EU

We’re not even out yet and already plans are afoot for us to rejoin the EU, says the Express.

WHITEHALL departments are already putting in plans for Britain to rejoin the European Union (EU) even before it has left.
The Sunday Express learnt a recent contingency planning meeting between the Brexit Department and HMRC included rejoining the EU as a high possibility. A senior Government source admitted that all departments are now including the same contingency planning on EU membership. The source said: “In the end government departments have to consider all possibilities and there is a high chance that a future government may want to take us back into the EU.

We can expect no help from Ireland, reports the Express.

IRELAND’S Prime Minister Leo Varadkar took a swipe at Brexiteers during an impassioned party speech today that saw him declare the Republic stands by Europe – not Britain.
The Irish premier told delegates at his Fine Gael party’s conference Brexit was a reminder of “importance of having the right team in place” in a not-so-subtle swipe at Prime Minister Theresa May and he botched EU negotiations.

And Breitbart reports an MEP’s comments that he fears our former leader.

Manfred Weber has said he does not want Britain to stay in the EU long enough to take part in the bloc’s elections because he fears the disruption caused by Nigel Farage and British Eurosceptics.
“A possible participation of Great Britain in the EU elections can lead to a big success for the anti-elite parties in Great Britain. So that is my worry,” said Mr Weber, the leader of the notionally centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), the European Parliament’s largest grouping of establishment parties.

Tory leadership

The main question in today’s papers is about our Prime Minister.  The Telegraph says:

Theresa May has survived crisis after crisis and clings to office like a limpet. This time, though, it is difficult to see any scenario in which she survives as prime minister. When you reportedly lose the confidence of your chief whip, and your de facto coalition partners, the DUP, the game is well and truly up.
In the event of ‘no deal’, literally no one thinks the Prime Minister has the vision to lead the country into the unknown.

Sky News opines that she has days left in office.

Theresa May has days left in Downing Street amid a cabinet coup to oust her, according to several reports.
Speculation the prime minister will be ousted is at fever pitch, with The Sunday Times reporting 11 cabinet ministers had told them they want Mrs May to move aside and make way for a replacement.
Her de facto deputy David Lidington (pictured)  has been named as her potential caretaker replacement, while several are said to be ready to throw their weight behind Environment Secretary Michael Gove.

The Spectator looks at the time line.

Will Theresa May make it to the end of the week? It’s a question that’s been asked before of the Prime Minister but this time the situation is more serious. After a disastrous few days in which May lost the support of her whips, Remain MPs and Brexiteers, the Sunday papers report that a Cabinet coup is underway.
Backbench MPs are publicly taking to Twitter to say the Prime Minister’s time is up – while a number of ministers are preparing to confront her on Monday.

When did it all go wrong?  The Times is not sure.

When the history of Brexit is written, it will be hard to pick a single crucial moment when EU leaders lost trust in Theresa May. But the latest summit will surely rank as one of their most troubling encounters.
May has always been an inscrutable presence to her peers — reading from notes, dodging questions and turning serious visits into media stunts — but even by her standards, the prime minister’s responses were evasive and alarming, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The Mirror talks of a ‘hit squad’.

A HIT squad of Cabinet veterans is being lined up to tell Theresa May it is time to go.
Tory big guns want Chancellor Philip Hammond and the PM’s deputy David Lidington to deliver their political death warrant to 10 Downing Street.
The pair have been asked to carry out the cruel deed because most other ministers want to step into her shoes.
But they may be beaten to the famous black door by a delegation of six backbench MPs who also  want to tell the PM her time is up.

The Guardian reports the opinions of cabinet members.

Members of Theresa May’s cabinet believe she will have to resign this week should she allow a shift towards a soft Brexit, with angry Tory MPs examining ways to end her premiership.
The prime minister’s few remaining allies were engaged on Saturday night in a desperate battle to shore up her position, warning MPs that forcing May out would “tip the country into a general election and tear the party apart”.

Breitbart says it’s a coup.

A full-scale Cabinet coup against Prime Minister Theresa May is now underway, according to insiders, with one senior minister claiming she will be “gone in ten days”.
News that at least eleven members of the Cabinet plan on confronting the Tory leader on Monday and asking her to resign follows reports of a “Murder on the Orient Express” meeting with party whips, who told her there was no way her deal with the European Union, already rejected by MPs twice, could possibly succeed on a third attempt — unless it came with a promise that she would go after it was passed.

The Express says there’ll be resignations.

THERESA May’s time as Prime Minister is “all over”, rivals have warned, with a number of her Cabinet preparing a coup after finally losing patience with her botched Brexit negotiations.
Chair of the No10 Policy Board and MP George Freeman this evening posted a scathing tweet, accusing embattled Mrs May of “betraying” the country after it emerged she caved in to demands for a second referendum vote, the result of which sparked fury from Brexiteers.

The Mirror recons she’ll be gone in days.

THERESA May was clinging on to office by her fingertips last night as ministers predicted she will be gone in 10 days.
The PM has one last throw of the dice to get her Brexit deal through Parliament this week – but that looks doomed to failure.
She looks increasingly isolated as even her most loyal allies concluded she has reached the end of the road.

