The newspapers can’t be blamed for reporting that Britain won’t be “plunged into a Mad Max-style world” – his own department issued the quote in advance.
The UK does not intend to undercut or undermine “our closest friends and allies”, the Brexit Secretary says,
Johnson’s speech today and the Commission’s basic take are strangely similar – Brexit points to a Canada-type settlement on alignment and divergence.
It would make no sense to spurn taking control of our trade policy and leave it with the EU – in which we will no longer have a say.
And, of course, only if there is an agreement to implement. Otherwise, we must leave immediately on 29th March 2019.
Ministers need get a grip by acting collectively to agree a Brexit end-state based in reality and on what Parliament will approve eventually – and then stick to it.
“Today I want to talk specifically about the bridge that we plan to build, to smooth the path to our new relationship with the European Union after Brexit.”
But unless his fully-developed vision of the future can capture heart-and-minds, Iād expect control of the party to stay with the mainstream.
Our take is that our panel is waiting to see what happens next, and suspending judgement as the political cycle and Brexit negotiations continue.
The EU is willing to deploy both clarity and menace in its dealings with us. This might once have been avoidable, but we must now do likewise in return.