This strangely unreal conference is a kind of passage between the stymied Chequers plan…and whatever happens next.
Prepare for a Rule Britannia defence of Chequers at Party Conference…followed by its junking afterwards, as May is forced towards the most practicable alternative presently on offer.
Because the Chancellor’s coalition its riven by internal disputes, she has lost the authority to knock heads together on Brexit.
Our exit in will coincide with a new cycle of European elections which will redraw political power in the European Parliament and other EU institutions.
Merkel is threatened. Macron is outraged. Brussels is paralysed. And all three trends are taken by their opponents as signs that they are winning.
The German Chancellor faces a rebellion from her Bavarian allies on the question of immigration – and is pleading for more time before the EU summit.
The President is often taken literally but not seriously, whereas he should be taken seriously but not literally.
With May distracted by Brexit, Macron is risking domestic political pushback to become Trump’s ‘bridge to Europe’.
Even in lefty France, socialist policies are now being dumped by Emmanuel Macron in favour of free markets. Now is the time to develop our next round of big ideas.
The Prime Minister faces a difficult afternoon – but will be aided by the unwillingess of Tory backbenchers to line up with Jeremy Corbyn.
“We have been here before, when we have not had clear evidence about weapons of mass destruction.”
British politicians are negotiating as if it were 410 AD, and still the Roman province of Britannia, asking permission to leave instead of flourishing a mandate to do so.