Andrew Gimson’s Commons sketch: May provokes derisive laughter and has exhausted the House’s patience

The Prime Minister looked like a straight actor who is appearing in a Christmas pantomime, in order to become the butt of everyone else’s jokes.

Henry Hill: Unionist parties unite against backstop as Varadkar rules out fresh talks

Also: Welsh Labour choose their new leader (and First Minister) this afternoon; Scottish Tories attack SNP over tax divergence plans.

The Commons renders the proposed television debate on Brexit utterly superfluous

It is hard to see how the different Brexit alternatives can be presented anything like as well on TV as they will be in Parliament.

Iain Dale: Why is May making her case to 35 million people won’t vote on her deal? And not to the 650 or so who will?

Plus: Keep the Brexit TV debate simple. Giving Allin-Khan and Duncan a piece of my mind. And: Carney – we’ve heard it all before.

Henry Hill: DUP alliance with Brexiteers holds firm as crucial vote looms

Also: Jones accused of ‘pre-judging’ allegations against former minister as inquiry continues; and May clashes with Sturgeon over independence.

Henry Hill: Hammond and Johnson set to appear at the DUP conference

Also: Jones criticised for shielding ministers from independent scrutiny; and Mundell’s bizarre pop at ‘carpet-bagging’ colleagues.

“…need to be able to count”

Don’t presume anything about a Commons vote on May’s deal. Especially a second vote. If she’s still in place after a first one goes down…

Henry Hill: Bradley faces another week of fierce criticism over ‘flying visit’

Also: Scottish Tories attack SNP over income tax ‘gap’; no boost for Plaid from new leader; and DUP’s Brexit donation given a clean bill of legal health.

Henry Hill: Cox agrees to meet Tory MPs campaigning for troops who served in Northern Ireland

Also: May meets new Plaid leader in Downing Street; Bradley mulls ‘external mediator’ for devolution talks; SNP row over ‘People’s Vote’; and more.

The Scottish dimension of the Irish backstop cannot be overlooked

Davidson and Mundell are right to be concerned that a differential Brexit deal for one part of the UK could put rocket boosters under SNP demands for similar treatment.

Stewart Jackson: Mendacity, duplicity, subterfuge and misjudgement. How I saw an establishment coup wreck a clean Brexit.

Number Ten has been desperate from the start that we must remain in the Customs Union – and endure a kind of semi-skimmed faux Brexit.

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: Sturgeon on Brexit – “Never has so much been lost by so many to satisfy so few”

The SNP leader addresses the party’s annual conference in Glasgow, and also calls for “pragmatism and patience” on a second independence referendum.

WATCH: Sturgeon claims Scottish independence is inevitable

She adds that Brexit brings the issues around it “very sharply into focus”.

Scottish Labour may yet do Britain a service… by sparing it Corbyn

It will help Davidson solidify her grip on the unionist base, and give swing voters minded for a change from the SNP fewer alternatives to consider.