Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Theresa May invites Jeremy Corbyn to help her tackle the Brexit deadlock… Theresa May is expected to meet Jeremy Corbyn later after she said she wanted to work with the Labour leader to break the Brexit deadlock. The prime minister hopes she and Mr Corbyn can come up with a modified version of her withdrawal deal with the EU that can secure the backing of MPs. Mr Corbyn says he wants a customs union and workers’ rights to be priorities. Meanwhile, a cross-party group of MPs will attempt to push through legislation to stop a no-deal Brexit. Mrs May announced her plan to meet Mr Corbyn – as well as her intention to ask the EU for an extension to the Brexit deadline – after more than seven hours of talks with her cabinet on Tuesday. The move angered Brexiteers in her party, including former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who accused her of “entrusting the final handling of Brexit to Labour”. BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg says it means the prime minister is likely to adopt a closer relationship with the EU – a softer Brexit – than she has agreed so far. – BBC News Prime Minister Theresa May seeks Brexit extension as she promises talks with Jeremy Corbyn to break ‘logjam’ – ITV News Theresa May ignores Cabinet support for no-deal Brexit as she turns to Jeremy Corbyn for help – Telegraph (£) Theresa May invites Corbyn to break Brexit deadlock – The Times (£) May reaches out to Corbyn to break Brexit impasse – Politico > WATCH: Theresa May’s statement on Brexit following Cabinet …as the Labour leader tells the PM she’d better start ceding ground… The prime minister will have to give significant ground on her Brexit proposals if she wants to secure Labour’s support, Jeremy Corbyn indicated last night. Accepting Mrs May’s offer of talks, the Labour leader said that he did not “want to set any limits, one way or the other, ahead of those meetings”, but he said that “so far [she] hasn’t shown much sign of compromise”. Mr Corbyn expected a customs union and protection of workers’ and consumer rights to be “on the table”. He also told Mrs May that regardless of how people had voted in the 2016 referendum they “didn’t vote for lower living standards or to lose their jobs”. It is understood that Mr Corbyn found out about Mrs May’s proposal of talks only when she announced it on television. He was “very happy” to take up the offer, but said that a post-Brexit Tory trade deal with the US could see lead in lipstick and chlorinated chickens on sale here. “If we don’t secure a customs union and keep high-quality trading standards then we risk major industries and companies abandoning Britain altogether,” he said. “Some Conservative politicians want to see a new trade deal with the US that would lower our most prized social, environmental and health standards, allowing in things like chlorinated chicken, hormone-fed beef and even lead in lipstick. It would open up our NHS to American corporations and wreck our steel industry,” he told The Martin Lewis Money Show on ITV. – The Times (£) Corbyn reveals his red lines: Labour leader says he is ‘very happy’ to sit down with May to break Brexit deadlock – MailOnline Corbyn promises to prevent no deal Brexit in talks with May – ‘It’s my responsibility’ – Express …but mutinous Tory MPs urge Cabinet to oust May over cavorting with Corbyn… Theresa May is facing a bitter backlash from Tory MPs after calling for national unity and offering talks with Jeremy Corbyn to agree a Brexit plan. She is likely to face an onslaught from Conservative Brexiteers at Prime Ministers Questions after her controversial proposal to negotiate with the Labour leader. Ominously for the PM, Boris Johnson has joined the Brexiteer backlash, which has seen some Tory MPs urge cabinet ministers to stage a mutiny and move to oust her immediately. With some Conservative MPs now fearing Brexit is in jeopardy, the former party leader Iain Duncan Smith told Sky News: “This is an utter disaster. We are just about to legitimise Corbyn. It’s appalling.” – Sky News Tory MPs tell Theresa May she risks ‘tearing party apart’ by joining forces with Jeremy Corbyn – The Sun ‘I fear for Brexit’: ERG dismayed by May plan to talk to Corbyn – Guardian Brexiter fury as Theresa May seeks deal with Labour on EU withdrawal – City A.M. All eyes on the ‘Furious Fourteen’: May faces cabinet resignations as she shuns ‘clear majority’ of ministers who backed No Deal – MailOnline …while Labour’s ranks are sceptical of May’s intention to ‘move a millimetre’… Jeremy Corbyn issued a positive statement on Tuesday night welcoming Theresa May’s new stance — despite scepticism in Labour’s top ranks over whether the prime minister would “move a millimetre” in the coming days. The leader of Britain’s main opposition party pronounced that he would be “very happy” to meet Theresa May to discuss a way out of the Brexit mire after months of political trench warfare. “I don’t want to set any limits, one way or the other, ahead of those meetings. We recognise that she has made a move,” Mr Corbyn said. But one shadow cabinet member said that while it was necessary to “explore a resolution”, colleagues were aware that Mrs May might only be “trying to find a way of blaming Labour for her failure”. He added: “I have no confidence that Theresa May has any intention of moving a millimetre.” Another Labour MP said it seemed like a “trap” designed to buy time by Downing Street. – FT(£) …and Brussels gives cautious welcome to belated cross-party co-operation The European Parliament’s chief Brexit official has welcomed Theresa May’s move to hold talks with the Labour Party as “better late than never.” Guy Verhofstadt welcomed the Prime Minister’s move to meet with Jeremy Corbyn and said it was “good” she was reaching out across party lines to find a compromise to break the Brexit deadlock. Mr Verhofstadt has long said that effective cross-party cooperation in the House of Commons was the best, and perhaps the only way, for Britain to emerge from the crisis. During several legislative sessions, he exhorted British MPs to put party politics behind them and become their political acumen to put country before party. Donald Tusk, European Council President, also gave a cautious welcome to Mrs May’s change of course. “Even if, after today, we don’t know what the end result will be, let us be patient,” he tweeted – a suggestion the EU would wait for Britain to present a clear plan. – Telegraph (£) Brussels is ready to give the UK more time for Theresa May to hold new talks over a soft Brexit – The Sun Donald Tusk hints the EU will sign off May’s demands for another Brexit delay as he tells UK to ‘be patient, even if we don’t know what the end result will be’ – MailOnline MPs to push on with Yvette Cooper’s Bill forcing May to seek a Brexit delay today MPs on Tuesday launched a rapid-fire parliamentary manoeuvre to try to avert a no-deal Brexit after failing to agree an alternative to Theresa May’s divorce accord. Backbench MPs, led by Labour’s Yvette Cooper and the Conservative Oliver Letwin, plan to rush legislation through the House of Commons that would require the prime minister to negotiate a long delay to Brexit with other EU leaders. The MPs’ initiative was launched before Mrs May announced on Tuesday that she would seek a further delay to Brexit, rather than allow the UK to leave the EU without an agreement on April 12. Her move may ultimately render the MPs’ efforts redundant. Ms Cooper said she would wait for “further details” on the government’s plans, including the length of any delay, “to make sure we don’t just end up with no-deal a bit later on.” Allies indicated that she and Sir Oliver planned to continue with her plan for now. Unlike previous Commons votes against a no-deal Brexit, it would be legally binding on the prime minister, but it would first have to navigate a complicated process in which parliament would agree a law in a matter of days. Oliver Letwin and Yvette Cooper will bid to push law blocking No Deal through the Commons today – MailOnline MPs to table emergency bill forcing May to request Brexit delay – Guardian MPs unite to force Article 50 extension – The Times (£) EU draws up strict conditions for long Brexit extension offer The EU is preparing to offer Theresa May a long Brexit delay with strict conditions attached, including the need to hold European Parliament elections and a possible “gentleman’s agreement” over Britain’s future conduct as a member state. With an emergency Brexit summit of EU leaders planned next Wednesday — two days before Britain’s scheduled departure on April 12 — the new offer is part of plans being drawn up by diplomats and officials to cope with an increasingly unpredictable UK government and parliament. Measures under consideration in Brussels include the EU postponing Brexit to January or April 2020. In one extreme scenario, such an offer could be made even if Mrs May makes no request for an extension before next week’s summit. Mrs May is still holding out hope of a short delay that would avoid holding European Parliament elections. After a seven-hour cabinet meeting on Tuesday, she admitted she would require another extension, but would only need a short one if her Brexit deal is passed. She is hoping to break the three-month impasse by agreeing on the future of EU-UK ties with Jeremy Corbyn, Labour party leader, before April 10. A long extension is seen by supportive officials as a way to best manage the turmoil in Westminster and shield the EU from the blame of pushing the UK out. “If we are heading for no-deal, we could still offer a one-year extension,” said one senior EU official. “Then it is their choice and their choice alone.” – FT(£) EU leaders set to reject request for second short delay – The Times (£) May ‘on brink of war’ with Speaker Bercow over meaningful vote Theresa May and John Bercow could be set for all-out parliamentary war over the Prime Minister’s plan to bring her Brexit deal back to the House of Commons for yet another vote. Mrs May has previously asked MPs to vote on her deal – or aspects of her deal – on three separate occasions, with the Commons rejecting it heavily each time. Now the Prime Minister is believed to be planning a fourth vote, after MPs twice failed to give a majority vote to any alternative Brexit plan. However Mr Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons, has previously warned he would not allow a vote on her deal again unless it was substantially different to that voted on in the past weeks. The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg said on Twitter: “Whispers this morning that clerks in Commons have made it clear to govt that Bercow would not allow them to bring back the deal for another vote. “One source says this is a ‘big problem’ – with capital letters – but Speaker’s