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Brexit: Cabinet due to meet at 2pm to discuss draft deal agreed by UK & EU


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1 hour ago, Uilleam said:

Perhaps not.

 

The Times' Brexit Briefing suggests:

 

Within the space of an hour this morning Theresa May lost her Brexit secretary, her work and pensions secretary and three other more junior ministers. 
Of these Dominic Raab's departure is by far the most significant. 
Mr Raab was the first minister Mrs May called in to discuss the final version of the draft EU deal at lunchtime on Tuesday. 
As Brexit secretary he was also intimately involved in its evolution. He knew about the trade offs; he knew about the EU's red lines; he has known for weeks the broad form it would take. 
So why has he resigned? 
After his meeting with the prime minister on Tuesday Mr Raab's aides said that it was a "fair assumption" that he was content with the deal's contents. 

So either he changed his mind as a result of the discussions in cabinet or he deliberately chose his moment for maximum effect. It is easy to be cynical about politicians but in the case of Mr Raab it is probably warranted. 
At the Conservative party conference he let it be known that his red line was allowing the UK unilaterally to pull out of a customs deal with the EU. 
He would have known for days that this was unachievable. It looks like Mr Raab has played the prime minister at her own game by pretending to go along with her strategy while secretly being determined to sabotage her at the end. 
His departure marks the end of the pretence that Mrs May can unite both her wings. It also puts intense pressure on other Brexiteers still in the cabinet. 

Everything I have read on the subject, admittedly nothing in The Times, suggests he has been sidelined.

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1 hour ago, Uilleam said:

Perhaps not.

 

The Times' Brexit Briefing suggests:

 

Within the space of an hour this morning Theresa May lost her Brexit secretary, her work and pensions secretary and three other more junior ministers. 
Of these Dominic Raab's departure is by far the most significant. 
Mr Raab was the first minister Mrs May called in to discuss the final version of the draft EU deal at lunchtime on Tuesday. 
As Brexit secretary he was also intimately involved in its evolution. He knew about the trade offs; he knew about the EU's red lines; he has known for weeks the broad form it would take. 
So why has he resigned? 
After his meeting with the prime minister on Tuesday Mr Raab's aides said that it was a "fair assumption" that he was content with the deal's contents. 

So either he changed his mind as a result of the discussions in cabinet or he deliberately chose his moment for maximum effect. It is easy to be cynical about politicians but in the case of Mr Raab it is probably warranted. 
At the Conservative party conference he let it be known that his red line was allowing the UK unilaterally to pull out of a customs deal with the EU. 
He would have known for days that this was unachievable. It looks like Mr Raab has played the prime minister at her own game by pretending to go along with her strategy while secretly being determined to sabotage her at the end. 
His departure marks the end of the pretence that Mrs May can unite both her wings. It also puts intense pressure on other Brexiteers still in the cabinet. 

None of the highlighted text suggests he hasn't been sidelined.  Being the "first minister" May called in is protocol given he was the Brexit Secretary. Doesn't mean he hasn't been sidelined.

Being intimately involved in its evolution also doesn't mean he hasn't been sidelined.  Being involved and being an integral part of the policies behind it are two very different things.

What his aide's say and whet he believes are also two very different things.

 

Either way, the fact that he resigned suggests that, sidelined or not, he isn't happy with the deal.  The fact the Brexit Secretary has resigned suggests he disagrees on the deal and that, perhaps, he was sidelined in the process.....

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Intimately involved in its evolution is the suggestion, which is difficult to construe as as anything other than intimate involvement. The Times'  lobby correspondents could be wrong, and the view from Elbow Beach more accurate, however. 

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6 minutes ago, Uilleam said:

Intimately involved in its evolution is the suggestion, which is difficult to construe as as anything other than intimate involvement. The Times'  lobby correspondents could be wrong, and the view from Elbow Beach more accurate, however. 

Didn't realise The Times was the font of reporting accuracy or, indeed, inside information, regardless of the facetious nature of your posting.

 

Maybe its just me, but "intimately involved in its evolution" still doesn't say that he wasn't sidelined.  Unless, of course, my interpretation of "sidelined" is different from natural convention.

 

Elbow Beach is irrelevant, beautiful though it is.

 

 

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In politics, you don't resign because of something that has already happened. You resign in anticipation of events yet to come and in preparation for the part you hope to play in that future.

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Surely the Parliamentary Conservative Party knows that neither is electable. Ms Mordaunt, maybe.

 

Say what you like about May, she slugged it out this morning. I thought she was a goner after twenty minutes but three hours later she was still on the bridge and everyone else exhausted. The deck was still burning though.

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Just when the UK needed some real leadership and an unselfish effort from a political party, we have had a political omnishambles. Just to be clear, no party comes out of this with credit but the focus is obviously on the government. 

 

A ultra slow motion car crash that everyone knew was coming and instead of looking to do something about it, the opportunist leaders in waiting of the Conservative party didn't want anything to do with it other than snipe from the sidelines and hope to pick up the pieces once the impact came and fall-out started a long trickle.

 

I actually have a respect for Theresa May and the way she has went about a very close to impossible conundrum that Cameron set in motion. She isn't really a leader but she does have a certain amount of integrity that some of the chasing pack wouldn't know if it hit them in the face.

 

Unintended consequences will be the order of the day when you have such a game changing and complex event, so badly and ignorantly managed.

 

Edited by buster.
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