Boris gives May one last chance to ditch Oliver Robbins

With, I must say, unexpected Statemanship, Boris yesterday ended his resignation speech not in the manner of Geoffrey Howe but by calling on May to ditch Oliver Robbins, Jonathan Black and the  other Viziers of the Europe Unit and return to her Lancaster House vision. You can be sure that speech was not written by a colourless, robotic EUphile mandarin in love with the power of officialdom but by someone with a deep love for their nation, confidence in the British people and with hope for the future. None of which three traits are remotely apparent in the higher echelons of the civil service. 

Allister Heath in the Telegraph (£) pretty much has it today - 

Too many ultra-Remainers think that those who voted Leave suffered from “false consciousness”, that they were duped, manipulated or conned, that they will eventually tire of the exercise and roll over, and that a Brexit in Name Only – or even pretending that the referendum never actually happened – would allow the natural order to be re‑established.

This is delusional nonsense, the kind of attitude that would have been prevalent in the court of Louis XVI after the Bastille was taken; tragically, it is also the advice that May has been receiving since she sidelined her Cabinet Brexiteers and entrusted her entire strategy to the civil service.

It’s now certain that May will go – but at a time of her successor’s choosing, not hers or her Grand Vizier’s. She has only one chance to avoid either the UK crashing out next March without a deal or a humiliating request for an extension of Article 50 – and that’s to do as Boris says. Move Mr Robbins to head up the Ascension Island Development Corporation, disperse the highers to Agriculture, Transport and Local Government, and send the rest of the Europe Unit back to DEXEU and Dominic Raab.  

One chance, Mrs May. Don’t blow it.