The Tory leadership bandwagon rolls into Northern Ireland today.
This offers Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt the chance to propose magical solutions for the Irish border question having spent the last few days making magical spending commitments .
The Johnson campaign this morning has distanced itself from a report in the Telegraph that he is planning to take the axe to several government departments.
Under the plan, the DWP would be merged with the Treasury and the Department for International Development would be folded into the Foreign Office.
The Departments for Justice, Culture, International Trade and, of course, Brexit would be abolished entirely.
Given the DWP as it is currently constituted is struggling to cope with the roll out of the universal credit you may want to ask how merging it with another department is going to improve the delivery of key welfare provisions.
This idea may be a piece of freelancing by a member of the Johnson camp but it is a pointer of how his government may operate.
The leadership frontrunner has previously described employment laws such as the working time directive as “back breaking.”
Johnson has also called for the scrapping of the social chapter that protects part time workers, guarantees parental leave and paid holidays .
Many of his most prominent supporters have gone further.
In a book called Britannia Unchained, Dominic Raab, Liz Truss, Priti Patel and Kwasi Kwarteng - all Johnson backers - described British workers as “among the worst idlers in the world” and said that “the fear of unemployment and unfair dismissal has led to a system of employment law that discourages small business from taking a risk and hiring new staff.”
These rightwingers could soon have prominent jobs in the Cabinet, albeit a potentially slimmed down one.
One of the key ambitions behind the drive for Brexit was the wish to free the UK from EU regulations, including those that protect workers’ rights.
Under a Johnson premiership this revolution may now come about.
Theresa May has had to cancel Cabinet this morning to attend an EU summit to decide the next president of the European Union.
The process, known as Spitzenkandidaten, has so far provided the Brexiteers with plenty of ammunition for their cause.
A marathon session broke up yesterday after Italy, Poland and Hungary among other states rejected the choice of Frans Timmermans who has criticised the undermining of judicial independence in former Eastern bloc states.
The outcome matters to the UK too.
Timmermans is an anglophile but has been highly critical of Boris Johnson.
If he does win the day this could make negotiating Brexit that bit trickier if Johnson becomes PM.
Today's agenda:
Theresa May is in Brussels for the European Council.
10.30am - Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham and Digital minister Margot James give evidence to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sports committee on addictive technologies.
11.30am Tory leadership hustings in Northern Ireland.
11.30am - Philip Hammond takes what will most likely be his last Treasury questions.
2.30pm - Police chiefs give evidence to the Health and Social Care committee on drugs policy.
What I am reading:
Katy Balls in the Guardian on Boris Johnson’s Scottish problem
