At the weekend the prime minister went to the trouble of writing a letter asking the public to back her deal. And because nobody sends (or reads) letters anymore she has had to spend the whole week going round the houses (not just of parliament) to sell her apparently dead-on-arrival Brexit plan face-to-face. There are rumours that the health secretary suggested that she disseminate her message using AI and blockchain but others in cabinet suggested that perhaps traditional means of media engagement should be tried first.
The EU for its part was kind enough at the summit on Sunday to endorse the plan, meaning it is now left to MPs in Westminster to decide whether it will be given the UK's official approval through the scheduled 'meaningful vote' on 11 December. The countdown to 11/12 is well under way and all signs are that it's going to continue to be. eventful.
Theresa reaches out
On Monday and Wednesday, May, probably believing it a good idea to speak to the people whose votes she needs, stood at the dispatch box and gave a surprisingly sturdy impression of someone not up a certain creek with paddles crafted by the European Research Group.
The PM headed to Wales and Northern Ireland on Tuesday, marking the first leg of her "please, please, please back my deal, it's really good I promise" tour. There are no definite signs just yet that the population of Wales and Northern Ireland have collectively said "OK, fine" but pollsters are keeping an eye on the situation.
Just when she thought she might be making some headway with public opinion apparently coming out in sympathy for her, her on-and-off close friend from the White House decided to weigh in to suggest that her deal might not be good for US-UK trade. Naturally there were immediate worries that this might turn the tide irreversibly against the deal with British audiences hanging on the American president's every syllable, but the word on the No 10 grapevine is that this has not been borne out in early focus group results.
Not poorer, just not as rich
Wednesday was a particularly awkward day for Operation Best-We-Can-Do-So-Take-It, as the treasury, allegedly with the PM's conscious approval, published economic forecasts that said the UK economy could be up to 3.9% smaller after 15 years under May's Brexit plan, compared with staying in the EU.
The Chancellor was quick to clarify that though economically worse off that some of the political aspects of leaving the EU had real value. "to some people." And it isn't that in 2035 we're going to be poorer than we are now, some of his conservative colleagues were keen to explain (on camera, commendably), we are just going to be sustainably less well off than we might have been if we had just stayed in the EU.
Unfortunately, no doubt down to the PM sending a letter again, the Bank of England didn't get the message about less economic growth being a good thing and had the sheer nerve to suggest that if all our trading arrangements with the largest trading block in the world are thrown up in the air overnight that this might have a significant detrimental impact on our ability to trade with that trading block.
The Governor, as he likes to be called (probably), went further and suggested that the net result of a no-deal Brexit might be another recession followed by a very unexciting recovery curve. Source inside Labour HQ claim that this was something they were absolutely going to seize on and tear down the government with but Corbyn had been preoccupied trying to find out "the latest from the jungle" - whatever that means.
Thankfully the PM had time to travel up to Scotland to talk to businesses about how good her deal will be for sales of tartan (her designer friends tell her patterns are so in right now) and how all they have to do is nod and smile and she will definitely leave soon. Her sentiment measuring team, again not led by the health secretary though he knew a guy and the app would have blown her mind apparently, came away with an unexpected air of satisfaction having being unable to find a single Scot against the Brexit plan. Some have tried cynically to suggest that this was because her team were unable to understand anything their celtic compatriots said.
Dropping in for a chat
On Thursday morning, she found time to see her parliamentary colleagues yet again, this time in a committee room. Some suggested this was because it's much harder to be stabbed in the back when they're sitting in a semi-circle in front of you but Sarah Wollaston MP, chair of the Commons liaison committee, insisted they just wanted to ask her a few questions.
During that session May was keen to explain that if parliament didn't back her plan on Tuesday after next then she would activate full planning for a no-deal Brexit. She was also at pains to convince them that if Article 50 was extended then we would have to reopen negotiations from scratch again and that would be. well. bad.
Onwards, Maybot
The PM has another full week of 'talking to people' to go before the big vote. Like an advent calendar where each new door opens up to reveal a chunk of bitter chocolate wrapped in a sticky, slightly hairy mesh of irreconcilable promises, until 11/12 the PM will be dining on the leftovers of two years' worth of fudges and will be grinning and chewing for everyone's delight and displeasure alike. Viewer discretion is advised.
Sarah Jones, managing director, public affairs practice