office says not decided yet – let’s see. – Express President Macron insists the EU ‘will not be hostage to Brexit crisis’… The European Union will not be hostage to a “political crisis” in the UK, France’s president has said. Emmanuel Macron was speaking in Paris during talks with Irish PM Leo Varadkar. “We will never abandon Ireland or the Irish people no matter what happens, because this solidarity is the very purpose of the European project,” said Mr Macron. Mr Varadkar said any Brexit extension needed “a clear purpose, clear plan”. Their meeting came after MPs twice rejected Theresa May’s Brexit withdrawal deal, with the government now ramping up plans for a no-deal scenario. Mr Varadkar said he would also discuss the Republic of Ireland’s no-deal plans with Mr Macron. The taoiseach (Irish prime minister) emphasised that the EU should be open to any “credible proposals” the UK put forward about in the Brexit process. – BBC News > WATCH: President Macron & Prime Minister Varadkar’s joint press conference in Paris …and says No Deal is still possible, despite May’s compromise offer The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has led other EU leaders in warning that Theresa May’s apparent move to take no deal off the table offers no guarantee that Britain will not crash out of the bloc on 12 April. EU sources said Brussels instead would want to see a “positive majority” in the Commons for a solution before the summit on 10 April, putting the UK at a heightened risk of a no deal. The EU27 states have repeatedly insisted that they expect the withdrawal agreement to be ratified or a new “credible plan” to emerge for them to agree to another Brexit delay when leaders meet at a crunch summit in eight days’ time. With the British parliament yet to coalesce around any solution to break the impasse, there is concern in EU capitals that the prime minister, despite her pledge to secure a solution with the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, could still arrive at the summit without a clear way forward. Downing Street’s strategy appears to put the UK on a path to an extension past 12 April, the cliff-edge agreed by the EU’s leaders at the recent summit, up to at least 22 May. This leaves open the risk of a no-deal Brexit right on the eve of European elections. – Guardian No Deal is now more likely, but can be avoided, says Michel Barnier A no-deal Brexit is now more likely but can still be avoided, the EU’s chief negotiator has said. Michel Barnier said a long extension to the UK’s current 12 April exit date carried “significant risks for the EU” and that a “strong justification would be needed” before the EU would agree. On Monday night, MPs voted on four alternatives to the PM’s withdrawal deal, but none gained a majority. Theresa May has begun five hours of cabinet talks to tackle the deadlock. BBC deputy political editor John Pienaar said the cabinet was “irreconcilably split” and “almost any outcome is conceivable”, with one camp preferring no deal, the other a “softer” Brexit. Speaking on Tuesday morning, Mr Barnier said: “No deal was never our desire or intended scenario but the EU 27 is now prepared. It becomes day after day more likely.” Mr Barnier told the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee that “things are somewhat hanging on the decisions of the House of Commons”, and that the deal was negotiated with the UK “not against the UK”. “If we are to avoid a no-deal Brexit, there is only one way forward – they have got to vote on a deal. “There is only one treaty available – this one,” he said, waving the withdrawal agreement. – BBC News No-deal Brexit ‘more likely by the day’ – Telegraph (£) No-deal Brexit more likely by the day, says Michel Barnier – Guardian Barnier warns no-deal Brexit is becoming increasingly likely – FT(£) > WATCH: EU Chief Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier addresses the European Policy Centre think tank Labour MPs demand Jeremy Corbyn sack Party Chair after he refuses to back second referendum on Brexit Labour descended into open civil war after party chairman Ian Lavery refused to resign following his decision to defy the whip and abstain on backing a bid for a second referendum. The Labour leadership had issued a three-line whip on Monday calling on all its MPs to vote in favour of backbencher Peter Kyle’s motion to hold a confirmatory vote on any agreed Brexit deal. The bid was defeated by 12 votes after Mr Lavery abstained along with fellow Shadow Cabinet member Jon Trickett. In total, 40 Labour MPs either voted against or abstained on the alternative Brexit option to demand another referendum, including eight junior shadow ministers. It is the second time in a week that Mr Lavery has ignored the party whip to abstain on the motion to put a withdrawal agreement to the public in a confirmatory vote. It prompted furious Labour backbenchers to demand why those on the frontbench had not been sacked or offered to step down after rebelling against the party. Labour committed to supporting a second referendum as official party policy during its annual conference in Liverpool in October. – iNews Boris Johnson and David Davis battle to be Brexit candidate for next PM – as Theresa May faces calls to quit now Leadership hopefuls are jostling for the top spot today as Theresa May could be out of her job within days. Boris Johnson and David Davis are set to thrash it out to be the Brexiteer candidate