The Prime Minister’s meetings with Chancellor Merkel on Wednesday and President Macron on Thursday will play as a precursor to a new ‘wider engagement strategy’ with European countries, Guido understands.

Despite overzealous media interpretations of No Deal planning, it remains the UK’s intention to deliver a deal that can pass through Parliament, and to that end bilateral conversations will ramp up following this weekend’s G7 summit. The EU will still have to drop the Backstop for meaningful FTA engagement…

While Michael Gove’s Cabinet Office is focused on No Deal planning domestically, Stephen Barclay’s DExEU is laying the groundwork for negotiations to reopen in four weeks’ time. The Government is not expecting the EU’s united front to crack until they see Remainer attempts to thwart the UK leaving on 31st October fail at the beginning of September. Ironically the people who are most jeopardising the chances of obtaining a fair deal and avoiding No Deal are the so-called ‘anti-No Deal rebels’…