Thread by @pmdfoster

Right #Brexit class of 2019.

Wake up at the back there, Sir Ivan Rogers has just delivered another 11,000 word broadside.

I have read. Some highlights. 1/thread

Starts by warning that both Brexit 'reversers' and hard-break Brexiteers are killing the common ground for compromise. The result that May's 'my way or the highway' plan has not narrowed the gap, but widened it. /2

Then has a crack at the "bizarre" absolutism of brexiteers who once dreamt of an escape to Norway, but now lament it as BRINO /3

And then absolutely lashes the "canard" of a WTO-only brexit, as the basis for a new global trade strategy. I particularly like the second on these two paras /4

Then, near weeping at this point, ponders the mendacity of the snakeoil salesmen who say that the UK flouncing out of the EU on WTO rules is the route to putting the EU in the backfoot for a trade negotiation . /5

Next, he delves into the reality that the UK is sacrificing services access in order to curb Free Movement - and the costs that come from starting negotiation from the 'tabula rasa' of the current Political Declaration - in a sector where UK runs huge surpluses. /6

Notes that the compromise on customs/backstop is designed to avoid this on GOODS, but doesn't on services. Which will be painful.

In this key section he spells out why the "SuperCanada" FTA Brexiteers dream of will be so costly. And why the coming trade talks will be ugly. /7

Then has a choice swipe at Boris Johnson and others who understand that UK commercial interest does not lie in leaving customs union, but don't care anyway because (politically) nostalgic sovereignty stuff sells. /8

And then "crass" idea that being in the EU prevents UK from being global trade power, and the "fatuous" narrative of the buccaneering upside of these mythical trade deals that @LiamFox can't even roll over to stand still. /9

@LiamFox Then - for trade wonks - explains why Article 24 of WTO will NOT provide cover for trade negotiation if we crash out. And the Greg Hands suggestion that we ignore WTO anyway, that gets a kicking to. /10

@LiamFox And one more kick to the shins for Boris and the mendacity of those who promise a world of 'no deal' mini-deals /11

@LiamFox And then, after rehearsing the Irish 'trilemma' notes that Mrs May's pretence that the her 'deal' can still deliver both independent trade policy (outside CU) and invisible border is still "fantasy". (Tragic this still needs saying) /12

@LiamFox So where does that leave us? In desperate need of honesty and transparency, or this #Brexit process is going to poison UK politics for a decade or more as we keep losing at the negotiating table - just as we have for the last two 2.5 years. /13

@LiamFox And a grimy little window into what negotiating that UK-EU FTA will be like, in practice. The EU will protect and prosecute their interests, as you'd expect. Ask Switzerland. /14

@LiamFox And ends - after noting that several EU capitals are cooler on extending Article 50 than is popularly supposed, including by some officials in Brussels - with a call to "wake up", level with the electorate about their choices, or get burned down the line. /15 ENDS