in any upcoming Tory contest. The PM’s said she will quit if her deal goes through in the next few days. But if it doesn’t she could be forced into a soft Brexit she really can’t stomach delivering – and decide to quit anyway. Now it’s only a matter of time until she leaves office and a new face comes into No10. Ex-Brexit Secretary David Davis refused to rule out running this morning, though he said people “have been coming to me for months” asking if he will stand. He would only tell Radio 4: “I’m not going to think about it” and instead said he was focused on delivering Brexit. He also insisted the next leader “probably has to be a Brexiteer” to deliver on the trade deals promised after we left the EU. Boris said on BBC documentary ‘The Brexit Storm’ last night when asked about being leader: “My objective is to change this policy. “Let us see what happens in the next few weeks and months.” – The Sun Owen Paterson: There is a clear route for Theresa May to unite the Tories: deliver Brexit without a deal I was very sad to see my old friend Christopher Booker writing his last column on Sunday. Writing with extraordinary prescience in 1996, he said: “We must not underestimate the immense scale of the task which will confront us as we embark on the process of disengagement from the EU. It will require two things above all: first, a real understanding of what needs to be done and how: and secondly, a titanic act of political will, requiring leadership of the highest order, to ensure that the whole operation is properly, effectively and thoroughly carried through.” The Prime Minister would do well to reflect on Booker’s words. This Remain Parliament has once again failed to agree on the way ahead for Brexit. It is time for the Government to show leadership. The way ahead is now palpably clear. So, too, are the things which Mrs May must not do. The “no deal” approach would provide the certainty which all sides are craving. Both sides should urgently consider Article XXIV of the WTO’s General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Then, so long as the UK and EU agree to an FTA and notify the WTO of a sufficiently detailed plan and schedule for the FTA as soon as possible, we could maintain our current zero-tariff arrangements while the new deal was being negotiated. That is the positive direction which the Prime Minister must now follow. If she does, and faces down the small but vocal minority of Remainers in her Cabinet, she will have the backing of the Government and her Party. 15 Cabinet Ministers have now signalled their support for “no deal”, along with nearly 200 Conservative MPs. There is a clear route for the Prime Minister to unite her Party. The efforts to secure the UK’s exit from the EU on the 12th April will, as Christopher Booker envisaged, need to be titanic. But the largest democratic vote in British history demands nothing less. – Owen Paterson MP for the Telegraph (£) Daniel Hannan: We are shuffling towards a deal that is worse either than remaining or leaving Theresa May’s call for national unity will go unanswered. Labour has no interest in helping her at this stage. Jeremy Corbyn’s sole aim throughout has been to maximise the sense of chaos. He believes that, when things go wrong, sitting governments (however unfairly) get the blame. He has therefore done everything in his power to prolong the uncertainty, repeatedly whipping, for example, against a Withdrawal Agreement every dot and comma of which Labour accepts as a prelude to a final deal. You have to admire the chutzpah: having taken every opportunity to create gridlock at Westminster, Labour now turns around and says: “Look! What a mess! Time for a change!” So we can dismiss the idea of the two parties agreeing a Brexit strategy. Asking for Labour’s co-operation might give the Prime Minister a tiny tactical boost, exposing Jezza’s hypocrisy. But it is unlikely to result in a solution. Sulkily, gormlessly, ignorantly, Parliament is shuffling towards a deal worse than either remaining or leaving. We shall lose our veto in Brussels, but allow Eurocrats to set our technical standards and control our trade deals with non-EU states. This idiocy is being pursued for the most sordid of reasons. Some MPs want to stay as close to Brussels as possible on principle, even in areas where there is no conceivable argument for doing so. Some want to stick the other side in the eye. Some simply want the whole business to end, and will vote for a dreadful deal out of ennui. Listen to the defenders of the Customs Union when they talk. They never make any kind of principled case for it. They can’t. Instead, they talk about “standing up to the ERG” or “finding a middle way”. Are we really going to end up in this worst-of-all-worlds because our MPs can’t be bothered to read about what they’re planning to vote for? It looks horribly likely. – Daniel Hannan MEP for ConservativeHome Andrew Lilio: Is Britain now hurtling towards no deal? Here are the four ways it could happen Last night’s Commons votes rejected four of the options for retaining either EU membership or something very close to it. So could we yet still end up with No Deal? Here are four ways that could yet happen. The House of Commons says it doesn’t want no deal, but it also hasn’t been willing to back any deal whatsoever (not just not May’s deal — it hasn’t backed anything). The Telegraph reports this morning that a majority of the Cabinet now