Brexit morning briefing: Theresa May prepares for office

Good morning and welcome to our daily Brexit briefing with all the political fallout from Britain’s decision to leave the EU.

The big picture

It’s the day after Theresa May’s victory in the Conservative leadership contest and the day before the removal lorry reverses up Downing Street.

Something of an interregnum then, but a crucial one as the spotlight falls on who is likely to serve in a May cabinet. With talks about the formation of that cabinet at an advanced stage, here’s Rowena Mason’s guide to the inners, outers, big hitters and fresh faces hoping for key roles.

Questions are also being asked about exactly what Britain’s second female prime minister has in mind once she gets her hands on the keys to No 10. Jessica Elgot has been taking a look at May’s historical position on a range of issues.

Gaby Hinsliff has also penned this piece on what Theresa May stands for, and suggests:

What makes a May premiership interestingly unpredictable is that she has always been driven less by ideology than by morality, a very personal sense of right or wrong.

And here’s Steve Bell’s take on events:

View image in fullscreen

While one leadership contest is over, however, another is only just cranking up as Angela Eagle’s bid to head the Labour party moves into its second day. The Pontypridd MP, Owen Smith, is also expected to throw his hat into the ring, possibly today.

All political eyes will be on Labour’s National Executive Committee, however. The general secretary is facing protests over plans to hold a crucial meeting of the party’s ruling body at short notice that could exclude Jeremy Corbyn from standing as leader.

Union representatives to the NEC have complained that some delegates may not be able to make the meeting on Tuesday, which will decide if the Labour leader is automatically included in the ballot.

Does anyone have a Brexit plan yet?

May says she does. “Brexit means Brexit and we’re going to make a success of it,” she said at her campaign launch on Monday. She’s likely to come under intense pressure to put some meat on the bones of that promise, not least from European leaders.

You should also know:

• Tata Steel has refused to guarantee the future of the Port Talbot works.
• Emmanuel Macron, a potential challenger for the French presidency, holds the first rally of his new political movement En Marche! today.
  
• In the US, George Osborne has embarked on the first of several missions to major economies to discuss the ramifications of Brexit on trade links.

Poll position

Just over 32% of Labour-affiliated trade union members think that Corbyn should lead the party into the next election, with 58% saying he should step down, according to a YouGov poll.

Diary

• 2pm: Labour’s NEC meets to decide the terms of the party’s leadership contest, including if Corbyn’s name will go through automatically on the ballot.
• 10am: the Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, gives evidence to the House of Commons Treasury committee.
• 2.15pm: the immigration minister, James Brokenshire, gives evidence to the Commons home affairs committee.

Read these

Rachel Sylvester, the Times journalist who will have a prominent position in history books recording how Andrea Leadsom’s Tory leadership challenge went off the rails, has penned a piece on how the MP was becoming an increasingly divisive figure. She writes:

Under the pressure that is inevitable in frontline politics – especially when seeking to hold the highest office in the land – she did not flourish, she cracked.

Corbyn will be automatically included in the party’s contest without nominations, senior figures have told the New Statesman’s George Eaton. He adds that Smith will now need to decide whether to fight Eagle to become the rebels’ “unity candidate”.

Leading European political figures (or at least some of them) are looking forward to dealing with a “pragmatist” in the form of May, according to the FT.

One former EU minister who worked with May is quoted as saying:

I think she will be very, very good [in the current Brexit crisis] because, like Angela Merkel, she is not vain like some men are, but has a clear sense of her own power.

The day in a tweet

If today were a film, it might just be The War of the Roses

The lawyers get involved as the marriage between different constituent parts of the Labour party begins to crack up.

And another thing

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