Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team EU diplomats back internal planning for Brexit trade talks as a ‘signal of flexibility and forward momentum’… European Union diplomats said Friday that they hope to send London a signal of flexibility and forward momentum by having EU leaders formally approve the start of internal preparations for a post-Brexit trade deal with the U.K. Authorisation of preparatory work on a Brexit transition period and a future trade relationship was included in draft conclusions for next week’s European Council summit, which were distributed to diplomats Thursday… The “EU moves slowly and we cannot afford to lose any time now,” said a diplomat from the Baltics who didn’t want to be named. “Also, it’s important to send a signal that we are moving forward.” …That softer line is backed by several countries, including Italy, Lithuania and the Netherlands. By contrast, the bloc’s largest and wealthiest powers, France and Germany, are playing hardball, according to two diplomats involved in the discussions. The Council conclusions require the unanimous approval of the EU27 and any one country can block the conciliatory language. – Politico EU is ‘preparing to talk trade and transition’ with Brexit Britain – Telegraph (£) Macron and Merkel face rebellion from countries fed up with them blocking Brexit, says MEP – Express Brexit is a ‘historic mistake’ says French economy minister, amid claims France delaying talks to lure banking jobs – Evening Standard …as Theresa May prepares big diplomatic push for Brexit transition talks next week… Theresa May will urge fellow EU leaders to open talks on a Brexit transition deal next week, as Downing Street fears that a stand-off in Brussels will play into the hands of Eurosceptic Tory MPs. Mrs May is planning an intense round of telephone diplomacy ahead of next week’s European Council meeting in Brussels but her allies say she is not prepared to agree ahead of time to increase Britain’s opening offer of €20bn for a “divorce bill”… British officials are quietly relieved that the draft conclusions for the summit open the path for the EU27 to start discussing among themselves a post-Brexit transition and future trade deal between the UK and the EU. But British officials fear that instead of the EU27 agreeing a more generous offer before next week’s summit, Germany might insist on removing the limited concessions in the draft. – FT (£) …while Jean-Claude Juncker sparks fury by thanking Britain for saving Europe during WW2 – but insists we have to pay huge Brexit divorce bill anyway The famously thirsty EU boss also compared Brexit to “ordering 28 beers” in a bar and then walking out without paying in a bizarre rant… And he claimed that Brexit “will “take longer than initially thought” — opening a fresh rift on the continent after EU Council chief Donald Tusk declared “considerable progress” had been made in exit talks… He also bizarrely added that the Euro had avoided a World War 3. Without the troubled single currency, Mr Jucker claimed “we would have tremendous conflict and consequences, including not just military war but also economic difficulties. “We’d be much, much more impoverished too without our single currency.” But he insisted: “I am not hating the British. The Europeans have to be grateful for so many things Britain has brought to Europe, during war, before war, after war, everywhere and every time, but now they have to pay.” – The Sun Jean-Claude Juncker tells Britain: ‘Thanks for the war… but now you have to pay up’ – Telegraph (£) Juncker calls Brexit talks on citizens’ rights ‘nonsense’ – Politico EU chief Juncker claims the euro currency has prevented World War 3 erupting in Europe – Express Brexit war of words heats up as ‘enemy’ EU tells Britain to pay up – Guardian Jean-Claude Juncker on Brexit bill: ‘They have to pay’ (video) – Sky News Philip Hammond forced to backtrack after calling EU ‘the enemy’ as he denies sabotaging Brexit talks… Philip Hammond’s political fightback unravelled today after he was forced to apologise for describing the EU as “the enemy” ahead of crucial talks in Brussels next week. Following days of accusations that he was seeking to block Brexit, the Chancellor gave a round of television interviews yesterday in which he sought to reach out to eurosceptics by criticising the EU. However, within minutes he was forced to apologise after Downing Street was informed of the “enemy” comment. The Prime Minister is now facing growing calls to fire her Chancellor amid fears his repeated interventions over Brexit have helped throw the government into disarray. – Telegraph (£) Within an hour Mr Hammond – who has spent months criticising Tories demanding Theresa May get tough with the EU – was forced to post a grovelling apology on Twitter… The incident is the latest twist in a bitter stand-off between the Chancellor and Brexit-backing Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. Mr Hammond and backbench allies who campaigned to Remain in the Referendum favour a softer