The Times says there’s a cabinet meeting tomorrow.

Theresa May was at the mercy of a full-blown cabinet coup last night as senior ministers moved to oust the prime minister and replace her with her deputy, David Lidington.
In a frantic series of private telephone calls, senior ministers agreed the prime minister must announce she is standing down, warning that she has become a toxic and “erratic” figure whose judgment has “gone haywire”.

And the grassroots are also telling her to go, says the Telegraph.

Grassroots Conservatives are urging Theresa May to set a date for her departure, warning that she is harming the party on the doorstep.
With support for the Prime Minister among Tory MPs fading by the day, association chairman and presidents from across the country say the “overwhelming” feeling among their members is that she must now “consider her position”.

But who will replace her?  The Mail mentions the pro-EU Liddington.

For a man said to have ‘no enemies in the Commons’, the notion of David Lidington as Acting Prime Minister met with a less-than-friendly reaction from party colleagues last night.
Tory arch-Brexiteers expressed astonishment, asking how installing the passionately pro-European MP as Theresa May’s successor could possibly be the answer to the party’s ever-deepening Brexit crisis.

The Express thinks it could be Hunt.

FOREIGN Secretary Jeremy Hunt (pictured) will make his case for “compassionate Conservatism” during a dinner meeting with Tory MPs at which he will also bid to shake off the “continuity May” tag, in an apparent signal of his leadership ambitions.
Mr May will outline his vision at an event organised by will make a speech at an exclusive event organised by the Centre for Social Justice think tank run by former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith.

A pro-EU former education secretary is named in the Telegraph.

Cabinet ministers must “step up” to oust Theresa May in order to rescue Brexit and prevent Parliament taking control, senior Tories have warned.
Nicky Morgan (pictured), the pro-EU former education secretary, said that members of the Cabinet must now tell Mrs May “it’s time to go”. Steve Baker, a leading Brexiteer, said would-be leadership contenders around the top table must “act now” if they wanted to persuade MPs that they were “the great statesmen to take us forward”.

The Telegraph also mentions Morgan.

Senior Brexiteers are touting Nicky Morgan the pro-EU former education secretary as a potential successor to Theresa May.
Several influential pro-Leave MPs have privately suggested that Mrs Morgan could be well-placed to stand as a “unity” candidate who could take over the Brexit negotiations and leadership of the Conservatives.
The remarks follow her role in drawing up the so-called Malthouse Compromise for Brexit, along with a coalition of staunch Brexiteers and senior MPs who campaigned to remain in the EU.

Gove is the Mail’s choice.

Theresa May could be ousted from No 10 within days after her Cabinet plotted to replace her with Michael Gove (pictured) as a caretaker Prime Minister.
A senior Downing Street source told The Mail on Sunday last night that even Mrs May’s Chief Whip, Julian Smith, had advised her to set out her departure plans, with Environment Secretary Mr Gove emerging as the ‘consensus choice’ to succeed her.
Mr Gove is being championed by Cabinet Brexiteers who are furious about what they see as an attempted ‘coup’ by Remain-backing David Lidington, Mrs May’s de facto deputy.

The Times also mentions Gove.

Allies of Michael Gove are plotting to install him as prime minister if Theresa May resigns or is forced out of office this week.
Friends of the environment secretary are touting him as a possible caretaker PM in the event the Tory party chooses to avoid an immediate leadership contest.
Those close to Gove have for months been mapping out a formal leadership bid and discussing policy ideas for his premiership, but he has kept this activity under wraps as he sought to rebuild a reputation for loyalty.

Brexit

Elsewhere in Brexit, the Mail says the PM is banking on an arch-Brexiteer.

Jacob Rees- Mogg was last night billed as Theresa May’s ‘last chance’ of salvaging her Brexit deal.
A senior Government source confessed that Downing Street was pinning all its hopes on the arch Brexiteer to persuade Tory rebels to back the Prime Minister’s deal in a third Commons vote this week.
The source said: ‘Number 10 are now banking it all on Jacob. If he can persuade colleagues to back the deal, we may still – just – get over the line.

But one of the options to be put to Parliament this week is for Brexit to be scrapped altogether, says the Guardian.

Pro-Remain MPs are drawing up plans for a vote on revoking article 50 as an emergency measure to stop Britain crashing out of the EU, after an online petition to cancel Brexit became the most popular ever.
By Saturday night more than 4.6 million people had signed the petition on the parliament website, which states: “A People’s Vote may not happen – so vote now”.
Public discussion about halting Brexit was  considered politically toxic until just days ago.

Grieve

An anti-Brexiteer is facing deselection, says the Mirror.

BREXIT wrecker Dominic Grieve will face a move to oust him as MP – on the day Britain should be leaving the EU.
At least 100 angry Tory members are threatening to oppose a confidence vote at his local party’s AGM on Friday.
The former attorney general has infuriated grass roots supporters over his attempts to frustrate the 2016 referendum result.
He stirred up further anger by saying the Brexit row had made him feel ashamed to be a Conservative.

No deal

Leaving the EU without a deal is not a problem, says the Telegraph.

