The Londoner: EU 'salami-sliced UK at Brexit talks

Ivan Rogers, the UK’s former ambassador to the EU, says Theresa May’s government was “salami-sliced and screwed” by the EU as he warns there could yet be more Brexit trouble. “The European side of the table... ran the Article 50 process very cleverly but very brutally to exploit their interests,” a demob-happy Rogers said at a Global Success Partnership event this week. Rogers left his post in early 2017 after a leaked memo showed he was concerned about the deal and is candid about what he sees as failures at the time. “The British government in late 2016/2017 made every mistake in the book,” he explained, saying: “I have to be honest, from outside, I can say this with some impunity because I had resigned by that point.”

But it wasn’t just Theresa May’s government Rogers had stern words for, as he blasted a “bloody stupid thing” that was put in the current Government’s Withdrawal Agreement. “In principle, Boris Johnson would have to decide if he wants [a transition period of] longer than 11 months by June 30, because that’s described in the Withdrawal Agreement... I have no idea why it was put in or why nobody took it out,” he said. Under article 132 of the Withdrawal Agreement, the Government has to decide by the end of June this year whether to ask for a longer transition period. Otherwise, unless a deal is agreed, the UK’s transition period will end next year and external tariffs may be imposed.

Rogers explained that May had demanded and negotiated the transition period “for what was then regarded as a very short period of time in March 2019 until the end of December 2020. “Every expert I know on the other side of the Channel thought that 21 months was too short to do a free trade deal. We don’t have 21 months, we have 11.” Brexit, he warned, will still “dominate British political life”, explaining: “This is a very odd end to this week, because everything changes and yet nothing changes.” What joy — Brexit groundhog day.

Harry & Meghan's latest supporter... David Cameron

David Cameron says he has “sympathy” for Harry and Meghan’s decision to step back from their royal duties, in the first remarks he has made about the couple’s plans. “When you’re in politics, and if you’re prime minister and you’re getting shot at from every angle, you do at least think, well, you know, one day I won’t be prime minister and I’ll return to a more private life,” the former prime minister has told media in Australia. He added: “I suppose in the royal family you’re facing that potentially for ever.”

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Baroness Warsi praised “our weather, and, yes, most often it may be mediocre weather” last night at an Intelligence Squared debate on whether Britain was great. “But,” the Tory peer explained, “at a time of climate change and extreme climate I say thank God for mediocre.” That’s really looking on the bright side...

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Ncuti Gatwa is still adjusting to his fame. At London Fashion Week, the star of Netflix’s Sex Education plucked up the courage to go up to American actor Billy Porter. But Porter got there first and asked where he knew Gatwa from. “I was so shook,” Gatwa tells Clara Amfo’s podcast, “that I was like, ‘Err... I’m in a show called Netflix.’”

Why Queen & Slim film matters for Chidera

Actors Daniel Kaluuya, Jodie Turner-Smith and Kaya Scodelario were treated to a special screening of Queen & Slim at the Rich Mix Cinema last night. Singer Neneh Cherry and writer Chidera Eggerue also turned up to watch the premiere of the film, which stars Kaluuya and Turner-Smith and follows two African-Americans who go on the run after killing a police officer during a traffic stop gone wrong. Eggerue can probably be marked down as a fan. She wrote on Instagram: “I’m grateful to have witnessed such an important storyline unravel with grace, thoughtfulness and boundless creativity. Don’t take anything negative you may read about this film on the internet too seriously. I can’t wait to watch this movie all over again.” Yes, definitely a fan. Meanwhile, in the West End, Dame Emma Thompson went backstage at musical Waitress to strike a pose with new stars Gavin Creel and the multi-talented Sara Bareilles, who also wrote the show’s music and lyrics.

SW1A

Daniel Kawczynski MP has deleted a tweet in which he claimed “so many colleagues have come up to me in recent days to agree that we should not refer to Nazi atrocities but call it as it is, to be true to the narrative. These were German atrocities against mankind in Europe.” Arguing over the Second World War... what a charming, shrewd and diplomatic start to life outside the EU that would make.​

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Dawn Butler has slammed the “selfish” Labour MPs who say they will leave the party if Rebecca Long-Bailey wins. Taking a hard line on unity, the deputy leadership hopeful told Left-wing outlet Novara Media: “Under my watch as deputy, what I want to ensure is if you’re not talking of getting Labour in government that you’re suspended.” Dissidents will be vaporised.

Talking of Labour’s internal contest, Chris Bryant MP spoke for the nation yesterday: “It is ludicrous that the Labour leadership contest still has 68 days to run.”

Heroine at centre of a Queenie drama

A row has erupted between authors Candice Carty-Williams and Kimberley Chambers, both of whom have written books titled Queenie.​ Carty-Williams says she was “confused” when she saw the title of her book, in which her heroine is constantly forced to compare herself to her white middle-class peers, being used by Chambers. She said she was perplexed “that a publisher would in good mind” use the same title. But Chambers insists she has been writing about a heroine called Queenie for “many years”. Is it a case of life imitating art?

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