Humiliated.

So Dominic Raab faced ridicule on his first trip to Brussels as Secretary for Exiting the EU as the EU flatly rejected Theresa May’s Chequers Plan and mocked spelling errors in translations of the document.    

Senior EU diplomats made it clear that the Brexit white paper agreed at Chequers cannot form the basis for negotiations.  British sources said the EU was being “deeply unhelpful”.   Unhelpful is an understatement as Mr Raab pleaded for a crumb of comfort.  He got none.  But that’s the way the EU does things.  Destroy those that don’t agree with them.  

But why expect anything different from the EU?  They have been consistent, if nothing else, in their desire to punish the UK for leaving the EU.  It would be bad for Mr Barnier and his colleagues in Brussels if the UK actually made a success of leaving the EU.  They know that.   They know the whole EU is a house of cards built on sand and it will collapse.  And they won't let that happen, whatever the internal cost to the rEU.

You can tell who is in charge here.

To say Mr Raab looked nervous ahead of his first meeting with Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, would be an understatement. 

My question is, why are we even going through with this charade with our elected Minsters being humiliated in public by unelected EU civil servants?   

All Mr Rabb needs to do is send Mr Barnier and email and say, “I’m giving the EU 12 weeks to come up with a deal that will be better than what we get under WTO.  Speak again when you’ve done that.”