Theresa May must share the blame for the Brexit bitterness

As Gore Vidal said, “Every time a friend succeeds, I die a little” and by that exacting standard, Tim Shipman has become a significant trial to his many friends. I thought of this again when it emerged – as they say in Westminster – that the cabinet would meet to discuss the future shape of Brexit. It seemed telling that this actually counted as a bona fide ‘news’ story. That is, it was a man bites dog moment and therefore worth putting in the newspapers. 

Then again, readers of Fall Out, Shipman’s sequel to his best-selling account of the Brexit referendum entertainment, would not have been surprised. Shipman reveals that the shape of Brexit was cooked-up by Nick Timothy and Theresa May before the prime minister’s speech to the Conservative party conference last year. “The foundational decisions of Britain’s withdrawal strategy, which would shape the next two years of negotiations, were taken, in essence, by two people.