Twin tightropes for Theresa May amid MPs' close Brexit combat
Some Tory MPs deliver withering contempt in the House of Commons while the Prime Minister faces a fresh warning from car makers.
Tuesday 14 November 2017 23:30, UK
Parliament's close procedural combat over Brexit has begun in earnest. All-night sittings and all-out battles between and within parties.
It began surreally enough, with Labour's backbench Brexiteer Frank Field arguing about the precise hour of Brexit.
His proposed amendment came not from a desire to stay in the EU an extra hour, even though that would be the consequence.
For Mr Field, it was the principle that leaving the EU should occur at midnight Greenwich Mean Time and not Brussels time, as conceded by the Government to keep within the contours of Article 50 - a function of EU law.
Given only a tiny fraction of 464 amendments tabled to the EU Withdrawal Bill will be debated and voted upon, it could well be argued that spending a couple of hours debating an extra hour in the EU was not the best use of time.
The Government had issues with its own much-heralded exit date amendment - with some concern among Conservative backbenchers that this clause was not quite as advertised.
Tory MPs believe that other consequential amendments have the effect of leaving to ministers just how much of the EU the UK leaves on exit day.
It was enough to trouble backbench Brexiteers about whether they were being sold out by the Government they support.
No, said the minister Steve Baker - the date would be fixed at 29 March 2019 at 11pm.
It is not a surprise the Opposition called on the Government to withdraw what they called an exit day "gimmick".
Nor that there are Tory MPs who disagree.
Backbenchers such as Dominic Grieve are frustrated at what he said was a disingenuous and dishonest debate that the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice would end during a transition period.
It was Ken Clarke who seemed to command the anti-Brexit forces in the House of Commons.
But the Government is likely to be as greatly concerned by the tone of the debate, as of the 20 or so Tory MPs infuriated by ministers' setting of an inflexible exit date.
Some Conservative backbenchers were witheringly contemptuous of the "mad" and "silly" exit date amendment, which Mr Clarke referred to as a "sop to the Foreign Secretary and the Environment Secretary" - as he picked out Vote Leave figureheads Boris Johnson and Michael Gove.
At times, the rebellious Remain rabble simply laughed out loud at the injunctions of their colleagues.
There is now a growing band of Conservative MPs who seem unwilling to be bound by the approach of their Government.
And yet, on a day when the Government defeated this first set of less contentious amendments, it might just be that across the Palace of Westminster, at the Business Select Committee, was where the real issue lay.
Because as MPs pondered which time zone Britain should use to leave the EU, car makers pronounced they were running out of it.
We already know about the uncertainty around customs arrangements and possible tariffs.
But a representative of Honda, owners of a giant factory in Swindon, expressed doubt that after a "no deal" Brexit, the UK's vehicle type approvals from the Vehicle Certification Agency would be accepted across Europe.
The chief financial officer of Aston Martin suggested this could lead to a "semi-catastrophic" production stop as new certifications were sought for new and existing cars.
These are the twin tightropes upon which Theresa May treads.
Day one was the easy bit.