Conservative Party members received a letter from the Prime Minister today. She is trying to sell her Chequers plan, and on the reverse of the second A4 page are quotes from senior Conservatives under the title of "The right deal for Britain".
Liam Fox commented that "this deal will give the UK the freedom to sign our own, independent trade deals". We know that under this plan we are not going to be able to to sign independent comprehensive trade deals. He must be hoping that members are going to fall for it. I have a message for him: they're not stupid.
When it comes to rank hypocrisy, the medal must go to Andrea Leadsom. She is quoted as saying:
"This proposal puts the power back in the hands of Parliament and gives us a lock on any new rules around trade standards. We want a positive economic partnership with the EU - but this also allows our laws to be decided directly by those we elect."
But if you read the minutes of the Chequers meeting, you find out that:
"The Leader of the House of Commons said that she hated the proposal and regarded it as a breaching the government's red lines and not being true to the 17.2 million people who had voted for Brexit.
"Those people had known what they were voting for and the government could not just congratulate itself on knowing better than them.
"In her view, the majority of both ministers and civil servants had Remainer tendencies and what came with that was an arrogance that they knew better."
Another cabinet member who is willing to sacrifice their principles to keep themselves in office.
There wasn't a mention of the reasons why so many resigned from the Government. No attempt to tackle those issues head on. Just another "aren't we wonderful" and "we must all give the Prime Minister our support" letter. Pathetic.
This year's Conservative Party Conference is going to be interesting!