It’s not just Downing Street where regime change is taking place today, the EU is also in the process of replacing some of its unelected Eurocrats with other unelected Eurocrats. One who’s been a little bit too keen to act like an elected politician is Martin Selmayr, who’s got the chop after his attempts to manipulate the selection of the new EU Commission President backfired. After his scandalous appointment and ignominious downfall, Selmayr will presumably be out on his ear? Don’t be silly, this is the EU…

Instead Selmayr’s managed to waltz straight into another plum EU post as the EU’s Head of Representation in Vienna – it’s a clear demotion but he’ll have a nice €17,000-a-month salary with minimal tax to cushion the blow. He won’t even need to worry about what to do in the meantime, he’s been made temporarily reappointed as a special adviser to Juncker again until his poodle steps down in October. Classic EU rewards for failure, although failed UK appointees are hardly strangers to the revolving door either…

Tonight’s Panorama is proving to be another revealing affair – on Brexit this week rather than the chronic anti-Semitism within the Labour Party. There’s already been the revelation from Barnier that May was never serious about ‘no deal’. Juncker’s “monster” Martin Selmayr had another fascinating nugget on Today…

Nick Robinson reveals that Selmayr made an “extraordinary secret offer” to David Lidington to put Brexit “on ice” for five years to develop a new intra-EU partnership instead. Selmayr then talks about how he floated the idea in a late-night session with UK negotiators: “I think we all agreed in the room but we all are officials and we had to respect the mandate that was given and that was unfortunately to negotiate a divorce.” Hardly surprising that they came back with such a terrible deal given not one of them genuinely believed leaving was a good idea…

Selmayr himself won’t be around for any more late-night negotiating sessions, Libération’s Jean Quatremer has got the fascinating inside scoop on how the “sulphurous” Selmayr has been swiftly defenestrated after trying to hijack the process of picking a new Commission President to get another pliant puppet put in place. Guido somehow suspects it won’t be the last we’ll be seeing of him…

In a little noticed regulatory announcement from Martin Selmayr this morning he has dictated that the European Union will switch to a blue passport in 12 months time. The loss of the blue passport for many Britons was a symbolic example of the EU trying to suppress the nation state. This of course means Britons could get a blue passport before Britain leaves the European Union. Is Selmayr trying to sway voters in a second referendum?

The EU Ombudsman has delivered their final verdict on the utterly scandalous appointment of Juncker’s “monster” Martin Selmayr to the top job in the European Commission, concluding that “Selmayr’s appointment did not follow EU law, in letter or spirit, and did not follow the Commission’s own rules”. So much for the EU’s “sacred legal order”…

The Ombudsman “identified four instances of maladministration” in the handling of Selmayr’s appointment as Secretary-General and described the Juncker Commission’s failure to follow official recommendations on opening up the appointment process as “highly regrettable”, adding that “the Ombudsman looks forward to its implementation by the next Commission”. Barely a tickle on the wrist, let alone a slap.

Last December the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for him to quit. Naturally Selmayr has no desire to give up his corruptly obtained post and has ignored them. If a scandal of this magnitude had happened in a functioning democracy Selmayr would have been forced to resign in disgrace. Instead he is still the top dog in the EU’s most powerful institution…

UPDATE: The European Commission have put out a statement in response saying they “take note” of the Ombudsman’s verdict and that Selmayr “fully meets all the demanding requirements for the job” and is going nowhere. Rotten to the core…

Greg Hands’ much-shared ConHome article yesterday on the malicious motives of top EU officials towards Brexit appears to have seriously ruffled some Eurocrat feathers. European Commission boss Martin Selmayr, lovingly referred to by colleagues as “Juncker’s Monster” and “Darth Vader”, tweeted angrily this morning:

This is false. It may be a story that some want to hear, but it is still false. We have never said this. https://t.co/VS046vxZ0S

— Martin Selmayr (@MartinSelmayr) January 9, 2019

Hands had committed the heresy of, er, quoting on-the-record statements from Selmayr and Barnier’s deputy Sabine Weyand in prominent British and German media outlets. As fluent German-speaker Hands himself pointed out in response:

“There are 17 separate sources to my article, all German & UK media, all mainstream publications (Times, Welt, BBC etc), all individually linked to. So what is “false” about it? Most prominently, the interview you yourself gave to the Passauer Neue Presse.”

EU hostility to any serious level of press scrutiny is no surprise. Claiming outright “we have never said this” is straight-up fake news from the EU’s top official…

Something was incensing Juncker’s “monster” Martin Selmayr and Donald Tusk, who couldn’t stop themselves from have a fierce public row on the way into their press conference earlier. Brexit causing blood pressures to rise in Brussels too…

UPDATE: Selmayr responds:

“The President of the European Council @eucopresident had a factual question to the @EU_Commission before his press conference, and I helped out. Very simple.”

If that’s how Tusk asks a simple “factual question” Guido would hate to see him when he’s cross…