A royal college has said that drug supplies are “very largely secured” for the possibility of a no-deal departure from the EU.
In an update to doctors, Prof Russell Viner, the president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said he had been “considerably reassured” by the Government’s preparations for such an outcome.
Addressing more than 19,000 members, Prof Viner said that, contrary to many reports, there was no need to stockpile medicines and urged them to “dissuade patients from doing so.”

People’s Vote

How many people joined yesterday’s march in London?  The pro-EU ITV News says there were lots.

One million people are estimated to have marched through London calling for the public to be given the final say on Brexit.
Demonstrators calling for a second referendum flooded into the capital from across the country for the Put It To The People march to Parliament Square on Saturday.
Around 700,000 took part in a similar rally in October, but People’s Vote – the organisers behind the march – have estimated that more than one million people took part in Saturday’s protest.

But the Telegraph says there weren’t so many.

The People’s Vote campaign has been accused of “overestimating” by Brexiteers after claiming one million people took part in a march through London in support of a second referendum.
Thousands of demonstrators walked from Park Lane to Parliament Square on the ‘Put It To The People March’ holding placards which read ‘Brexit is Rubbish’, ‘Revoke Article 50’ and ‘We Love EU’.
People’s Vote, the campaign group which organised the rally, said more than one million people took part and it was one of the biggest protests in British history.

And on the UKIP website the ‘breaking news’ happened four days ago.

Today, Theresa May will meet with the Leaders of EU member states, pleading with them to allow an extension of Article 50 to June 30.

Oh dear.

Christianity

Away from front-line politics, Breitbart has a story saying Christianity is not a religion of peace.

The Home Office has rejected the asylum application of a Christian convert from Iran who said they had been drawn to the faith by its peaceful nature, due to a Government official ruling that Christianity is not peaceful.
The applicant indicated that they had converted to Christianity from Islam because of its peaceful nature, stating that “In Islam there is violence, rage and revenge. In Christianity in the contrary it is talking about peace, forgiveness and kindness.”

HS2

The Telegraph reports a call for the project to be scrapped.

The Treasury chief who initially signed off on funding for High Speed 2 has called for the £56 billion project to be scrapped, saying that it would fail a “rigorous cost-benefit analysis”.
Lord Macpherson of Earl’s Court, who was permanent secretary at the Treasury until 2016, said the rail scheme “always had a low economic return compared to other transport projects” and was based on technology that was likely to look obsolete by the time it is finished in the 2030s.

Education

There are too many top degrees, reports the Independent.

Universities will be fined if they hand out too many first and 2:1 degrees to be fair to “hard-working students”, the education secretary is threatening.
Damian Hinds said a big leap in the two top awards – to 78 per cent of degrees, up from 67 per cent at the start of the decade – amounted to “grade inflation”, rather than rising standards alone.

Heathrow

The noise planes make may have been covered up, reports the Times.

Officials at the Department for Transport plotted to cover up warnings about the extra aircraft noise created by a third runway at Heathrow, a memo reveals.
The six-page document — sent to Chris Grayling, the transport secretary — recommended blocking a plan to tell millions of households about the extra noise they could face from the airport’s £14bn expansion.

Superbug

Bugs could become resistant to antibiotics, says the Times.

The number of older people infected with potentially deadly E coli has soared by a third to about 30,000 a year as superbugs develop resistance to antibiotics.
Public health officials are increasingly concerned about infections becoming life-threatening as they wage war on antibiotic-resistant bugs.
In 2016 the government pledged to halve the number of E coli cases by 2020. Instead they are rising. In 2017-18, 29,467 people aged 65 and over in England were diagnosed with an E coli infection, up 33% from 22,155 five years ago.

Banking

It’s going to cost more to keep your money in a bank, reports the Telegraph.

Banks are lobbying to introduce charges on the vast majority of money transfers to fund payouts for fraud victims, Telegraph Money understands.
The industry has agreed that victims of bank transfer fraud who did nothing to put themselves at risk should get their money back. It is now under pressure to agree where this money will come from.
This week it emerged that the number of reported cases of bank transfer fraud, where someone is tricked into authorising a payment to criminals, has almost doubled in a year, from 43,875 to 84,624, according to the banking trade body, UK Finance. In total £354m was stolen but banks returned only £83m to victims.

Pensions

The Telegraph claims some emergency services and armed forces personnel have a big tax bill coming.

Two hundred thousand oblivious savers are too late to avoid pension tax bills of up to 55pc, and at least a million more are sleepwalking into the same problem.
Telegraph Money has previously reported that front-line health, police, fire service and Armed Forces personnel are for the first time being penalised by lifetime limits on pension savings after successive governments cut the allowance from £1.8m to £1.03m.

ISIS

Terror attacks could hit Europe, says the Times.

Isis is plotting attacks in Europe as its “caliphate” collapses, according to a trove of the jihadists’ documents obtained by The Sunday Times. Although western-backed forces declared victory over the last Isis stronghold in Syria yesterday, the chilling documents reveal that in defeat the Islamists plan to wreak devastation after their territorial self-declared caliphate is lost.
The files show Isis plans new attacks in Europe, supporting Isis members already there.

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