The Spectator Podcast: Is the Brexit drama just beginning?

Is Brexit going in circles? With the resignations of David Davis and Boris Johnson – and widespread unhappiness at the Prime Minister’s Chequers plan – it is hard to pretend that things are going well. But is the drama only just getting started? In this week’s cover piece, James Forsyth says that a no-deal Brexit, or calling the whole thing off altogether, are now distinct possibilities. On the podcast, James says that this week’s events show that it is not only the Brexit ultras who could cause the PM trouble; ‘this rebellion goes far deeper into the Conservative party,’ he argues. Paul Goodman, editor of ConservativeHome and John Springford, deputy director at the Centre for European Reform, join James for the discussion. Paul says that it is too difficult to tell which way Brexit will go. But John Springford disagrees. On the podcast, he says:

‘I think that no deal is actually very difficult to deliver. The volume of trade that goes across the English Channel is so huge that suddenly ripping up the legal underpinnings (that enable it) would cause such chaos it would be very difficult for the government to survive.’