Week of decision.

This week, we come nearer, or not, to know what May wants from Brexit. It says much that with less than 10,000 hours to go until Brexit day, or 13 months, three weeks if you like, and still there is no formal position by her or the cabinet as to what UK is aiming for. And in situations where you don’t know what you want, the other side will decide for you.

May is having a series of cabinet war meetings, to try to get agreement on a range of issues between ministers. At the same time, JRM is hosting meetings of the ERG in which they hope to force May in the direction they want, and there is also a Europhile group who are hoping to do the same. It seems impossible to think that the Conservative Party can ever be the same again, united under one leader.

And all the while, the EU ramps up pressure by restating its position in reply to either May or DD when they suggest Britain is after some kind of deal to get EU magic beans; Barnier saying that you cannot leave the EU and the CU and SM and have frictionless borders. Britain would have to choose. And the great fudge that was the phase 1 agreement is closer to being put into legal text, and the vagueness that May used to get through to the end of the year will be replaced with specific demands that have to be met, or there will be no transition, no deals, no trade deals, no piggy-backing the EU trade deals UK hopes to roll over so not to have to negotiate them.

And today, the EU released some footnotes to the agreement stating that if Britain broke the agreements, then it would be booted out of the or a SM. The room for manoeuvre gets ever smaller as reality closes in, and panic begins to set in. Brexiteers are getting their excuses in as to why Brexit failed blaming everyone other than their own failings and lack of preparations.

And the ERG are still rumoured to be planning to topple May, with many Europhile Tory MPs saying they would resign the whip if JRM ends up as PM or leader. Without their support the government would fall, and there would be an election, and then Labour would have to decide whether to Brexit or not. They would win a possible landslide if they chose to be a remain party, but Corbyn is for Brexit.

It is a total fucking omnishambles.