Team UK

Well we are off to a good start in negotiations over Brexit. Mrs May's letter triggering Article 50 threatened reduced co-operation over crime and terrorism if a satisfactory agreement wasn't reached. The UK home secretary, Amber Rudd, made things worse by saying: “If we left Europol then we would take our information ... with us.”

This didn't go down well, with a number of EU leaders responding that blackmail won't work. It definitely didn't this time - Mrs May's suggestion that trade talks should start now was rejected by Mrs Merkel,

At least Mrs May gave hints that her 'red line' over the European Court of Justice and the removal of EU regulations might be rather blurry. She (and the Chancellor) are also happy to pay our Brexit bill. So apparently she isn't wedded to hard Brexit.

So who will be negotiating on our behalf?

Mr Davis is the Brexit minister. He has twice campaigned for leadership of the Tory party, and was the man behind the EU slapping down Mrs May's attempt to enact her initial Snooper's Charter. Let's hope that he has no interest in challenging her for leadership any time soon.

We have Boris 'Cake' Johnson as Foreign Secretary, who believes, "It would be perfectly OK if we weren't able to get an agreement". When Mr Johnson's appointment was announced, the US State Department spokesman Mark Toner stifled a laugh and said,"We’re always going to be able to work with the British, no matter who is occupying the role of Foreign Secretary... This is something that, frankly, goes beyond – a relationship that goes beyond personalities" - a very diplomatic way of saying, "Are you serious?!" The reactions of senior politicians to the appointment were rather similar.

At least Mr Johnson wasn't allowed to contribute to the letter, or even see it until the day before it was sent. The letter also carefully avoided any reference to cake, eaten or uneaten.

Mr Johnson's gaffes are embarrassing enough without them appearing in something this important. If he thinks the negotiations don't matter then he should be kept well away from them.

We have Mr Fox as Secretary of State for International Trade. This is the Liam Fox who had to resign in disgrace as Defence Secretary and who had to repay over £22,500 for his part in the Commons expenses scandal. He has referred to citizens' rights as "one of the main cards" to play in the Brexit negotiations. Quite apart from the attempt to use blackmail (is this one of the UK's core negotiating strategies?), it is very worrying that he sees this as one of our main cards. Our hand surely is not quite that bare?

Mr Hammond, as our Chancellor, will have an important role. His first budget does not bode well, with his failed attempt to increase the national insurance contributions (NICs) paid by the self-employed. He argued that the manifesto promise saying he wouldn't do this did not apply because of a loophole added after the election. We don't want loophole wars in the Brexit negotiations.

The blame game played by Mrs May's and Mr Hammond's staff is also a concern. Each side (surely they should be on the same one?) made serious criticisms of the other, throwing around terms like "economically illiterate", "imperious" and even claims that the tax hike was "smuggled" into the budget. If something as minor as this can divide them so deeply then Brexit is going to be fun.

Our Ambassador to the EU is Sir Tim Barrow. Sir Tim took over from Sir Ivan Rogers in January when Sir Ivan resigned. When he left Sir Ivan wrote a letter to his staff which warned them that even in January our negotiation objectives had not yet been decided, that pro-Brexit ministers believe trade 'just happens' so have no interest in negotiations (see above), that they suffer from muddled thinking and offer ill-founded arguments to support their views, and that they discourage honest advice that goes against their preconceptions.

He also noted that the UK has little negotiating experience (we have no trade negotiators of our own as the EU does our negotiating for us),

We are trying to train up negotiators. However the trainer, Mr Woolcock, warns that even if we have good negotiators they will be under pressure to sign anything they can in order to make Brexit look like it is working.

It would make a great mini-series, but is this a good basis for negotiating our country's future?