Portrait of the Week – 6 December 2018

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Political hobbyists speculated on the future of Brexit if the government fell, if a new Conservative leader was chosen, if a general election was called or if a second referendum was held. Debates were tabled over five days, in prospect of a Commons vote on 11 December on the withdrawal agreement from the EU to which Theresa May, the Prime Minister, had agreed. She told the Commons that it would allow Britain to negotiate, sign and ratify new trade deals from the moment it left next March (even if none could be implemented until the end of the transition period, 31 December 2020 at the earliest, or by any given date, if the backstop came into operation). A leaked letter from May’s chief Brexit adviser, Oliver Robbins, said that ‘the backstop world, even with a UK-EU customs union, is a bad outcome’. Nigel Farage left Ukip.

The government was bitten from behind by a Commons motion finding it in contempt of Parliament for failing to publish legal advice it had received on the Brexit withdrawal agreement. So it had to publish it after all. This was the consequence of ‘an humble address’, a Commons motion held to be binding, that had demanded the publication. John Bercow, the Speaker, allowed a debate on the question even though Geoffrey Cox, the Attorney General, had presented to the House a summary document, which included the information: ‘It is not possible under international law for a party to withdraw from the Agreement unilaterally.’ In his thespian baritone, Mr Cox had called the Brexit backstop universally ‘painful’ but worth a gamble. MPs also defeated the government on an amendment by Dominic Grieve allowing the Commons to propose its own plans if the government is defeated on 11 December.