prefers no deal over the alternative the Commons has come closest to backing: a customs union. If the Cabinet were to back no deal, Parliament might not have the power to prevent no deal other than by voting down the government in a no confidence motion and installing an alternative government. But would it really do that, and could it do it in time? Whilst in the UK it has been widely assumed, for some time, that the alternative to May’s deal is Brexit being cancelled, in the EU no deal appears to be being taken much more seriously. Senior European Parliamentarian Guy Verhofstadt declared last night that no deal now seems “nearly inevitable”. French President Emmanuel Macron declared before May’s deal was recently rejected that that was the last opportunity and “In the event of a British vote against, we would go to no-deal”. It is widely assumed that the EU is bluffing and would accept a long extension if it came to it, but perhaps not? Even if the EU granted a further extension to the April 11th deadline, that could well be the final chance the EU would offer and so we might still end up with no deal if the UK continued to reject May’s deal. – Andrew Lilico for the Telegraph (£) Stewart Jackson: Strip out the tiny band of Remainer wreckers and the Tories are not split over Brexit It’s received wisdom that the Conservative Party is in the midst of an existential crisis as a result of the Brexit debacle. By that pejorative term, I mean the abysmal handling of the Article 50 negotiations, rather than the decision to hold and at least ostensibly honour the 2016 plebiscite on the UK’s membership of the European Union. We’re told by hard core Remainers and their allies in the liberal media that Brexit means that the party will be irredeemably riven and revert to its previous incarnation as the “nasty party” (Copyright: T May 2002). But pace Mandy Rice Davies, they would say that wouldn’t they? It’s certainly the case that Brexit has exposed the bubbling cauldron that is the culture war that has boiled away in the party for maybe 30 years: between social liberals and conservatives, communitarians and globalists, urban cosmopolitans and country contented, free traders and protectionists – all so often refracted through the prism of our troubled relationship with, first, the Common Market and latterly the European Union. Rumours of an historic schism in the party are therefore overstated. The party still just about has space to pull out of a tailspin thanks to a hopeless Opposition and the bungling of Oliver Letwin and his Keystone Cops insurrectionists. Attempts to railroad a Bill through Parliament by next week will similarly flop – not least because it would be a constitutional outrage. This week, above all, Theresa May must utilise what little luck she has left, so as to lead her Cabinet and her party and choose a side: abject humiliation and surrender in Brussels or leaving the European Union and honouring the pledges to the electorate with dignity and purpose later this month. Who knows which way this inscrutable woman will bend? The choice will certainly reverberate for years to come. – Stewart Jackson for the Telegraph (£) Asa Bennett: If Cabinet ministers aren’t afraid of a no-deal Brexit, why aren’t they pushing for it With Theresa May’s deal still struggling to get through Parliament, what does her cabinet think should be the alternative way forward? Her top team is supposedly dominated by ministers ready for no-deal. By our count, 15 of them – including Jeremy Hunt – feel that way, while just 10 prefer a softer route such as accepting a customs union. Yet it is hard to discern any no-deal inclined majority from how ministers behave publicly. Steve Barclay responded to yesterday’s round of indicative votes by declaring that “the only option is to find a way through that allows the UK to leave with a deal”. The Brexit Secretary’s apparent ruling out of a no-deal Brexit might strike people as bizarre given that only a few weeks ago, he was telling a reporter how the Government should “not be afraid to leave with no deal” if it cannot get the Prime Minister’s agreement through Parliament. “If we don’t have a deal we should leave with no deal,” he declared. “That’s always been my position and I voted as the constituency would expect.” Then again, Mr Barclay’s no-deal demand came as he sought to defend himself for voting against a motion calling for a Brexit delay moments after urging MPs to vote for it at the despatch box. So it is perfectly possible he was doing similar yesterday by telling MPs that the Government would do anything to avoid a no-deal Brexit while continuing to personally believe it should be pursued. Any ambitious Tory Eurosceptic trying to assert their Brexiteer credentials can expect to be asked by Tory members: how could they claim not be afraid of a no-deal Brexit but too afraid to fight for it? – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) Liam Halligan: Nick Boles is wrong, Brexiteers have compromised enormously on leaving the EU – why should they do so again? Conservative whip on the floor of the House of Commons. The former minister’s “Common Market 2.0” plan had just been rejected by MPs. “I accept I’ve failed,” he declared. “I’ve failed chiefly because my party refuses to compromise”. There is a convention in British politics that, when someone resigns, as long as there’s no scandal, other politicians roundly praise them. Indeed, Boles