Brexit

Theresa May’s current Brexit deal will tie the UK more closely to Brussels than if it had stayed in the EU. The agreement, which is supposed to take back control and restore British sovereignty, will actually have the opposite effect. This is bad news for Britain – and bad news, too, for Europeans like myself who are desperate to see the EU reformed for the better. Jo Johnson was right to claim, when he resigned as a minister, that the choice now facing the UK is between ‘vassalage’ and ‘chaos’. On both sides of the debate, among Brexit supporters and those who want Britain to remain in the EU, the

Theresa May – Brexit will be harder without me The Prime Minister joined Sophy Ridge this morning to discuss the result of the government’s draft withdrawal agreement with the European Union, which was released on Wednesday. The controversial 585 page document has already seen several resignations, with other ministers thought to be considering their positions. There has also been considerable discontent on the Conservative backbenches, with the influential European Research Group now calling for a vote of no confidence in May’s leadership. In response, May told Ridge that her critics needed to get their priorities straight: TM: A change of leadership at this point isn’t going to make the negotiations

Right now, Theresa May’s Brexit deal isn’t passing the House of Commons. I argue in The Sun this morning, that Theresa May needs something to change the dynamic. What would do that? Well, if May said she would stand down once the withdrawal agreement was through, that would change things. It would separate off the question of how May has handled the Brexit negotiations so far, from the issue of what parliament should do now. If May pre-announced her departure, it would enable MPs to vote for the deal without that being an endorsement of her handling of Brexit or an invitation for her to go and negotiate the next

Brexit is, as we know, the most important issue facing the government and the country. Except it isn’t. For the Conservatives there is an even more pressing matter: how to prevent a socialist government. Yesterday, the pound plunged after ministerial resignations following Theresa May’s deal with EU negotiators. But were investors spooked by the thought of a ‘no deal’ Brexit or by the possibility of a government collapse, general election and Corbyn in Number 10? Who knows? One thing is for certain: the very worst outcome for markets would be a combination of the two, a Red Brexit. At least the EU would temper Corbyn’s ambition to turn Britain into

Jacob Rees-Mogg observed that my resignation last week was ‘the “Emperor’s New Clothes” moment in the Brexit process’. If this is right, that makes me the child, too young to understand the importance of maintaining pretences, who blurts out before the embarrassed townsfolk that the emperor is naked. I’ve been surprised by the noisy reaction to my departure from the middle ranks of the government. The video I made in my office setting out my reasons for going had two million views in two days. Maybe this is an example of Orwell’s dictum that in a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act. The deceit is that