As morning rounds go this one was at least semi-important in winning over the Rwanda rebels. No 10 sent out minister for illegal migration Michael Tomlinson. Apart from failing to appear in any way normal by repeatedly tripping over low-ball culture questions from Kay Burley like “what box sets do you watch” and “what football team do you support“, Tomlinson offered a lukewarm performance on the Today programme. He eventually came up with Wimbourne Town F.C. and failed to recollect their last result…

The latest rollout from the government is a vague hinted proposal to amend the civil service code to make it easier to ignore Rule 39 “pyjama injunctions” from Strasbourg. Tomlinson provided no details and said it would be a “further confirmation” of what’s in the unamended bill. When it comes to resolving disagreements he said they were “looking to see what cane be done“. One rebel said with regard to the code change:

“It’s a distraction tactic. A put-up job to say ‘Look over there!’ and blame the civil servants. The courts are the ones who block the flights and the Attorney General’s advice alongside Sir James Eadie is clear – you can’t ignore Strasbourg’s Rule 39s, in all but exceptional and irrelevant circumstances, without breaching international law. We need to legislate to sort the problem“.

The standoff begins…

UPDATE: Mark Francois, ERG chairman, has organised a “special plenary meeting” of the ERG tonight at 5 p.m. “with the other Parliamentary groups”…