The enduring importance of the Attorney-General

Cox’s intervention at May’s meeting of senior Cabinet ministers last week to discuss Brexit plans turned out to be crucial.

The backstop threatens the Union. Davidson knows it. And May can’t afford to lose her.

It isn’t just pro-Brexit MPs who should be watching the Prime Minister carefully. It’s pro-Union ones: in other words, all of them.

WATCH: People’s Vote campaigners and some MPs are “patronising” and “offensive” to Leave voters, says Flint

She says that Labour should support a reasonable Government Brexit deal, and indicates that she would do so

WATCH: Hancock wants the backstop to be “temporary” and “time-limited”

He tells Marr that “you can set conditions under which the arrangement comes to an end”.

WATCH: Thornberry defends Labour’s six Brexit tests

Marr puts it to her that they’re designed to ensure that the Government fails them – and have no other purpose.

WATCH: Simon Wolfson on No Deal. The Government needs to make its mind up about tariffs.

The Chairman of Open Europe makes his point as the organisation releases a report claiming that No Deal would be manageable.

Brexit. It’s time for an end to illusions. May must choose between the backstop and her country.

The key question now for Conservative MPs is whether they can support the UK being trapped in a customs union – and the dismemberment of the Union itself.

Stephen Booth: Why No Deal will only shave a small slice off growth – if we act wisely over the medium-term

Brexit won’t be the most important factor shaping our growth over the next decade or so, whether we leave with an agreement or without one.

Nick Hargrave: Cameron’s modernisation was necessary then. And an updated version is necessary now.

When you’re worried about your child’s school, politicians look remote when they sound more interested in acronym bingo on whether we should look more like Canada or Norway.

WATCH: Now Leadsom suspends judgement on May. She must be given the “opportunity” to strike a good deal.

First Mordaunt, then McVey and now the Commons Leader won’t line up unambiguously behind the Prime Minister.

Straw poll: who will be the next Cabinet Minister to resign over Brexit? (If any of them.)

McVey? Mordaunt? Hammond, because the policy swings the other way? May herself? None of the above?

Iain Dale: Maybe it’s because he’s a Londoner that we love Javid so

Plus: Leadsom stonewalls, Cox charms, Brexit stalls. And: my almost-but-not-quite shoulderpads fetish.

Lee Rotherham: What’s the point of Brexit if we’re shacked to a customs union?

Whitehall’s touted model is inherently flawed. It was ruled out during the referendum and by the Conservative manifesto.

WATCH: Like Mordaunt a few days ago, McVey won’t commit to backing Chequers

The Work and Pensions Secretary says that she’s “behind the Prime Minister” – but goes no further.

May on the fence

Media focus is on the DUP. But we can’t help suspecting that near the heart of policy is a preoccupation with those just-in-time supply chains.