Gus O'Donnell, former cabinet secretary under Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron, had a piece in The Observer yesterday (HERE) where, among other difficulties, he makes clear a trade deal by March 2019 is impossible, not least because the cabinet hasn't finished negotiations with itself and is in no position to negotiate with the EU.
This was obvious last week when on Wednesday Boris Johnson told MPs the EU could "whistle" for any payment and the figures suggested so far were "extortionate". The very next day David Davis issued a written statement (HERE) confirming for the first time that the government:
"will work with the EU to determine a fair settlement of the UK’s rights and obligations as a departing member state, in accordance with the law and in the spirit of our continuing partnership. The Government recognise that the UK has obligations to the EU, and the EU obligations to the UK, that will survive the UK’s withdrawal—and that these need to be resolved".
Incidentally, the written statement also mentions Euratom, the nuclear safety agency. Effectively, it confirms we are leaving but then says we want to carry on exactly as before. In fact it is remarkably similar to our position on the whole of Brexit.
A few days ago Johnson told parliament (HERE) there was no plan for leaving the EU without a deal when David Davis has expressly said in the past we do have a plan and that cabinet had discussed it! Johnson is a member of cabinet as we know. Perhaps he wasn't listening at the time - but more likely he accidentally blurted out the truth.
Yesterday on the Marr show, Phillip Hammond said the cabinet is moving towards a long transition period of years (HERE) contradicting Liam Fox who said he would be happy if we left in March 2019 and the transition needed to be just a few months (HERE). There is no common position on Brexit with cabinet ministers now briefing against each other in the as yet unannounced race to take over from Mrs May. How long can this farce go on?
