It is, whichever way you look at it, an unusual arrangement. Today Whitehall opened its doors to play peacemaker to the warring Conservative tribe in an effort to devise a workable plan to keep Theresa May’s Brexit deal alive. Senior civil servants have been ordered to provide confidential advice to a group of backbench Conservative MPs attempting to thrash out a common negotiating position on the Irish backstop to take back to Brussels. But what is the plan, who is behind it and after nearly two years of negotiations with Brussels what realistic prospect does it have of breaking the deadlock in the next few days? A group of backbench Conservative MPs have been invited by Theresa May into the Cabinet…

Source: The Times February 04, 2019 17:06 UTC