was applauded as he trudged from the Commons chamber – albeit largely by members from parties other than the one he just left. Boles is a thoughtful MP, with some smart policy ideas – particularly on housing. His determination to return to public life after serious illness is widely admired. I also respect that someone of his ability and privileged background has put himself out there, enduring the rough and tumble of front-line politics. Yet in his short speech on Monday night, he was badly mistaken. The Conservative backbenchers who voted down his plan, and with whom he’s so angry, have compromised enormously – and it’s wrong to say otherwise. Countless Tory Brexiteers – the likes of Rees-Mogg, Johnson and Duncan Smith – who object to May’s deal have compromised, backing it anyway. Yet still, given Labour’s disgraceful game-playing, it may not be enough. And, with anti-Brexit MPs tabling a full-on blocking bill today, we could lose the historic 2016 referendum result altogether. Now, if the agreement returns without being unacceptably softened, it may fall to a rump of Eurosceptics to decide if they too can stomach a deal they know should have been so much better. Dubbed “extreme” and “hard-line”, they’re the ones trying to implement the referendum result, as promised in the Tory manifesto. But they’ll only get Brexit now if they take the risk that, after leaving, the backstop trap can be sprung. Boles, to his credit, previously voted for May’s Withdrawal Agreement. But then, as everyone knew, it had no chance of being passed. Will he back it again, if the Speaker allows the Prime Minister a final attempt to get it through the Commons? Will Boles himself compromise and, as he has long claimed, “respect the referendum result”? – Liam Halligan for the Telegraph (£) Philip Johnston: A cross-party process might have worked three years ago, but now it risks blowing the Tories to pieces There I was trying to think of an apt literary or cinematic analogy for the current Brexit fiasco when up popped The Caine Mutiny on TV recently. This 1954 film based on a Herman Wouk novel stars Humphrey Bogart as a US Navy warship captain relieved of his command by junior officers who question his judgment. Captain Queeg had been behaving erratically for a while; but when the USS Caine runs into a Pacific typhoon, his crew fears he will lead them to disaster. His second-in-command urges the captain to reverse course into the wind but Queeg freezes and is unable to make a decision. He is confined to his quarters, whereupon the ship rides out the storm and returns to port – only for the junior officers to be court-martialled for mutiny. They are acquitted when it becomes apparent during the trial that Captain Queeg was, indeed, not fit to command. In the context of Brexit, Theresa May is Captain Queeg. She should have been relieved a long time ago but her officers – aka the Cabinet – were unwilling to act even as she steered the ship of state onto the rocks where it is now stuck fast. How to get it off? The Cabinet held a marathon meeting yesterday and even though most ministers wanted to leave without a deal next week and get this saga over and done with, she overrode them and now proposes to consort with the enemy in an effort to find a safe haven. – Philip Johnston for the Telegraph (£) Telegraph: The longest Cabinet meeting of modern times has utterly failed to end the Brexit uncertainty The longest Cabinet meeting of modern times did not, at least, result in any Ministers walking out other than for a stroll around the Downing Street garden to stretch cramped legs. There was never any great expectation that they would agree on an approach given the deep divisions over the way forward for Brexit. It appears that a majority of Ministers, seeking an end to the Brexit impasse once and for all, wanted to leave next week without a deal but Theresa May vetoed that option. Instead, she has gone for a variant of the national unity approach proposed at the weekend by Sir John Major, the former Prime Minister. There is not to be a formal arrangement of the sort last seen in the Second World War and during the Great Depression; but Mrs May will invite Jeremy Corbyn to work in tandem to agree a plan that will get through the Commons. This option has always been available. Indeed, a Withdrawal Agreement allied to a customs union in the next stage of talks about future trading relationships could have got through months ago. That Mrs May has been forced into this position at this stage is the final humiliation for her. – Telegraph (£) editorial Jane Moore: We’d be out of the European Union already if MPs worked for what their voters want All four of the latest alternatives to Theresa May’s Brexit deal have been rejected by MPs, including the Remainers’ much-trumpeted suggestion of a second referendum. Just as well really, because they’d undoubtedly ignore the result of that one too if the answer wasn’t what they wanted to hear. Meanwhile, higher up the food chain where common sense is supposed to prevail, the Cabinet is showing all the stability of a poorly erected Ikea bookcase. Bickering like children, even the Chief Whip — a position usually associated with admirable discretion — is so frustrated that he describes them as “the most ill-disciplined in British political history”. All of which could ultimately hand Jeremy Corbyn — a man now openly being described by many as the “worst Labour leader in