We must postpone our exit from the EU

THE practice of letter leaking in Government is long established... “I have no idea what you are talking about and we don’t respond to leaks” is the practiced response.

If you want something known, but at the same time not attributable as fact – yet you want to know how it would be treated if it were fact – then leak it to find out. You than have the best of both worlds.

If the public reaction is to hammer it, then insist it’s a forgery, fake, made up by the dreadful press, blah, blah.

If it’s accepted as OK... nothing to complain about, maybe a good idea... then cautiously deal with an affirmative, yes, this is part of our/ my thinking, etc, etc.

It’s also a way of building yourself and your image – at somebody else’s expense.

Indulge in the necessary private communication such as, “This is a delicate issue but you do need to know that my honest and loyal opinion is... your plan to do whatever is... is going to go pear shaped,” etc etc .

Then ‘accidently’ drop a copy in the box for your friendly House of Commons reporter to find – or, even better, get someone else to do it for you.

So it is surprising that the Liz Truss leak was not pre-empted months ago.

Think about it: all that’s going on with NDL... No Deal Leave, January 2021, and some marvellous techy stuff that will answer everything