Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Chief Brexit Negotiator Olly Robbins will quit after new PM moves into Number 10 Chief negotiator Olly Robbins will quit his Brexit role this summer. PA understands the man who masterminded Theresa May’s Brexit deal will step down shortly after the new prime minister takes up his post at the end of July. Mr Robbins has committed to a brief handover before he moves on, with reports he may take up a job in the City. Mr Robbins’ departure is the latest in a wave of top civil servants dealing with Brexit who have announced they will resign rather than take on the challenge of delivering Brexit within 100 days under the new leader. Tom Shinner, director of policy and delivery coordination at the Department for Exiting the EU, and Karen Wheeler, director general of Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs Brexit border delivery group, have both announced they will quit. Tory leadership contender Jeremy Hunt was quizzed about the report at a hustings in Manchester and said it is “a good moment to change our approach” to cheers from Tory members. Mr Hunt said: “I didn’t agree with the approach that we took in a number of areas of the Brexit negotiations. I was a loyal Cabinet minister – I think it’s very important the Prime Minister has a loyal Foreign Secretary – but I wasn’t a believer in the backstop and I didn’t believe it would get through Parliament, so I think this is a good moment to change our approach. I’m not going to say something about a civil servant who I know works incredibly hard, even though there are issues I disagree with him on. But I do think now is a moment that we have to get this right, deliver a different deal and one that can actually get through Parliament.” Both candidates are expected to unveil new Brexit negotiating teams shortly, with Mr Hunt recruiting two Canadians with the aim of securing a Candian-style free trade deal, and Mr Johnson drafting in Brexiteers including Jacob Rees-Mogg. – ITV News Olly Robbins quits – shock resignation announced during Tory leadership hustings – Sunday Express Olly Robbins, Theresa May’s chief Brexit negotiator, to quit role before new PM takes power – Sunday Telegraph (£) Tory leadership rivals begin assembling new negotiating teams… Britain is on course for a hard-Brexit confrontation with Brussels after both prime ministerial contenders revealed last night they were drafting in negotiating teams to replace Theresa May’s failed deal with a free-trade agreement. Jeremy Hunt has drafted in two senior Canadian politicians, while Boris Johnson has asked Jacob Rees-Mogg and two other dedicated Brexiteers to draw up his Brexit blueprint. The foreign secretary has recruited Stephen Harper, the former prime minister of Canada, to lead his “all-star” team alongside his fellow countrywoman Rona Ambrose, who has conducted trade negotiations with America. Crawford Falconer, the government’s top trade expert, who was sidelined by May, will also play a key role. Rees-Mogg, who runs the hardline European Research Group, Geoffrey Cox, the attorney-general, and Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary, are in charge of Johnson’s plan in a US presidential-style “transition team” that began work last week. They will work up proposals to leave by October 31, with or without a deal. Johnson also reveals in a newspaper editorial today that he plans to change the prime minister’s title to include “minister for the Union” if he wins the leadership. In an interview with The Sunday Times, Hunt — who now leads Johnson in national polls of who would make the better prime minister — staked out a tougher position on Brussels, saying: “There’s not a great deal of difference between Boris’s position and my position. We both want to change the withdrawal agreement. We both want to get out by October 31. We will know by the beginning of October if it’s going to be possible to negotiate a deal that we are going to be able to get through the House of Commons. If it isn’t, I’ll take us out without a deal.” – Sunday Times (£) …with Jeremy Hunt recruiting former Canadian PM Stephen Harper… Jeremy Hunt has recruited a former prime minister of Canada to lead his Brexit negotiating team and secure a Canadian-style free-trade deal with Brussels if he wins the keys to Downing Street. The foreign secretary’s allies revealed in an interview with The Sunday Times that, after wooing Stephen Harper for several weeks, he is set to join. Harper led Canada for nine years, six of which included negotiations with the EU for a free-trade deal that was signed in 2016, the year after