The key message emanating from Cabinet today is that the Government has predictably abandoned any attempts to press ahead with the Malthouse Compromise, instead pinning their hopes on a tweak to the backstop being enough to get a deal through instead. This is not going down well with Tory MPs…

Nonetheless speculation is mounting that Geoffrey Cox has come up with concrete proposals to take to Brussels, with talk that a deal could even be agreed in Sharm-el-Sheikh this weekend, although a legal ‘codicil’ has already been dismissed as “Cox’s Codpiece” by unimpressed Brexiteers. Meanwhile Michel Barnier has told a Spanish audience that the EU will listen to May’s suggestions for how to “tweak” the backstop but will not reopen the Withdrawal Agreement, as May promised Parliament. How long can the Brady truce continue to hold?