Davis appeared in front of the Select Committee for Exiting the EU yesterday (HERE). It was a performance of staggering insouciance. He laughed at this own jokes as if he hadn't a care in the world but appeared clueless on the details and got into hot water afterwards for suggesting parliament might only get a vote on the deal after we have left in March 2019. MPs were outraged and Mrs May was forced to contradict him (HERE) but still didn't guarantee MPs a vote before we leave.
Eventually DEXEU issued a clarifying statement after the government was described as a "shambles" (HERE). Normally this would be the ultimate humiliation for a minister but for Davis it was an accolade. The statement went as close as it could to a guarantee and claimed Davis was talking about a hypothetical situation.
I don't think he was. The swaggering blowhard just makes it up as he goes along. He doesn't know the details because, like the other rabid Brexiteers, he doesn't want to know them. They might disturb the fantasy world he occupies most of the time. An unnamed Tory minister (HERE) is quoted as saying Davis has "mentally checked out" - this of course assumes he ever checked in.
Mr Davis recently accused the EU of dragging its feet over the negotiations in order to get more money, now it turns out he has not yet agreed dates for the next round of talks in spite of being offered dates starting as early as this week. I don't think anyone in the EU believes we are using the limited time we have wisely. Weeks seem to go by with no activity at all. Davis himself said negotiations with the EU usually go down to the wire but he may come to regret the time he's wasted.
Coincidentally, Sir Ivan Rogers was giving evidence to the Treasury Select Committee at the same time that Davis was speaking to Hilary Benn's committee. He was our former EU representative before resigning earlier this year. He said (HERE) the government triggered Article 50 too soon, before they had agreed the sequencing of the talks with the Commission, giving a huge advantage to the other side. He advised against it but was overruled. This sounds about right. The Brexiteers were salivating at the prospect of leaving the EU and simply couldn't wait. They have never given serious thought to the difficulties and weren't about to start.
This and the sheer weight of inconsistencies in the myriad details will cause Brexit to fail or to be such a disaster that people will turn against it.
A story in The Times suggests Mrs May is under some strain (HERE) claiming, "Those who have seen Mrs May privately in recent weeks describe her as stricken and stunned. On one occasion she sat in silence for almost ten minutes while the visitor she had invited to see her waited for her to lead the conversation. He left the meeting deciding she no longer wanted to be prime minister."
None of this points to a successful conclusion to the talks or to Brexit. In fact it's all quite worrying.