he left office. Hunt further revealed that Oliver Robbins, Theresa May’s chief negotiator, will soon leave and that he would replace him with Crawford Falconer, the Scottish-born New Zealander who is the chief negotiator at the Department for International Trade. Also lined up by Hunt is Rona Ambrose, whom he got to know when she was Canadian health minister, but who more recently was one of Canada’s team negotiating changes to the North American Free Trade deal after Donald Trump became US president. In a dig at Johnson, Hunt said: “To break the impasse with the European Union we need a tough and skilled negotiator, not empty rhetoric. In Crawford Falconer you have someone who is respected as the toughest trade negotiator in the world. I’m good personal friends with Rona Ambrose. These are people who know how to get a tough deal.” Landing Harper will be seen as a coup by Hunt to mirror George Osborne’s luring of Mark Carney from Canada to run the Bank of England. A member of Hunt’s team added: “Stephen Harper knows how you negotiate trade deals with both the EU and the US. He’s got the T-shirt.” The appointments are important for Hunt because they showcase the kind of deal he wants. “I’m going for Canada-plus, not Chequers,” he said. – Sunday Times (£) …and suggesting he ‘could withhold part of £39bn divorce bill’ in a no-deal scenario Prime ministerial hopeful Jeremy Hunt has said he would consider withholding some of the UK’s £39bn EU “divorce bill” in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The foreign secretary told the Sunday Times he would not hand over “a penny more than is legally required of us”. Fellow leadership contender Boris Johnson previously unveiled similar plans to hold back money from Brussels. Mr Hunt’s proposals come as details emerged of the rivals forming new Brexit negotiating teams. Earlier this month, Mr Johnson told the Sunday Times he would “retain” the financial settlement demanded by the EU until he had struck a deal more favourable than Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement, which has been rejected three times by MPs. On Sunday Mr Hunt told the paper: “As a businessman I always paid my bills. That being said, if we leave without a deal I will not hand over a penny more than is legally required of us. Anyone who thinks I am going to write a blank cheque to the European Union is sorely mistaken,” he added. The Institute for Government (IFG) think tank previously said refusing to pay could lead the EU to launch a legal challenge. But a House of Lords report into Brexit and the EU budget stated: “While the legal advice we have received differed, the stronger argument suggests that the UK will not be strictly obliged, as a matter of law, to render any payments at all after leaving.” – BBC News My Brexit will unite Britain and save the Union, says Boris Johnson… Boris Johnson today wraps himself in the national flag as he pledges to change the Prime Minister’s official title to add ‘Minister for the Union’. Setting out his vision for the United Kingdom – which he describes as ‘the most successful political and economic union in history’ – Mr Johnson takes aim at Theresa May, who has argued that a No Deal Brexit would risk fracturing England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The tub-thumping ‘Minister for the Union’ moniker will be added alongside First Lord of the Treasury to the formal title of Prime Minister if, as expected, Mr Johnson wins his leadership battle against Jeremy Hunt. Writing in today’s Mail on Sunday, Mr Johnson says: ‘Properly done, Brexit will not threaten the Union; a sensible Brexit will enhance the Union and protect it and make life more difficult for those who wish to destroy it. ‘Now is the time therefore to be resolute, to get on with Brexit and to bring the whole country together.’ The Tory frontrunner describes the UK as a ‘great global brand’ and ‘the soft-power superpower of the 21st Century’. He adds: ‘We members of this precious Union are therefore so obviously and so irrefutably more than the sum of our parts; and that is why I am a passionate believer in the Unions – all of them – and when you look at the scale of our collective achievement, I simply cannot understand why anyone would want to mutilate this country and to break it up. – Mail on Sunday …as he plans Brexit ‘war cabinet’ to force through Britain’s EU departure in 100 days Boris Johnson is forming a Brexit ‘war Cabinet’ to force through Britain’s departure from the European Union in his first 100 days in office, the Telegraph can disclose. The “crack team” – as one source described it – would