Theresa May has 'Taken Control' of the Brexit Negotiations

When brand new Brexit secretary Dominic Raab stood at the despatch box of the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon he was the holder of arguably the biggest non-job in the country.

But by the time he had dashed straight from there to his first appearance before the Brexit select committee it had been made public that he was in fact the holder of arguably the biggest non-non-job in the country.

It has been well known for some time that a civil servant called Olly Robbins has been informally in charge of Brexit, a truth that only became more self evident as Robbins sat by Raab's side throughout the select committee hearing, wearing the kind of counterfeit grin the single market was expressly invented to keep out.

As the two men took their seats, Downing Street published a written ministerial statement that confirmed Theresa May would be taking personal charge of the Brexit negotiations herself, with Raab merely "deputising for her".

The old story of the Chinese zodiac springs immediately to mind, except that with the riverbank finally approaching, the rat is now jumping off the ox's back, but landing several feet short of dry land and plopping directly in the drink. Except there is no riverbank, just a thundering ravine and precious little time available to argue about who is to blame for the imminent demise.

Raab exuded news of his de facto demotion with the kind of easy air that causes one to wonder whether it really is mere coincidence he has never been seen in the same room as Begbie from Trainspotting.

Seen up close, Raab is frankly terrifying. He is the angry cop in an ITV police drama, sneaking in late at night to destroy the CCTV footage of that "incident" in the cells with the suspected nonce. He is the...