Brexit with closer ties to the EU… It emerged Mr Hammond had enjoyed a lobster dinner at a seafood restaurant with the pro-Remain former Chancellor George Osborne ahead of his comments. – The Sun Philip Hammond calls Brussels ‘the enemy’ in Brexit talks – Politico Hammond apologises for calling EU ‘the enemy’ after Brexit sabotage accusations – Express Theresa May expresses ‘full confidence’ in Philip Hammond – FT (£) UK’s Hammond tells Brexit critics he’s staying in the job – Bloomberg Philip Hammond ‘branded a laughing stock’ by Tory backbenchers as he issues an embarrassing apology for calling the EU ‘the enemy’ – The Sun In referring to the EU as ‘the enemy’, Philip Hammond has created another reason to sack him – Fraser Nelson for the Spectator The future looks bleak for ‘Spreadsheet’ Philip Hammond – Alex Wickham for The i Attacks on Hammond are to Britain’s detriment – FT View (£) Philip Hammond, not very good at politics – Iain Martin for Reaction Philip Hammond’s risking it all with his unenthusiastic approach to Brexit – Alex Brummer for the Daily Mail How did Hammond switch from eurosceptic to Brexit saboteur? – Maggie Pagano for Reaction Calling Philip Hammond a ‘saboteur’ or ‘traitor’ reflects terribly on the Tory right – Kate Maltby for the Guardian Jacob Rees-Mogg urged Philip Hammond to ‘rise’ to Brexit challenge amid calls for Chancellor to be sacked – Telegraph Lobster plot! How Philip Hammond and arch Remainer George Osborne conspired at a seafood restaurant days before the Chancellor threw a spanner in the Brexit works – Daily Mail Philip Hammond and George Osborne ‘plotting to sabotage Brexit’ over a lobster dinner – Express George Osborne leaves door open to return to frontline of British politics – Telegraph Osborne might return as a British Macron – Paul Goodman for The Times (£) …while the ‘bitterly divided’ Cabinet reportedly still hasn’t discussed the shape of the final Brexit deal Splits over what the UK’s future relationship with the EU mean the Prime Minister has put off the testy showdown… Just six original Brexit backing Cabinet Ministers are massively outnumbered by former Remain supporters. But there are also splits in the top team over how close the UK should stay to the Single Market and what sort of trade deals the UK should pursue. One Cabinet Minister told The Sun: “The million dollar question is the trade-off between regulatory compliance and market access and we haven’t had that discussion yet.” – The Sun The Government is split between those who are prepared to shadow EU regulations to maintain maximum market access and the Brexiteers who would accept making trade with the EU being less smooth than it is now so this country is free to become more globally competitive. This lack of clarity within the Government is storing up problems. As the policy is not decided, ministers keep intervening, trying to push it this way or that. As one Secretary of State points out, “It is the lack of firmness” that is leading to people behaving as they are. It is also creating suspicion that it is all being stitched up behind closed doors. One Tory warns that “everyone is paranoid, everyone thinks they are being shut out”. It was this feeling that led to Boris Johnson going public with his concerns ahead of Theresa May’s Florence speech. – James Forsyth for The Sun Steve Baker made ‘Minister for No Deal’ The government has just announced publicly for the first time that DExEU minister Steve Baker has been given responsibility for “contingency planning”. DExEU sources say he has held the brief since the start of his appointment but this is the first time it has been confirmed. He is essentially the ‘Minister for No Deal’ that Brexiters have been calling for. Baker is a true believer – positive news which the government clearly hopes will reassure Brexiteers after this week’s skirmishes. – Guido Fawkes Now that Baker is named as Contingency Minister, Downing Street must back him up – Paul Goodman for ConservativeHome Theresa May prepared to ‘listen and engage’ with Tory rebels to avoid Brexit defeat over Henry VIII powers… The Prime Minister’s Brexit plans were plunged into disarray after it emerged the draft laws which will pave the way for Britain’s departure from the bloc have been put on hold in the face of a potential rebellion by Conservative MPs… To head off the rebellion, the Government is reaching out to disaffected backbenchers to try to do deals which will allow the Bill to proceed. Rebels are unhappy over the Government’s desire to secure so-called “Henry VIII powers” which will allow ministers to change laws without full parliamentary scrutiny… The prospective rebels include Dominic Grieve, the former attorney general, Anna Soubry, the former business minister and Nicky Morgan, the former education secretary… Ministers are confident of agreeing a way forward because they believe no Tory MP will want to be responsible for scuppering the key piece of Brexit legislation. – Telegraph (£) Theresa May forced to delay flagship EU withdrawal bill – FT (£) Battles ahead for EU bill – Mark D’Arcy for BBC News …as Ministers consider further round of Brexit legislation to prevent rebellion over Theresa May’s EU withdrawal plans Among options being explored are additional bills to deal with specific policy areas, like those already announced on immigration or trade, but also a major piece of legislation enshrining the final withdrawal agreement in British law… A minister told The Independent: “Already we have said that in seven key areas – immigration, customs and trade and so on – that you are going to need separate primary legislation. So the questions is, should we look again to see if there might be other areas where primary legislation would be needed? If so, let’s identify them now so that we give further reassurance to colleagues that, in fact, we are resorting wherever appropriate to primary legislation, rather than wanting to have a power grab in an unlimited way.” – Independent Ministers agree to pay out £400k to EU citizens who were wrongly told they have to leave the country A Home Office Minister said that they would meet any legal costs that they were forced to pay as a result of the “error”. A huge blunder saw letters mistakenly sent to up to 106 people earlier this year telling them they had to leave the UK… Home Office Minister Brandon Lewis said in a written answer that they were all sent between 11 and 16 August 2017. “I wrote, personally, to all those affected to apologise,” he said. “The error made was an incorrect interpretation of the consequences of an EEA national’s unsuccessful application for a Registration Certificate. We have agreed to meet any reasonable associated costs incurred as a result of this error.” – The Sun Telegraph: The UK must not lose its nerve on Brexit. If it does, the Tories will be to blame No doubt Brussels is listening to the militant Remainers who are convinced that Britain doesn’t really have the political acumen or the guts to go through with Brexit. If Europe waits long enough, they calculate, the Brexit coalition will collapse and the UK will return to the fold. If that happens, the Tories will take the blame. It was the Tories who bungled the general election and were thus returned without a majority. It is Tory rebel MPs who now threaten the EU Withdrawal Bill – necessary to avoid a legal catastrophe the day after Brexit – with death by amendment. And it is a Tory Cabinet that appears divided, with some members still ambivalent in their attitude towards the referendum result they were put in office to effect. Don’t they realise that if they bungle this, they will be defeated at the ballot box? – Telegraph editorial (£) The Sun: The Government may be in disarray — but David Davis’s handling of Brexit isn’t Many people claim the Tories are bungling the negotiations. That’s certainly the message relentlessly pumped out by the Remainers dominating TV, social media and some papers. They’re wrong. Brexit must mean leaving the single market and customs union. Even sensible Remainers accept that “leaving” has no meaning if we stay in either one. The Tories followed that simple logic. They spelled out our position, offered a firm commitment on EU citizens here and gave considerable ground. They sensibly asked for a two-year transition followed by a free trade deal. Davis can’t offer vast sums as a “divorce bill” without knowing what we get for it. The obstinate EU won’t say. So we wait… EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker thinks it’s as easy as Britain paying our bar bill — except the EU expects us to settle everyone’s drinks tab… But after 44 years putting in far more than we get out, it isn’t our round. – The Sun says Brexit negotiations: Theresa May is ‘failing Britain’, Jeremy Corbyn to say – Independent John Longworth: Britain must prepare to leave EU with no deal The policy being pursued by the UK Treasury department and the CBI will only result in us being worse off. To put forward a proposition which would mean that we preserve some of what have now, pay more for it, have no say and delay the ability to execute the economic benefits of Brexit (which can only be implemented if we are no longer subject to the Single Market and the Customs Union) will, by definition, make us worse off… There must be no more concessions from this Government to persuade the EU to move on to a trade deal. Let us hope that this time the government stop appeasing and instead start to prepare to leave with no deal and crystallise the manifest economic benefits of doing so, rather than merely planning for it. – John Longworth for the Express ‘Stop appeasing the EU!’: Brexiteer demands there be ‘no more concessions’ over trade – Express EU won’t take Britain seriously unless it keeps threat of no-deal, says MEP Steven Woolfe – Express Asa Bennett: Tory Remainers should be wary of doing Michel Barnier’s dirty work by fighting Brexit Remainers know that they outnumber Brexiteers in the Commons and the Lords, so have a good chance – if they band together – of getting their preferred