comprise a tightly-knit unit of senior ministers and advisers charged with mapping out and tackling every possible obstacle on the way to Britain exiting on October 31. It would then report back to the broader cabinet, which itself will be comprised entirely of ministers who signed up to Mr Johnson’s deadline. The plans are being developed by Sir Eddie Lister, who is heading up the transition team with Oliver Dowden, a Cabinet Office minister and Health secretary Matt Hancock. One source said: “There will be a Brexit workstream and there are people signed up to it. It is expected to have senior figures and expertise from across the spectrum looking into it.” – Sunday Telegraph (£) Boris Johnson to set up ‘war cabinet’ to force Britain’s EU departure — Sunday Express Johnson slams BBC’s political coverage and brands it the ‘Brexit Bashing Corporation’… Boris Johnson blasted the BBC’s slanted political coverage yesterday and branded it the “Brexit Bashing Corporation”. In a double swipe, he urged bosses to stop showering “vast sums of money” on pampered presenters and spend the cash on free TV licences for over-75s. The PM-in-waiting – whose spat with girlfriend Carrie Symonds led every news bulletin last weekend – hit back as he addressed grassroots Tory members. He ridiculed the broadcaster’s coverage of Brexit and its decision to axe the free licence perk for 3.7 million pensioners. Mr Johnson nodded furiously when Andrew Stephenson tore into the Beeb at a leadership hustings event in Carlisle. He told the former Foreign Secretary: “The BBC has been at the forefront of the assault on Brexit for some time. They no longer make a pretence of being independent and balanced, in my opinion. So should something be done about the licence fee?” To roars of audience laughter, Mr Johnson quipped: “The Brexit Bashing Corporation”. – The Sun …as he suggests Juncker and Barnier should come to the UK to re-open Brexit talks… Boris Johnson has dived into the Brexit negotiations during the Tory leadership battle by ordering European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Michel Barnier to come to the UK immediately to reopen Theresa May’s controversial withdrawal agreement. Mr Johnson is reported to have made the move of inviting the two top Eurocrats to London while a further three weeks of nationwide hustings remain ongoing. The move itself is a stark contrast to Mrs May’s technique of getting a last-minute flight to Brussels with haste. Mr Juncker famously boasted of only ever visiting London twice during the June 2016 Brexit vote, the Mail On Sunday reports. The move would be his first as Prime Minister. The demand comes after an intense round of hustings in Manchester that saw him talk about Brexit and the importance of respecting the vote from three years ago. He declared: “The will of the people must prevail.” – Sunday Express …and declares himself the Botham to May’s Boycott… Boris Johnson has suggested he is the swashbuckling Sir Ian Botham to Theresa May’s steadfast cricketing hero Geoffrey Boycott. The outgoing Prime Minister once praised Boycott for having “stuck to it” and having “got the runs in the end” when asked if she would resign. Displaying their drastically different personalities, Tory leadership frontrunner Mr Johnson presented himself as being akin to the risky and attacking former England teammate. Mr Johnson was asked by LBC presenter Iain Dale, who was moderating the Carlisle leadership hustings on Saturday, whether the UK will get the “100% full-on Boris as prime minister” or see him constrained in Downing Street. The MP seized the opportunity to present his differing strategy for Brexit negotiations by deploying a cricketing analogy. “I think that there is one way to do this thing now, if I may venture a cricketing metaphor, I think we’ve had quite a lot of Boycott on the wicket and it is time for Botham to come in. That is my view,” Mr Johnson replied. “Particularly in the EU negotiations, we cannot have the same old, same old. We cannot have a can-kicking approach. We kick the can, we will kick the bucket, we’ve got to get on and do this.” Sir Ian, a Brexit backer, is known for an infamous move when he tricked Boycott into being run out when England teammates grew tired of his steady pace. – Belfast Telegraph …while Sajid Javid and Matt Hancock tussle over who would be his Chancellor Matt Hancock and Sajid Javid are locked in a Cabinet tussle over the keys to No 11 Downing Street. Both former leadership contenders are lobbying to be Boris Johnson’s Chancellor, with Mr Javid expected to publicly endorse the Tory frontrunner within days to help his case. On Wednesday, Mr Hancock will set out his stall in a major speech designed to burnish his suitability for the job, as well as his new-found Brexit credentials. In a speech to the Onward think-tank, he will warn that Leave-voting areas must not be left behind as ‘automation and technological advancements’ transform Britain. Last night an ally said: ‘Matt has unlimited amounts of energy, optimism and drive – and that is exactly what people across the party think the Treasury needs.’ And friends point out that his Health Department has been at the forefront of No Deal planning. Another source added: ‘Matt has really impressed Boris over the last week, taking a grip on planning for his Government without making a big song and dance about it publicly.’ But Mr Hancock faces an uphill battle, as The Mail on Sunday understands conversations between Mr Johnson and Mr Javid about being Chancellor date back to early last year. – Mail on Sunday John Bercow’s ‘plot to derail Brexit’ revealed as he further delays his departure from the Speaker’s Chair John Bercow has planned to delay his departure from the House of Commons, raising fears he could try to derail the Government’s Brexit plans. MPs have said the Speaker of the House of Commons has made it clear he wishes to remain Speaker until Christmas, rather than stand down this summer. Last October, reports suggested Mr Bercow had allegedly “told friends” he was planning to stand down this summer. Local newspaper The Buckingham and Winslow Advertiser also reported in April that Mr Bercow had said he would not stay on as Speaker for “much longer”. He allegedly said: “If Theresa May can take a few weeks to change her mind about holding an election I can be forgiven for taking a few years to change my mind about staying on.” Mr Bercow was expected to quit last summer as he said he would stay on as Speaker for nine years after he was appointed in June 2009 in the wake of the MPs’ expenses scandal. However, his time as Speaker has been tarnished by allegations of bullying which he strongly denies. Brexit backing Tories have claimed he also let his pro-Remain views affect his decisions as Speaker. – Sunday Express Nigel Farage to unveil new ‘Brexiteer’ newspaper, new policies and new candidates for the Brexit Party today Nigel Farage will today unveil 150 of the Brexit Party’s prospective MPs, launch a new Brexiteer newspaper and set out policies which he hopes will beat the Tories at a snap general election. The leader of the Brexit Party will increase the pressure on the Conservatives at a 5,000 “Big Vision” rally in Birmingham in a bid to make clear that the party is ready to go to toe to toe with the Tories. Mr Farage said the party will have selected the remaining 500 candidates by the end of next week after whittling down a long list of 3,000 applicants. A new party slogan “Invest in the Rest” will be unveiled as part of the party’s attempts to campaign for more spending on infrastructure in the north of England. He told the Sunday Telegraph: “The message is that on day one of the new Conservative Prime Minister, they need to know that we are ready to fight every constituency. “We’ve got this machine. It’s oiled, it’s organised. We’re on our way. This is our number one focus at the moment – candidates, getting them in place… Any new prime minister needs to know that we are absolutely ready. That we are a real threat.” A new newspaper – the Brexiteer – has been printed. Three million copies will start to be handed out from 500 stalls across the country on a “national action day” on July 6. – Sunday Telegraph (£) > On BrexitCentral yesterday: Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen MEP: If the traditional parties don’t change their ways, they should expect to be eclipsed by the Brexit Party Leslie Rowe: The Brexit Party must focus on Brexit and be careful not to alienate its many left-wing supporters Tory MP Alex Chalk tells People’s Vote rally to fight against no-deal Brexit… The Cheltenham MP said “sensible, pragmatic moderates should choose to fight” no deal, which both Tory leadership candidates have refused to rule out. Mr Chalk added he did not believe the UK had to have the hardest Brexit possible, nor that Remainers were unpatriotic. “Every single Briton in this room is a patriot,” he said. “I recognise the pride you take in this country and its values and I don’t subscribe to the ideal that 48-52 in the referendum was a mandate for a tungsten-hard Brexit. No deal would be very difficult and damaging for our country, where so much of our industry has been forged around the certainty of just in time