She must frame a distancing from Brexit as patriotic. Otherwise, she’s lost. She cannot be soft in her response to pro-Putin Brexiteers.

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For the totally unrealistic and un-negotiable position the Government finds itself in over the EU negotiations.

Brexshitters like to claim betrayal at the first sign of compromise, but the real betrayal is the failure of their own leaders. Rushing to trigger article 50 without proper preparation was a terrible decision. A decision made because the government is afraid to tell Leave voters uncomfortable truths about what this whole ludicrous charade actually entails.

And that's before we get to the botched general election campaign (David Davis bears some responsibility for pushing for an unnecessary snap election) or the government's consistently unrealistic negotiating position, not helped by a failure by many leavers to acknowledge what a weak negotiating position Britain is in with all this.

You never know, if Mayor Majid Majid hadn't banned him from Sheffield he might have gone to Chatsworth instead of Blenheim Palace!

Than I did before the visit. What a complete mess the whole thing was thanks largely to the appalling behaviour of President Fart!

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:

He should have mandated at least a 60% majority vote either way on the Leave vote. Whatever anybody does now, half the country is going to be unhappy. I think he was too cocky by half from what I've read, and took too much for granted. But that is typical Cameron.

But at this stage, I'm moderately happier if the Tories' squabbling's done in public, rather than the constant grating stasis of the last couple of years. If it means another general election, well, let's get it done, whatever the outcome. (Recent opinion polling found that a clear majority wanted a GE if May resigned, rather than her replacement as Tory leader automatically taking over as PM.)

Apparently Johnson swithered all morning about whether to attend an important summit he was supposed to host, and at one point nobody seemed to know where he was.

Great timing all this, anyway, what with Trump coming and all.

Over to you, Labour ...

If they go to the polls it could be a disaster and they like power far too much to risk it.
Either way it is going to be a very interesting summer....
Personally I think it is great that the hardliners are leaving .... I just wonder who she will pick to replace Boris - if she went with a remainer that would really tweak the righties noses.

A minor snag (one among many): he reportedly has a phobia of flying ...

And yet another stab in the back to Boris would be amusing to witness.... Would it not be marvellous if she brought Hague back? Bring a bit of gravitas to the role.... of course he would run a mile - far to sensible!

According to journalists on Twitter, Boris informed No. 10 he'd be resigning this evening. Then No. 10 decided to make the announcement themselves.

The gloves are off, it seems. I'm sure it'll end well.

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despite having resigned as a Labour MP. So I suppose they mean Jeremy Hunt. OMG ...

PaddyPower's been having a field day (this from 11 hours ago):

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...it could finish them too!

And I don't think I have any words left to describe the Tories, who's government is on the verge of spectacular collapse.

O wot joy. At least it means he'll be out of Health. Does anyone know anything about Matt Hancock, the replacement?

When he's tied in as a minister he MIGHT be contained somewhat. But now that he's a free agent, Lord knows what he'll be up to or what kind of trouble he can cause.

Which he may possibly use as a platform for internal maneuvering and trying to pass the buck.

Boris has walked back into the same lucrative gig.

It sounds like he's taken a bit of a pay cut, though. He was getting £300,000+ a year, now he's only getting £250,000 a year.

Of course, it was his ill-informed and malicious scribblings that played a not inconsiderable role in landing us with this almighty mess in the first place.

Still, nice money if you can get it.