For me, the most interesting political comment of the last couple of days is this:
"The scale of David Davis' task is almost beyond comprehension. As was revealed by the evidence of Oliver Letwin, the previous minister responsible for Brexit,
at the foreign office select committee hearing last week, it is not so much that the UK government does not have a plan for Brexit — it does not even know what is to go into a plan. It is barely in a state of pre-preparation for a political exercise that may take six years or more. Nobody in Whitehall or Westminster yet has a grasp of what needs to be done, let alone how to go about doing it.
This week, another able Conservative politician Rory Stewart
said at a City seminarthe crucial distinction to be made in the politics of Brexit is between “will” and “capacity”. One should not be confused the the other. It may well be that the new government is willing to go through with Brexit — but that is not enough. The UK has to be capable of going through with it too.
The politics — and policy — of Brexit, at least in practical terms, now becomes less about “will” and more about “capacity”. Whether it will happen will become the servant of whether it can be made to happen. As of today, there is no policy shape to Brexit, there is only shapelessness. And unless shape can be given to the great Brexit adventure, it is an open question whether it will ever happen."