supply chains. It would mean no implementation period, immediate tariffs, relations with the rest of the EU would be damaged by an almighty row about how much of that £39 billion would be paid. Avoiding no deal is the territory on which sensible, pragmatic moderates should choose to fight.” However, Mr Chalk said he was still not ready to back another referendum on Brexit, despite 65% of his constituents supporting a People’s Vote and 34% supporting a no-deal Brexit in a recent Populus opinion poll. One of Mr Chalk’s local Conservative councillors, Viv Matthews, said she “desperately” wanted another vote. “Three years ago I was convinced that walking away from the biggest trading block in the world was a mistake, and I voted remain,”” she said. “Now in the light of the unfolding chaos of industrial inertia, job losses and Government failures before us, I am even more of that view – I desperately want another vote.” – Belfast Telegraph …while ex-Tory/ex-Change UK MP Sarah Wollaston is ‘prepared to step down’ to help a Remain alliance A prominent pro-Remain MP has called for urgent talks about an anti-Brexit alliance, signalling she is prepared to stand down if necessary to help it happen. Sarah Wollaston, who resigned from the Conservative party over its Brexit stance, said the threat of a “populist” autumn election meant there was now a sense of urgency for Remain parties to come together to fight the danger of a hard Brexit. “We do not have the luxury of time,” she told the Observer. “An election could easily happen in the autumn and we have to be prepared for that, rather than trying to put something together in a hurry and find it’s too late. There should be a sense of urgency. “At both local and national level, the pro-Remain parties need to be talking about how a Remain alliance could work in practice, looking at all the available data on how it could be done, and which party is best placed in each seat. It won’t work everywhere, nor will the model necessarily be the same in every seat, but I think Remain voters want to see a progressive, Remain alliance across the country.” Her comments come amid predictions that a Boris Johnson victory in the Tory leadership contest would precipitate an autumn election, as a result of his vow to leave the EU at the end of October, even without a deal. – Observer UK seeks new no-deal Brexit freight plan Transport companies are being asked to bid to provide extra freight capacity to be used in the event of a no-deal Brexit on 31 October. The hurried ferry procurement process as the UK prepared to leave the EU on 29 March cost taxpayers more than £85m. That included £34m in a settlement and legal fees with Eurotunnel – which said it was not considered for the contract. The government said it would not be committing to buying extra capacity but would have options to do so if needed. “The Department for Transport is putting in place a freight capacity framework agreement that will provide government departments with the ability to secure freight capacity for our critical supply chains as and when required,” a spokesman said. “This framework does not commit the government to purchasing or reserving any freight capacity, but it does provide a flexible list of operators and options for the provision of the capacity that can be drawn upon if needed.” The government had previously awarded Seaborne Freight, DFDS and Brittany Ferries contracts worth more than £100m – all of which were eventually cancelled. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling faced calls to resign after he was forced to axe a £13.8m contract with Seaborne Freight, a company with no ships or trading history. – BBC News Brexit could take Scotland backwards, warns Nicola Sturgeon The Scottish parliament is at a crossroads as it reaches its 20th anniversary, according to Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. On a weekend when the Queen joined celebrations to mark the parliament’s milestone, Ms Sturgeon told Sky News there is a risk it will be taken “backwards” by Brexit. Ms Sturgeon said: “I think the story of the Scottish Parliament over the first 20 years of its existence has been one of real success. Of course, like all parliaments, it’s had its ups and downs – it’s undoubtedly made mistakes. But in 20 years which, in the grand sweep of history is not time at all, it has become firmly established as the democratic heart of the country and it’s got many policy successes to its credit, which is the work of parties across the political spectrum. Right now, the parliament, and Scotland indeed, is at something of a crossroads. Do we want our