Can we really imagine ministers rejecting Justin Trudeau’s trade deal offer, or one from the American administration, or from Australia and New Zealand?
It is absolutely vital that these issues are discussed this week and as part of post-Brexit trade talks.
Truss moves up into the middle of the table, Williamson drops towards the floor, and Gauke slumps into the red over Warboys.
Seeking to extend transition after all, thus re-raising the possibility of being stuck in it, or going ahead without proper systems in place would be an unacceptable choice.
The President is clearly prepared to put politics before economics, even at the expense of America’s traditional allies.
The International Development Secretary’s response to the Oxfam scandal appears to have impressed Party members.
220,000 people from EU countries came here last year. May’s U-turn thus has implications not only for rights but for numbers.
May sounded unusually confident, but Johnson scuttled out of the Chamber.
“We cannot allow our future to be determined by our past. Instead, we should turn our sail and tack into the global trading winds of the future.”
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.
Johnson’s speech today and the Commission’s basic take are strangely similar – Brexit points to a Canada-type settlement on alignment and divergence.
Let’s remind ourselves of a few occasions where the letter of the law has been lacking the odd dot or crossed T.
And the Prime Minister, tenth in the table last time round, is back in negative territory and second from bottom.
The debate has come to symbolise much of what differentiates us from the Left: robust policy based on evidence that supports free markets, versus dogma based on statism.
But unless his fully-developed vision of the future can capture heart-and-minds, I’d expect control of the party to stay with the mainstream.