The notes were seen being carried by Julia Dockerill, chief of staff to the Conservative MP Mark Field, as she walked into No 10 Steve BackBritain’s Brexit negotiating stance is to “have cake and eat it”, according to handwritten notes mistakenly shown after a meeting between Tory MPs and senior figures in Whitehall yesterday. The EU negotiating team is “very French”, and France itself is “likely to be the most difficult” over talks. Some senior government figures are loath to bow to the business community and negotiate a transitional agreement to smooth the path out of Europe, the notes suggest. The conclusions of the meeting, at the Department for Exiting the European Union, undermined the government’s attempts to give “no running commentary” on Brexit. The details were captured when Julia Dockerill, chief of staff to…

Source: The Times November 29, 2016 00:07 UTC