Paired to the bone

Turns out that things were not quite what they seemed on Tuesday when the government won three out of the four amendments. There is a "gentleman's agreement where if for reasons of illness or pregnancy, an MP on one side of the division can't make the vote, then one from the other side is "paired" and so will not vote.

That's the agreement, but on Tuesday it failed. And some investigating by The Tomes has shown it to be deliberate.

And the news has not gone down well, although it may not change the votes, it does mean that this agreement will not work again. It also shows to what lengths the Government will go to, to win.

Earlier this week, the UK's DExEU published its position paper/with paper/thingy, and although its a mess, it is something. Only, it seems that rather than get a crack team of translators to turn it into various European languages, the DExEU fed it into Google translate, which them chewed the text up good and proper. So that no two versions say the same thing. It could also be viewed as insulting, as most Europeans do speak good English, also this is also being viewed as trying to bypass Mr Barnier.

But don't worry, Mr Raab has been to Brussels today to take over from the useless DD and said he was looking forward to lighting a fire under the talks and would bring vim and vigour to the talks. And will try to get a good deal.

The deal will be as a result of the UK's A50 letter and May's red lines, use those and you will find what will come out the other end. To get a different deal, rub out those red lines and see what happens.

Boris would't approve, of course. He made is resignation speech yesterday, and droned on and on. But after two years in the job, promoting Brexit, his only plan was to "back Brexit Britain". And that was it. Nothing constructive, which is what we've come to expect from the former part-time Mayor of London.

The Government is to send sixty notifications to homes and businesses on the preparations needed in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The penny is beginning to drop that this might not be as easy as DD, Fox, Johnson and Gove said it would be.

And still there is no movement on a solution to the NI border.

The clock is ticking.