Halfon and Stevenson join the Europhile ultras in a very near miss for the Government.
Cooper/Letwin is back, supported by Labour and Tory Europhiles as well as the Liberal Democrats, the Independent Group, and Scottish and Welsh nationalists.
Two of them, Sarah Newton and Paul Masterton, were members of the Government, and have resigned.
Several Ministers helped to see off the Government’s best hope of avoiding a full-on crisis in the Party – and perhaps of saving Brexit too.
May is so weak that even her command of the payroll vote is slipping. If her Government loses control of European policy, can it really remain in office?
The words of Gordon Brown to Tony Blair echo in our ears. “There is nothing that you could say to me now that I could ever believe”.
“It is a shame” that Soubry, Wollaston and Allen left the Party, Rees-Mogg says. Plus: May should sack Rudd and friends if they vote for Cooper-Letwin.
When asked for it, the three MPs presented none. The reason is simple: this supposedly sinister entryist army does not exist.
At least four Tory MPs have apparently been placed on defection watch including Anna Soubry, Sarah Wollaston and Richard Harrington.
We trail a mini-series on what might happen next amidst a sense of uncertainty about will follow the Gove reforms.
The whole plan involves maintaining a public-facing theatre of constitutional normalcy which will only further impede scrutiny and accountability.
Perhaps we will find out today why Downing Street and the whips stuck with a motion that risked revolt by ERG members and second referendum backers alike.
His association executive is expected to demand tonight that he makes his intentions clear. But the constitution allows him to simply refuse to answer.
The People’s Vote is bound up with New Labour and talk of a new party. This does nothing to help it among Tory MPs…and much to harm it among Labour ones.
The idea that leaving the EU simply cannot be done has emerged since the referendum – if true, it would shatter our political system.