
Profile: Steve Baker, Christian Conservative, ERG organiser, small stater – and thorn in Johnson’s side
Baker has infuriated some Tories, but others regard him as the rising hope of the stern unbending Austrian economists.
Baker has infuriated some Tories, but others regard him as the rising hope of the stern unbending Austrian economists.
Looked at in the round, over the 2010-2016 period, the UK had the joint highest growth for a G7 economy, level with the US.
The former Chief Adviser has had little to do with the negotiation recently, but his leaving has knock-on effects on it. Here’s why.
Even putting aside the EU dimension, there are very good arguments for having one in place.
It was never possible to maintain exactly the same benefits of EU membership whilst walking away from the institutions and the rules.
None of what follows is impossible and, if there is a common thread, it is the self-interest of MPs in avoiding an election before leaving the EU.
The vocation of the front-runner is not to mess up. And he hasn’t. Indeed, he has picked up support – and upped the pace.
There is more than one moving part in this complex day, and some could counteract one another.
The implication is that the Government would win more votes if it kept the ERG happy.
Robbins’ overheard conversation has further eroded faith in his boss – and the ERG is itself divided over whether changes to the backstop would themselves be enough.
All he may have achieved is to make the No Deal that neither side of the negotiations wants marginally more likely.
The Prime Minister has eschewed the chance to bind waverers with patronage in favour of promoting able loyalists who won’t make trouble.
Now we will find out if the EU really is seeking practical progress, or if it is cynically exploiting the issue as a way to seek leverage.
Inside the ERG’s Brexit plans. Why Rees-Mogg doesn’t believe the hype about ‘Blue Wave’ entryism. Plus: how he spent his summer.
The Morley and Outwood MP says that her constituents want the Brexit they voted for – and asks why Downing Street accuses Leavers but not Remainers of “bullying”.