history” — the keys to No10. Well done everyone. I’m not going to waste yet more column inches on pondering what will happen next because, quite frankly, I don’t know and nor does anyone else. So for now, let’s just ponder on how this Brexit omnishambles came about. And what better way to explain the deeply unsatisfactory stalemate we find ourselves in than this breakdown of Brexit stats currently doing the rounds on social media. Meanwhile, Lucy Allan, Tory MP for Telford, posted on her Facebook page: “My constituents voted 67 per cent to leave and leave we must. “I have a duty to deliver that, whatever I think personally about the deal.” If all MPs honoured the supposedly “direct democracy” decision of their voters, we’d now be out of the EU. – Jane Moore for The Sun Leo McKinstry: Corbyn’s idea of a Norway Plus Brexit would mean the continuation of uncontrolled immigration from the EU Jeremy Corbyn’s pose as the honest man of British politics was always phony. But on Brexit, he has plumbed new depths of treacherous hypocrisy. Through his destructive cynicism, he has not only helped to plunge Britain into chaos, but he has also undermined democracy and betrayed his own voters in Labour’s heartlands. At the last General Election in 2017, his manifesto proclaimed that Labour “accepts the result of the referendum”. Yet by his actions, he constantly thwarts the will of the people and blocks the road to genuine British independence. In a typical manoeuvre this week during further votes in the Commons, he ordered his MPs to support the so-called Common Market 2.0 option, which represents the softest possible EU withdrawal. Effectively, this option would keep Britain under Brussels’ domination by locking our country in the European single market. The bureaucracy of the EU would still be in charge, dishing out its rules and cash demands. But even worse, the plan — also known as Norway Plus — would mean the continuation of uncontrolled immigration from the EU. Our borders would remain open, the very opposite of what voters were promised with Brexit. Indeed, the Labour Party itself gave a solemn pledge in its 2017 manifesto that “freedom of movement will end” after Britain leaves the EU. Now those words have proved hollow. Corbyn’s move is a kick in the teeth for Leave supporters. One of the main reasons that 17.4million people voted for Brexit was because of disillusionment with soaring rates of immigration, which have imposed a social revolution on our country without any mandate. – Leo McKinstry for The Sun Brian Monteith: The European Union is on the backfoot, but few seem to notice There is a very bad habit that many of our broadcasters have of focusing on what might befall us. It reminds me of Frankie Howard in Up Pompeii bemoaning “woe is me, woe is me” – as if he might warn his master against leaving the Empire without a deal. It would be refreshing were there to be even a modicum of interest shown in how much the failure of the House of Commons to back the withdrawal agreement – or propose any alternative this week – has put the EU in real difficulty. The deal between the EU and the Prime Minister is abominable, and should be rejected again if it resurfaces. It cedes sovereignty over key economic decisions, such as trade policy and City regulation, rather than pooling it as we do now. So what catastrophes could Frankie Howard warn the 27 EU member states about? If the UK leaves without any comprehensive agreement, overnight many EU products will face tariffs pricing them far higher than now. The Irish will especially be hurt, for not only is the UK their largest export market after the US, but the vast majority of Irish exports to the rest of the EU travel through the UK. Likewise, price differentials between, say, German Audis or Porches, and British Aston Martin’s, Morgans, or TVRs will benefit our businesses at a cost to the Germans. The last thing the becalmed Eurozone needs right now is an economic shock, and the UK leaving without an extension of tariff-free trade while a Free Trade Agreement is negotiated could tip the Eurozone into recession. The very fact that Chancellor Angela Merkel has suddenly become animated, and Teasoich Leo Varadkar is visiting Berlin and Paris tells you that they are worried. Woe are they. – Brian Monteith for City A.M. Tom Peck: There was the Prime Minister, just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to smash up his party so she didn’t have to smash up hers “And don’t forget,” the prime minister said, lowering her head but angling up her eyes to meet the barrel of the camera. “I’m also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to smash up his party, so I don’t have to smash up mine.” Well, they weren’t the exact words but 1,015 miserable days and seven more miserable hours later, this is what it came down to. This was Theresa: The Unstoppable Woman’s latest way out. Sorry Jezza. I can’t deliver Brexit and keep my party together, so you’ll have to deliver it for me. And if it breaks your party instead, well, what can I say? Sorry. I’m a Tory. That’s what we do. The pundits have been braced for the prime minister putting party before country for some time. That was always going to happen, but not like this. This was party before party and one of them wasn’t even hers. She’d started the day by locking the cabinet in the cabinet room and keeping them there all morning, all afternoon and into the evening. At 2pm, we are