parliament to continue to develop, to gain more powers – in my view to become an independent parliament – or are we prepared to risk Brexit taking our parliament backwards? And these are the big debates for the future.” – Sky News Boris Johnson: A good Brexit will protect the Union that puts the Great into Britain To understand the genius of this country, you sometimes need to see us through the eyes of others. And having served as Foreign Secretary, I can tell you that across the world we are admired – sometimes even loved – far more than we realise. When foreigners look at this country, they see a place that stands up for certain values and certain freedoms: democracy, the rule of law, human rights, free speech. They see a country with fantastic Armed Forces and a globally trusted national broadcaster. They see a place that has provided the world with its greatest explorers, scientists, inventors, poets, suffragettes and environmentalists. And what is the name of that country? It isn’t England, or Scotland, or Wales, or Northern Ireland. It is Britain, or rather the UK: the whole composite – the most successful political and economic union in history. It is the United Kingdom that is the great global brand, and the Union Flag that captures imaginations around the world – the amalgamated red, white and blue that sums up the soft-power superpower of the 21st Century, recently rated by one leading think-tank as the second most influential country on Earth – and only beaten by the United States, a country that is, when all is said and done, a part of the political and spiritual progeny of the UK. Now is the time, therefore, to be resolute, to get on with Brexit and to bring the whole country together; with better infrastructure, and full fibre broadband, across all four nations. We should be boosting Scottish fisheries; improving transport in Wales; and we should be restoring and protecting the governance of Northern Ireland, and insisting on the sovereignty of the UK – as upheld in the Good Friday Agreement. Now is a great opportunity to entrench and intensify our Union, and it should be an easy sell and an easy argument to make. The world can see our collective strength. We need to celebrate it ourselves, because we are the awesome foursome – far more together than we are apart. – Boris Johnson MP for the Mail on Sunday Jeremy Hunt and Liam Fox: We’ll make Britain a top trader without bowing to a permanent customs union This great country has a proud trading record. For more than 300 years the best of Britain has been sold around the world. It’s made Brits wealthier and boosted our standing. From Pakistan to Poland, Israel to Ireland and South Africa to Switzerland, people enjoy the best of British. But there is undoubtedly more to do to turbocharge trade. That’s why we are guaranteeing that under our leadership, Britain will never join a permanent customs union and instead seek to negotiate a comprehensive Canada-style free trade deal. This means Britain will enjoy a fully independent trade policy to compete with the world’s biggest players. It is simply not good enough for a country as productive as ours to hand over its trade policy to the European Union. We intend to leave the EU with optimism and confidence. Britain can walk tall in the world with the lowest corporation taxes to attract business, a £15billion boost for our armed forces and a competitive free trade policy. We will have political leadership at the heart of our team from the start of the negotiation with the EU. So today our solemn promise is this: We must be able to demonstrate real progress with the EU by the middle of October. If no agreement is in sight by then we will press ahead with No Deal. No one sensible wants this outcome, but if it’s a choice between no Brexit or No Deal then we will never betray the democratic mandate that Brexit won in 2016. – Jeremy Hunt MP and Liam Fox MP for The Sun Nicky Morgan: Act fast and we can put the Irish backstop to bed ‘Don’t waste this time,” said Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, when the EU agreed to give the UK a six-month extension of the article 50 Brexit process. Earlier this month he gave his verdict: “Yes . . . you wasted time.” Well, I have news for Tusk. While it is true that Whitehall is becalmed, awaiting the outcome of the Conservative leadership contest, some of us have been working hard to find a solution to the Brexit impasse. In particular, the Prosperity UK Alternative Arrangements Commission, which I am co-chairing with former trade minister Greg Hands MP, has been working at pace to try to resolve the Irish backstop