amendments through. They have certainly been busy, tabling a total of 300 amendments and 54 new clauses to the EU Withdrawal Bill. “I’ve looked through them all,” one Conservative MP told me, “and not a single one has been put forward by someone who wanted Brexit to happen.” … Conservative rebels should remember that Michel Barnier and his fellow Eurocrats are watching this legislative process. Every humiliation they inflict on their party in Government will make it harder to get a good deal out of him. The more Britain struggles to get itself ready for life outside of the EU, the less pressure he will have to take its demands seriously in negotiations. – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) Pieter Cleppe: Who is really to blame for the Brexit deadlock? There is no reason to despair. There was always going to be walkouts and drama during these negotiations and, after all, despite his rather gloomy tone, Barnier also said that after the Florence speech, there was “new momentum” in the talks. The Financial Times notes that despite the “standstill”, the EU side is actually “considering beginning work between the EU27 to “scope” transition terms — or start preparing their positions on the issue — before approving talks in December or later”. Slowly, the doubtful partner in these negotiations is turning out to be the EU. – Pieter Cleppe for CapX Sir Christopher Meyer: The UK should never have let the EU get away with being both judge and jury for Brexit The UK most unwisely accepted the EU27’s concept of a phased approach, in which they play judge and jury on whether sufficient progress has been achieved in stage 1 to merit moving to stage 2. This is daft – daft to try to create a firewall between the divorce settlement and the future relationship when the two are intimately tied; daft to demand that the UK commit in advance to paying billions before talks on the future can start. This is a derivative of the calamitous Israel-Palestine negotiating playbook, where each side demands, as a precondition for negotiations, that the other abandon its most cherished negotiating objective. In a normal negotiation, you put the subjects to be discussed in their respective baskets and debate them in parallel. Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. That protects everyone’s interests. – Former Ambassador Sir Christopher Meyer for the Independent Arlene Foster optimistic about Brexit in interview with The Times She’s optimistic about the Brexit discussions. “It’s not a war. David Davis knows these negotiations will be a frustrating process.” She isn’t concerned by how belligerent the European Union has sounded. “At the end of the day they didn’t want this to happen so they weren’t going to make it easy, but they will have to come to the realisation that if there’s no deal that’s bad news for Europe as well.” Northern Ireland voted for Remain, although the first minister supported Brexit. Her childhood farm was on the border with the Republic, and she lives close to it now, but she is not overly concerned about policing the new entry point to the EU — whereas using the Irish Sea as a post-Brexit border is a red line. “We can’t deal with the border in isolation from trade so there is no point in trying to sort the question out first. The Republic’s government is saying we need to be in the customs union, but we need to come out of the customs union so we can trade deal effectively.” – Alice Thomson interviews Arlene Foster for The Times (£) Brexit comment in brief Sir Jeremy Heywood is the die-hard Remainer who really runs Britain – Andrew Pierce for the Daily Mail The embarrassing role of economists on Brexit – Graham Gudgin for the Spectator BBC’s hissy fit over Brexit bias research proves it has something to hide – Miles Goslett for The Sun EU member states don’t want to lose British business – Ross Clark for the Express Brussels is just not willing to negotiate: They are too busy with their phoney handshakes – Frederick Forsyth for the Express Ukip won’t let the Remoaners win by the back door – Patrick O’Flynn MEP for the Express Nick Clegg and his fellow Remainers are welcome to ape Nigel Farage, but they’ll just embarrass themselves – Tim Aker MEP for the Telegraph (£) This is Deal or No Deal, Tory style. The prize is a cliff-edge Brexit – Marina Hyde for the Guardian The IMF and World Bank can be ignored – Allister Heath for the Telegraph (£) Brexit news in brief Furious outrage at Richard Branson’s claim Brexit will be reversed when Leave voters die – Express Labour flags up Brexit poll suggesting public regrets decision – Guardian New anti-Brexit party hopes to capture UK politics centre ground – FT (£) Nuclear industry scrambles to avoid Euratom cliff edge – Telegraph Brexit is good for the lawyers as legal pay shoots up – Telegraph McKinsey wins $2.5 million contract with Brexit Department – Bloomberg Berlin ‘terrified’ EU divorce will ruin Bavaria’s economy – Express Austrian ‘messiah’ Sebastian Kurz on brink of being youngest leader in world – The Times (£)