David Davis resigns as Brexit secretary [UPDATE: JOHNSON'S GONE TOO!]

[Denzil_DC]

8. My reading is that May finally realized that the only way out of the years-long impasse

the Tory Party has engineered was to try to tough it out, call the bluff of the ERG and Johnson et al. during the grisly Chequers gathering, and insist that if they chose to stay on, they would be bound by cabinet responsibility for what had been agreed.

It was made known beforehand that if any of the major players chose to resign, "bright young things" were already lined up to take their places, and that if anyone did choose to resign during the gathering, they would be instantly stripped of their ministerial privileges and face a mile-long trek along the Chequers drive to a taxi they'd have to call themselves.

Briefings from those supposedly close to Davis have indicated that he found these threats and the way they were delivered humiliating, so the suggestion is that this was as much about ego as about the politics.

But Davis is long known to have felt progressively sidelined by May's own cabal, going to far as to unsuccessfully call for the sacking of her aide Olly Robbins, with whom there's been a great deal of friction since he was installed.

It's not as if Davis has been at all proactive in his post - how much of that is down to him and how much to the paralysis within the government is open to debate. The European Commission has indicated that his resignation "won't affect the Brexit talks". Since he's been so absent, it's hard to see how it could!

No replacement has been named yet for Steve Baker (Suella Braverman apparently hasn't resigned despite earlier reports, though it's anybody's guess how long that will last), but a sign of things to come may be Davis's replacement, Dominic Raab:

Dominic Raab, a Brexit-supporting minister, has been promoted to replace David Davis as Brexit secretary, No 10 has announced.

Raab was previously housing minister and replaces Davis, who resigned late on Sunday night saying he could no longer support the government’s Brexit policy announced at Chequers last week.

...

Raab’s appointment was welcomed by one of the cabinet’s most committed Brexiters, Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jul/09/dominic-raab-appointed-new-brexit-secretary-in-uk-cabinet-reshuffle

There are rumblings among some in the hardline pro-Brexit camp that Raab shouldn't have accepted the appointment since the Brexit Department's influence may not be as significant as May is likely to carry on using her own office to "steer" the Brexit process.

The cabinet office is trying hard to put on a brave face and paper over the cracks, but with blood now in the water, the Brexiteer sharks circling, and May due to face a crunch meeting with the 1922 Committee later today, who knows what might happen this week, Trump's visit and all?