Brexit weekly briefing: comings and goings and another Tory revolt

They say a week is a long time in politics. The last one has been a lifetime: Chequers, David Davis, Steve Baker and Boris Johnson resign, Dominic Raab made Brexit secretary, Jeremy Hunt replaces Johnson, more resignations, white paper, more resignations, stab-in-the-Sun for Theresa May by Donald Trump, and, late on Monday night, the government narrowly sees off a backbench rebellion to get its customs bill through after accepting amendments from hard Brexiters.

That wasn’t all. Within hours, Vote Leave, the official Brexit organisation, fronted by Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, was fined for breaking electoral law and one official and another from a sister organisation reported to the police. And Gove admitted leave campaign was wrong to say Brexit would mean Britain would be flooded by Turkish immigrants.

There may be further resignations by the time you receive this, and if you are really late to the party, MPs may be on their summer holidays (expected to vote for early dissolution of parliament). All Brexit updates here on Andrew Sparrow’s live blog.

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Top stories

Tory rebel Anna Soubry tore into the hard Brexiters with “gold-plated pensions and inherited wealth” for forcing the country into a deal that would leave voters worse off. Who runs the country? Theresa May or Jacob Rees-Mogg, she asked, opening the third reading of the customs bill on Monday night.

In an impassioned speech not seen since the like of David Lammy’s Windrush address, she ripped into Jacob Rees-Mogg and the hard Brexiters, saying their version of Brexit was “the stuff of madness”.

Hours later, May narrowly survived the Tory Brexit rebellion on the customs bill but was facing another knife-edge vote on Tuesday afternoon on the trade bill.

Liberal Democrats Tim Farron and Vince Cable had to apologise after they came under attack for failing to show up for the vote.

Labour’s Stephen Kinnock pulled no punches.

On Tuesday, pro-European Tories Stephen Hammond and Nicky Morgan joined forces with Labour to table an amendment that would force the UK to remain in the customs union

While Brexit quicksands were threatening May again, a leading French politician, the former health and labour minister Xavier Bertrand, said France was facing a “catastrophe” in Calais if there was no deal.

Xavier Bertrand said the EU was to blame, saying the structure of negotiation was “an error” because it did not allow people on either side of the channel the power to make decisions on contingency planning. He wants Macron to intervene.

“The way things are going, we are going to be left standing staring at each other like strangers. It’s madness, pure utter madness,” he said.

Other top stories

• Bank of England’s Mark Carney warns that no deal would have ‘big economic consequences’.

• Net migration from EU falls to lowest level in nearly five years.

• Dominic Raab made Brexit secretary in cabinet reshuffle.

• Jeremy Hunt’s journey to the Foreign Office.

• Calls for a public inquiry into referendum campaign spending after Vote Leave fined.

• Office for Budget Responsibility casts doubt on May’s claim ‘Brexit dividend’ will fund NHS £20bn spending boost.

• Justine Greening supports second referendum.

• Boris Johnson. He will be reincarnated.

Opinion

Once dismissed as sclerotic and slowed by bureaucracy, EU institutions are running rings around Britain in Brexit negotiations.

Tweet of the week

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