Cabinet ministers’ phones are routinely locked away when they arrive at Downing Street for weekly cabinet meetings, to prevent the potential for espionage by hostile states.
As ministers gathered at Chequers at the end of a heated summer week of leaked letters, biting texts and secret huddles in the Foreign Office , the policy had another use: to prevent the potential for yet more Brexit hostilities.
Attendees arrived shortly after 9.30am, the chief secretary to the Treasury, Liz Truss, tweeting that she had been “fortified” beforehand by a slice of cold pizza.
And with ministers told to wear formal business attire, despite temperatures in the late 20s, several may have looked longingly at the swimming pool, donated by the former US president Richard Nixon and reportedly one of Theresa May’s favourite places for contemplation. But with the Sky News helicopter circling overhead, a dip might not have been advisable.
After refreshments, all 29 of May’s ministers trooped into the wood-panelled Hawtrey room for a lock-in with the prime minister’s chief Brexit adviser, Olly Robbins, outlining the EU’s current position. No 10 would have hoped this set the tone for the afternoon.
No phones were returned at lunch, an hour’s breather over a buffet of barbecued chicken before the main action of the day, four hours in the Grand Parlour trying to thrash out the final version of the UK’s approach to Brexit.
As an aperitif before dinner at 7pm, ministers spent two hours discussing the contingency planning for a no-deal Brexit – where grave warnings were expected from the chancellor, Philip Hammond, and the business secretary, Greg Clark, about threats to supply chains and services.
In between whisky-cured salmon with sourdough and a main course of Oxfordshire beef fillet, May’s director of communications, Robbie Gibb, spelled out how the final version could be sold to the public, and the meal was rounded off with marmalade bread and butter pudding.
Before the summit ministers were warned about the consequences of resigning, including how long the Chequers’ driveway is for a person on foot. The threat to remove a ministerial car immediately upon quitting may have been more to do with reminding ministers of the trappings of office, than providing a real ultimatum.
The number for a local taxi firm, whose business cards are reportedly in Chequers’ lobby, was found to be out of service when mischievous reporters tried to phone.
The BBC’s political editor, Laura Kuenssberg, tweeted an offer of “a free lift home to anyone … in exchange for small price of a brief interview if they choose to walk”.
The veteran Tory Eurosceptic MP Peter Bone also offered lifts to ministers, darkly suggesting he would need two cars. But by Friday afternoon he did not seem to believe his offer would be necessary: he was seen walking through the corridors of parliament, rather than driving towards Buckinghamshire.