problem, which was at the heart of the failure of the withdrawal agreement to pass in parliament. Prosperity UK was set up two years ago by Sir Paul Marshall (a leaver) and Lord Hill of Oareford (a former EU commissioner, and a remainer) with the intention of bringing all sides together to implement Brexit constructively. Last week the commission published an interim report, co-authored by 23 customs and border experts, including a former head of the UK Border Force, a leading Dutch customs expert and Sweden’s former director of customs. The authors have done heroic, rapid work. We held a consultative conference in London before Greg and the team took the report on a roadshow to Berlin and the Hague. In the coming weeks they will be in Belfast, Dublin, Paris and Brussels. When either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt sits down in No 10 for the first time on, we assume, July 24 and starts the process of ensuring we do leave the EU on October 31 — preferably with a deal — he will not be staring at a blank screen. Not only will he find a detailed independent report and draft protocol to supersede the backstop, but he will discover that Whitehall has itself been prompted into doing its own work. The British have not been wasting time, President Tusk. The clock is ticking and both sides need to find a workable alternative to the backstop. Let’s work together to find it. – Nicky Morgan MP for the Sunday Times (£) Annunziata Rees-Mogg: I will fight tooth and nail to get us out Tomorrow I will be travelling from Lincolnshire to Strasbourg. A journey of nearly nine hours to an institution which the British delegates should have left months ago. I will be there to attend a Parliament with little democratic legitimacy in order to elect Presidents and Vice Presidents to a Commission that has no claim to democracy at all. I confess to being intrigued, we have all read and heard about the deals done in dark corners, horse trading in the corridors of power, decisions over sumptuous meals at European taxpayers expense. I will let you know what I find. I go to Brussels and Strasbourg for one reason. I made this perfectly clear in the election campaign in which the Brexit Party topped the poll in my region of the East Midlands. I go to leave. I go to fight tooth and nail for the democracy of our great nation to be enacted. I go to get us out: cleanly, swiftly and smoothly. As the largest delegation of any party from any country, we will ensure our voices, the voices of our electors, are heard. That fight begins tomorrow. – Annunziata Rees-Mogg MEP for the Sunday Express Telegraph: Do Remainers even understand how the EU works? How many of the most fanatical Remainers in Britain can actually explain how the EU appoints its top jobs? Do they understand what the “Spitzenkandidat” process is, and are they aware of how it has unravelled in recent days? If, as we suspect, the answer is no, then they are in love with the idea of an EU, not the undemocratic, bureaucratic madness that is the actual EU. Take the president of the European Commission, the job currently held by Jean-Claude Juncker and that comes with a staff of over 30,000, a salary of around 300,000 Euros and other perks including, of course, an entertainment budget. Does every Remainer understand that this post isn’t even directly elected? That his or her name must have the support of a large majority of EU leaders and only then is put to the EU parliament? Or that Manfred Weber, the candidate whose party got the most seats in the recent European elections (a man who almost no UK Remainer has ever heard of), has been discounted for lack of experience? If it all sounds less than democratic then that’s because it’s supposed to be. The European model is essentially Platonic: a veneer of democracy kept in check by divided powers and a self-selecting political class. It’s a constitutional framework drafted by politicians who didn’t trust their own populations. It is a million miles from the British system, where the government is formed from MPs elected directly by the people, and in which Parliament is sovereign and the voters understand who is in charge and the limits of their power. Do militant Remainers not grasp this? The more we have seen of the EU since the referendum, the clearer it has become to anyone paying attention that it is antithetical to British democracy. – Sunday Telegraph (£) editorial Brexit in Brief The international plan that ‘could have saved EU’ – but bloc didn’t listen – Sunday Express Farage’s Brexit masterplan to crush new PM: Brexit Party’s £200bn boost to fight election – Sunday Express