told, they were led like restless whippets out into the Downing Street garden for a walk about. When they’d finally agreed to the Dial J for Jeremy plan, they were again detained, kept away from their phones and provided with alcohol while Theresa May and her team came up with a way of selling this latest insanity to the nation. And, this the Notting Hill style ending, is what they came up with, with the obvious caveat that it’s clearly not going to end the way they hope. – Tom Peck for the Independent Robert Peston: May’s Brexit plan could blow up the Conservative Party She was for budging. Today, the prime minister made her priority leaving the EU with a deal, rather than the happy contentment of the Brexiteers in the Tory party. For so long, Theresa May has been derided by her rivals, inside and outside, for cleaving to the idea that she can get the country and her party through this process intact. But after her deal was defeated at the hands of Eurosceptics, in the words of one cabinet minister in the room during that marathon session today, she tried delivering Brexit with Tory votes – Tory Brexiteers said “No”. Now she’s going to try to deliver Brexit with Labour votes. In a way, it is as simple as that. But the prime minister has taken a huge risk with her party, and an implosion may stop any of this process in its tracks. There’s what’s described as “genuine fury” among Brexiteer ranks and ministers that the PM has made this choice. One senior Tory said she is “making an art form of bad misjudgements – this is not just a Reubens or a Van Gogh, it’s the whole Tate Modern”. As ever, there is a very big gamble that has just become a real risk. The prime minister can reach out for support from the other parties – and compromise to get it – and ultimately maybe get her deal through. But if and when she is able to do that, her party may be so split and so fractious that she may not be able to govern or do anything, ever again. – Robert Peston for The Spectator James Forsyth: Theresa May admits she will have to soften Brexit Theresa May’s statement in Downing Street was very different in tone to what she said a fortnight ago. She praised the best efforts of MPs and tried to strike a more conciliatory pose. May said she would request another Article 50 extension but she wanted it to be short so the UK would not have to participate in the European Elections. She invited Jeremy Corbyn in for talks, with the aim of either agreeing a common position on the future relationship or agreeing on a series of propositions to put to MPs with the government being bound by the result. In adopting this approach, May is essentially admitting that she can’t get the votes from her own governing bloc to pass her deal and so will have to soften Brexit. This will cause unhappiness in her own party. But there are risks in this process for Corbyn too. If he works with May on softer Brexit options, then he’ll upset those in the Labour party who want to Remain or are opposed to anything that doesn’t lead to a second referendum. May is hoping that her approach will get some kind of Brexit over the line and avoid the UK having to participate in the European Elections. I suspect that Brexiteers in government will reconcile themselves to it on the grounds that once the UK is out, then a future Tory government with a majority can try and take the country out of the customs union. But May is relying an awful lot on Corbyn and the EU cooperating with her strategy. – James Forsyth for The Spectator Paul Goodman: May makes her choice at last. She tears up her red lines Theresa May’s strategic aims, if that is quite the right way of describing them, are as follows. First, to avoid the UK having to participate in European elections after May 22. Second, to draw Labour into co-operating with her deal. Third, if that can’t be done, to ensure that they take the blame for not doing so. Fourth, if they are so drawn, to somehow keep her Party onside. Fifth, to try and head off Oliver Letwin and company from restricting her room for manoeuvre. Sixth and above all, to survive as Prime Minister. This is her chicken game. At first glance, her statement this evening, coming in the wake of a mammoth Cabinet session, looks like business as usual. Corbyn will either be lured into signing off on her deal, thus having his fingerprints all over it (and sharing the blame among those who hate it). Or he will find reasons not to do so. In which case, he can be blamed for playing petty, partisan politics. As we write, ERG reaction is, unsurprisingly, very hostile. No Cabinet member has resigned. But it is clear that this decision will have been contentious, and we await firm details. Initial EU reaction appears to be very doubtful – sceptical of whether the Prime Minister can get anything through the Commons fast enough to avoid those European elections. And what of her own survival? Unless she wins her chicken game fourth time round – or the EU itself delivers No Deal – she is heading at speed towards the slaughter house. – Paul Goodman for ConservativeHome Brexit in Brief Unlike Theresa May, her Brexit helper Jeremy Corbyn will put his Marxist opportunist-led party before country – The Sun says What Theresa May said, what she meant – Tom McTague for Politico Michael Barnier attacks Nigel Farage over Brexit: ‘These people want to destroy the EU’ – Express UK risks ‘trashing relationship’ with Europe, claims Siemens boss – BBC News