David Davis has quit the cabinet after a row with Theresa May over her plans for how things will be after Brexit, just eight months away.
The resignation of the Brexit Secretary late on Sunday July 8, followed by the resignation of two key Brexit aides, may have dealt a death blow to May’s continued leadership.
Hot on the heels of the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator were Steve Baker and Suella Braverman from the Department for Exiting the EU.
Davis said it looked "less and less likely" the Tory party would deliver on the Brexit referendum result and the commitment to leave the customs union and single market.
Ms May had hoped to win over Brexiteers to her proposals last Friday but this instead triggered anti-EU Tory MPs to demand a leadership challenge.
Facing the Commons on Monday was going to be painful enough but with Davis gone, May will have a hard time explaining her proposals and the absence of her Brexit Secretary.
May has survived other leadership challenges and pro-Brexit MPs would struggle to topple her if May decides to stay on.
"There needs to be a rebuilding of trust,” Bernard Jenkin, a pro-Brexit backbench Conservative told BBC radio on Monday morning.
The Brexit secretary will not be missed in Brussels, he has hardly been there this year while the Commission remains exasperated by the British approach to negotiations and seeks to ensure that other EU States do not do anything stupid, like hold a referendum on membership, during this period of anti-EU sentiment.
The Davis resignation letter, followed by May’s response:
...and the response from Theresa May:
Comments
It is all going to change on 29th March 2019, when everyone entering Britain from anywhere in Europe will have to produce a passport, and everyone in Britain will have to produce a passport and Visa to travel anywhere in Europe and then queue at the non-EU passport control with the Pakistani's, Indian's, Chinese and other countries with huge numbers of population.
I flew back to the UK for a few days last week. At Luton Airport I had to show my passport and go through customs - a hard border. Why shouldn't the Irish have to do the same?
Chip I couldn't have said it better myself, UK and the EU are run by multinationals, just look up how much money and time these multinationals devote to lobbying the EU eurocrats and government ministers.
If you want to know where the idea for European union came from, look up the history of IG Farben Industry.
The man has integrity unlike those that asked him to take this role. He was asked to do a job and he was up for it, until he realized that the goal posts have been moved by those who asked him to do the job in the first place.
Boris called it for what it is, a turd polished or other wise..
Beyond that, I cannot understand how the UK intends to leave the single market and customs union without a hard border between Northern Ireland and either the Republic of Ireland or the UK mainland.
I disgaree. If you want a say in British politics then stay in the UK. There was a referendum with a quite clear result that is being ignored, so anything expats would have added would be similarly ignored anyway.
The fact is that governments are run by big multinational businesses who love the EU with it's cheap labour, no tariffs and tax haven (Luxembourg).
The wishes of people are of no consequence to our rulers.
The golden opportunity to curb the unelected EU beaurocrats by, initially, demanding wide-spread reform of the E'U', which the UK did not agree to join, but instead a European Economic Community, has been - tragically, I fear - lost.
Now, if there was another referendum in the light of new information.....
Depends on your point of view. It appears Davis wants Brexit in the full sense whereas May wants to water it down to to "Brexit in name only" or, to put it another way, 'business as usual'.