Robert Peston is Political Editor of ITV News and host of the weekly political discussion show Peston. His articles originally appeared on his ITV News blog.
The correct reports in Sunday Times and Mail on Sunday this morning that some ministers (not all) want Theresa May to go now, and make way for a caretaker – either David Lidington or Michael Gove – tells me NOT she will definitely go within a few days (though she may) but that the government
As you know, I have been banging on about the probability that the UK will leave the EU without a deal on 12 April. Having talked to very senior members of the government, and also well-placed sources in the EU, it has become clear to me that MPs have one shot to prevent that –
All the talk among Cabinet ministers – who as usual in Theresa May’s government know next-to-nothing about what the PM is actually going to do – is that the bloomin’ meaningful vote won’t be held next week after all. “The DUP don’t look as though they are coming on board,” said one. “It looks as
Now that I’ve had the opportunity to review the extraordinary and historic events that took place here in Brussels and talk to people involved in the talks, I have a new take on what happened and why. The big drivers for why the EU 27 leaders came up with their new formula for determining when
After yesterday’s historic negotiations between EU leaders here in Brussels – while Theresa May was out of the room – here is what we now know about Brexit. We are not leaving the EU on 29 March 2019, the Brexit day that was supposedly set in stone. We may yet leave on 22 May this
I’ve been passed copies of media briefing notes prepared for the junior Brexit minister Kwasi Kwarteng, who this morning did a round of TV and radio interviews. My source is a political one, not another hack or media person, which I point out to prevent any suspicion that a media company is behaving badly by
Will MPs next week really face a simple choice, between May’s deal and a no-deal Brexit, or is that a bluff? Such a binary choice was what a dozen cabinet ministers – those who hate the idea that the Brexit delay could be nine months or more – were sure they heard from the PM
Probably the most important event at yesterday’s shadow cabinet was a presentation by Labour’s campaigns director Niall Sookoo of polling that purported to show that ‘our support has fallen because we back a People’s Vote’ – according to a frontbencher. The party’s chairman Ian Lavery, who opposes Labour backing a Brexit referendum, was thrilled and
There is a huge Tory revolt under way to stop Theresa May asking the EU for a Brexit delay of nine months or more. She has been requested to address the 1922 Committee of Conservative MPs at 5pm on Wednesday where she will be told in no uncertain terms that the delay must not be
The PM presented choices to the Cabinet for the letter she is expected to write to the EU’s President Donald Tusk requesting a Brexit delay – without nailing down precisely what she will do. That said, her ministers think she will request a delay until 30 June, predicated on her somehow getting her deal ratified
When Theresa May asks the EU’s 27 government heads for a Brexit delay on Thursday, they will reply ‘what’s it for, Mme Prime Minister?’ And the problem she’s got — we’ve got — is she doesn’t know, as the junior Brexit minister Kwasi Kwarteng made crystal clear when questioned in the Commons yesterday. All she
Nigel Dodds of the DUP has not yet agreed a deal with Theresa May to bring his troop of ten MPs – and some of their Tory ERG Brexiter allies – into her camp for that momentous and precedent-smashing third “meaningful vote” on her Brexit deal. This means as of now the third “meaningful vote”
The prime minister’s frantic last attempt to persuade Northern Ireland’s DUP to back her third meaningful vote on Tuesday involves a promise that if the controversial backstop is ever triggered, Great Britain would adopt any new food and business rules that could be forced by the EU on Northern Ireland. This is a high risk
Although the prime minister wants to hold another ‘meaningful vote’ on her Brexit plan next week, it is by no means certain that, when it comes to the crunch, she will choose to do so. I am told by her close colleagues, that two conditions must be met for her to go ahead with the
What kind of Brexit delay, if any, would the European Union’s leaders sanction, when the Prime Minister asks for one in a week’s time, at the next EU Council? Truthfully no one knows. Actually that is only half right. In the implausible event that MPs next week ratify the PM’s Brexit deal at the third
The most important amendment going on the order paper today is the one in the names of Hilary Benn, Oliver Letwin and Yvette Cooper – because it is the one that would wrest control of shaping Brexit from the prime minister and deliver this control to MPs. This is a coup against the PM, against
Everyone is getting over-excited. Calm down. The idea that Theresa May will seize victory from the jaws of humiliation with her constitutionally dubious decision to put her Brexit deal to a vote for a record-breaking third time next week is highly questionable. First even if the Attorney General admits with the full magisterial regret for
A member of the Cabinet uttered just one word to me about this latest humiliating defeat for the Prime Minister about her Brexit deal: “nightmare!”. Let’s put this nightmare into context. In January, the Prime Minister’s painstakingly negotiated Brexit plan was rejected by a record 230 votes, the worst defeat for a government ever. Tonight’s
Those Tory Brexiter MPs who WANT to believe the EU has no desire to trap the UK in the customs union via the Northern Ireland backstop will be reassured by the agreement between Theresa May and Jean-Claude Juncker on a new legal instrument saying the EU must negotiate in good faith to avoid the backstop
Forget Brexit (I dare you!). The game now, in the Tory Party, is positioning for the looming leadership election. Because I can find no one in the Cabinet or on the backbenches who still believes Theresa May will be PM for longer than a few weeks, such is their fury and agony that we’re 18
