agreement in place would do to this country and especially for someone like him working in the upper echelons of DEFRA.
He said Mrs May had undertaken a series of "undignified retreats" on Brexit and warned that prolonging the two-year Article 50 negotiation process could result in "the final humiliation of our country", with the EU dictating the terms of any extension.
I wouldn't worry too much about it being the final humiliation if I were him. We've barely got under way in the humiliation stakes and there are plenty more to come. Being in Westminster will give him a trackside seat for every coming humiliation while we will be witnesses only at a distance - although not enough to to spare us the embarrassment.
He said in his resignation letter to the Prime Minister that Britain needs to be "ready to face down the European Union here and now". This is akin to asking your 90 year old maiden aunt to 'face down' Tyson Fury.
He seems possessed of a totally unrealistic view of our present position. We are never going to 'face down' the EU and it's ridiculous to think so. As for suggesting that prolonging the Article 50 process being a humiliation I would say, get real - and you ain't see nuthin' yet.
"Mr Eustice said he did not believe the European Commission had behaved "honourably" during the two years of negotiations since the UK notified Brussels of its intention to quit in 2017. They have deliberately made progress slow and difficult. They have stated in terms that they will refuse to even hold substantive negotiations on a future partnership until after we leave.
He actually thinks the EU has "deliberately made progress slow and difficult". As far as I can see what little progress has been made has all been down to the EU. Most of the time they have been bystanders watching with puzzled amusement at the antics in Westminster and Downing Street. I would hazard a guess that ALL the delays are attributable to the UK embarking on the most complex negotiation in history without a plan, not even on the back of a fag packet.
