Boris was at the JCB factory in Staffordshire this morning to deliver a big set-piece speech on Brexit. His fundamental message was for British politicians to “stop fighting each other” and turn around to “face the real obstacle” – the trap of the backstop:

“We need to escape the trap of the Irish backstop and it’s frankly more than disappointing that in the five weeks since the deal was whisked off the table before Parliament could vote it down, we haven’t even tried to get rid of it. We haven’t even asked!”

This sums up many Brexiteers’ frustrations about Theresa May’s apparent refusal to even ask the EU to make significant changes to what is manifestly the single greatest obstacle to a deal being done. The perception of Downing Street is that they are scared to even suggest serious alterations for fear of offending the EU, on the advice of their so-called EU “sherpas”. The only place the “sherpas” have led the UK is to this pitiful deal…

Meanwhile Guido hears that one senior Remainer has even been receiving calls from his EU buddies in a panic about the backstop derailing the deal altogether. If May wants to get her own MPs and the DUP back on board, her best chance is by finally showing some backbone on the backstop…