David Cameron had BBQ last year but new PM is cooking EU deal slowly
Brexit dominated Cabinet Chequers discussions are in stark contrast to last year's barbecue-led feast
THERE was no Brexit roadmap set out at the Cabinet awayday at Chequers.
Even behind closed doors and to their closest colleagues, May and her Brexit ministers aren’t setting out the details of what they hope to negotiate.
“The truth is that, at the moment, we’re still in the preparatory stage,” one Cabinet minister told me after Wednesday’s meeting. “We’re a way away from forming a definitive position.”
There may be some progress next week, when the Brexit Cabinet committee meets for the first time since the summer break.
But at the moment there is little meat on the Brexit bone. Though Theresa May has now made crystal clear that immigration control will be part of the deal, ruling out a Swiss or Norwegian-style arrangement with the EU.
Cabinet ministers were struck by how open the discussion at Chequers was.
Former PM David Cameron knew what he wanted the Cabinet to think before they started talking. It is not like that with May.
“There’s more listening, less declaration,” says one Cabinet minister. I’m told the debate around the table was, “Respectful but more frank”, than it was under Cameron.
However, those who were new to the top table were not as vocal as more experienced colleagues. “The very new Cabinet ministers will take their time to get their confidence,” observes one veteran.
May, though, is a more formal figure than her predecessor. When Cameron invited the Cabinet to Chequers last summer, he laid on a barbecue and proudly showed off the grill that President Obama had given him. It cost £1,300 and has the Stars & Stripes and the Union Flag emblazoned on it.
By contrast, May’s ministers ate a simple lunch indoors.
In the Cabinet discussions that took place, the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, was one of the most forceful voices. “He really does speak frankly. He doesn’t necessarily agree with the PM or the last speaker,” says one colleague.
Hammond is dry, very precise and slightly dour. He is the polar opposite of Boris Johnson. This pair are never going to be soulmates, and were on opposite sides of the referendum campaign.
The Chancellor’s emphasis on how economic growth is going to be lower next year clearly grated with Boris. After a while, the Foreign Secretary emphasised the need to be confident. He has long worried about the danger of the elite talking the country down and into a recession.
The clock is ticking for May
It was clear that Hammond wasn’t persuaded by Boris’s appeal to be bullish. He coldly replied that the Government had to be confident and realistic.
Negotiating both Britain’s departure from the EU, and our new relationship with it, will be time-consuming and complex. May is right not to want to begin Article 50, the two-year formal process for leaving, until she has decided on the details of both what she wants and what she will accept.
But if Article 50 is not invoked by March next year, there will be big trouble from Tory MPs. Several Brexit- supporting ministers believe it is only once notice of Article 50 has been given that they will be able to get the Whitehall machine to really concentrate on Brexit.
So the clock is ticking for May to work out the details of her Brexit plan.
James Forsyth is political editor of The Spectator
Corbyn has cemented his position
ALL is for the worst in the worst of all possible worlds for Labour MPs at the moment.
They hoped that by forcing a leadership contest they would either defeat Jeremy Corbyn or, at the very least, weaken him.
But with just three weeks to go until the result is announced, it looks like the contest will actually strengthen Corbyn.
He is on course to secure another decisive victory, one that will enable him to argue that MPs should fall in behind him.
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“The party has changed,” laments one former shadow cabinet member.
Even some of Corbyn’s most virulent critics admit that his margin of victory is likely to make a challenge to him next year impossible. Instead, they are now pinning their hopes on one last attempt to oust him in 2019.
The attempt to bring back shadow cabinet elections, which Labour MPs believe is being masterminded by Tom Watson, is a recognition that Corbyn is going to win again. But those MPs who were elected to the shadow cabinet would still – whether they like it or not – be serving under Corbyn.
Some in Labour are tempted to just let the Corbynites get on with it and own the catastrophic defeat that is coming, believing only that blow can bring the party to its senses.
“But by doing that you destroy an entire generation of Labour politicians,” warns one party figure.
Diane James: 'Not inspiring but on course for victory'
IT is hard to think of a less inspiring leadership campaign than the one Diane James has run
The Ukip front-runner hasn’t offered any new policies and has avoided debate. Party insiders say she scuppered plans for a live hustings on the BBC.
But James is still on course for victory. She is simply far better known than the other candidates.
She is, though, going to have to massively up her game if her leadership isn’t to fail.
Junior doctors 'picking fight' with Government
The second of their five-day strikes begins the day Theresa May gives her first speech as leader to the Tory conference.
“They’re challenging her to slap them down in the speech and she’ll have to do so,” says one senior Government source.
But what worries many in government is that this walkout isn’t about reaching a deal.
One of those intimately involved with the issue tells me: “They aren’t interested in a solution but the struggle for struggle’s sake.”
In many ways, this strike is the medical version of the disease that is gripping the Labour party. “It is tied to the rather wacky Corbyn approach that isn’t about pragmatic politics,” argues one minister.
Like Corbyn, these strikes will struggle to win public support. Twenty days of stoppages between now and Christmas will infuriate patients – and their friends and families – as operations are cancelled.
Inside government, they expect that far fewer doctors will be taking part in the strikes by the fourth stoppage. As public opinion turns against them and junior doctors feel the effects of industrial action on their pay packet, support will surely ebb away.
But it isn’t clear how this dispute will end. The Government, certainly, won’t be offering any concessions.
One Cabinet minister warns: “The Government looks weak if it tries to reach accommodation in the face of such militancy.”
The BMA leadership, though, have no exit strategy. These irresponsible strikes could plague patients for some time to come.
Who gets Chevening at Xmas?
BORIS JOHNSON, David Davis and Liam Fox all have to share Chevening, traditionally the Foreign Secretary’s country retreat.
But who will get the house for Christmas? Well, Boris gets first dibs. So it is his if he wants it. Chevening might not be the country house beginning with C that Boris wanted to spend Christmas in a few months ago.
But being there would be a better present than he could have dreamed of when he was forced to withdraw from the Tory leadership contest.