EU dismay at May's humiliating defeat as Tory row descends into open warfare
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Your support makes all the difference.Theresa May has been at loggerheads with her ministers as several openly contradicted each other over the prospect of a no-deal Brexit.
After MPs refused to support the prime minister’s plan in her latest Commons defeat, EU ministers said it made the current situation even more difficult.
Andrea Leadsom, the commons leader, insisted the option of leaving without a deal remained on the table, but foreign office minister Alastair Burt insisted this was not possible.
A dozen or more ministers could quit if Ms May refuses to extend the Brexit negotiating period beyond 29 March and veers towards a no-deal scenario, former attorney general Dominic Grieve said.
Margot James became the latest minister to rule out remaining in the government if that situation occurred.
The digital minister told Channel 4 News: “I could not be part of a government that allowed this country to leave the European Union without a deal.” Downing Street insisted Ms May would continue with her negotiating strategy, with ministers dismissing yesterday’s vote as no more than a “hiccup”.
Here is how we covered the day’s events:
Brexit secretary Steve Barclay will address all 27 EU ambassadors in London today, following the government defeat last night...
The Dutch government has made a furry blue monster its official Brexit mascot...
Ireland's foreign minister has said it is "unbelievable" that the British government has let the prospect of a no-deal Brexit get so close.
Simon Coveney said:
"I think it is extraordinary and unbelievable really that the British parliament and British government have let it come to this.
"I do, however, believe that Theresa May is sincere and does want to protect the Good Friday Agreement.
"42 days out until Britain is due to leave, there is still divisions in a political party causing Ireland to spend hundreds of millions of euro to prepare for no deal."
Sajid Javid has said te "will not hesitate" to try to stop Britons who fled to join Isis returning to the UK.
The home secretary was responding to Shamima Begum, who travelled to Syria to join the militant group in 2015, when she was 15, saying she wants to come back to Britain.
Mr Javid told The Times: "We must remember that those who left Britain to join Daesh [Isis] were full of hate for our country.
"My message is clear: if you have supported terrorist organisations abroad, I will not hesitate to prevent your return. If you do manage to return you should be ready to be questioned, investigated and potentially prosecuted."
Ian Murray becomes the latest Labour MP to suggest he could quit the party...
Speaking at an event in Dublin, Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney says Ireland would not block an extension to Article 50.
He says:
"Ireland has always said we will not be an obstacle to an extension if it was reasonable to do it."
Is a no-deal Brexit dead? It depends which minister you ask, writes Sean O'Grady...
In comments that have received, shall we say, a mixed response, Theresa May has condemned the 'disruption' caused by thousands of school children missing class to protest against climate change..
Frank Field, the chair of the Commons work and pensions committee, has called for billionaire Sir Philip Green to be stripped of his knighthood after reports about the businessman allegedly abusing staff.
In a letter to Sir Jonathan Stephens, the chairman of the Honours Forfeiture Committee, the independent MP said:
"I am now writing to you to ask whether the Honours Forfeiture Committee would meet, and by taking away Sir Philip's knighthood, show that the mere fact of having huge wealth does not exempt individual honours holders from conducting their ownership of business, or private life within a business, from the standards of behaviour that ordinary men and women are expected to fulfil in the conduct of their public and private lives."
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