Would Mr Davis make a good PM?

When he first took on the role of Brexit secretary David Davis promised a great EU deal by March last year followed by the signing of equally advantageous trade deals with countries around the world.

Maybe he believed his promises. He has difficulty in telling his wishes from reality, which makes him a poor boss and a poor negotiator, as the following observations about him show:

• "hates to listen to advice"
• "delusions of grandeur"
• "vain and quixotic"
• "all noise and bluster"
• "He has no practical sense of the realities [of Brexit]."
• "He is not interested in evidence when it doesn't suit him."
• "All the evidence of economic benefits that he uses to justify new trade deals is the same evidence that he dismisses when it comes to the effects of leaving the EU."
• "He doesn't know the dossiers well. His style is arrogant. He is full of bluster."

These are comments from people who worked with him, but he himself said (about being the Brexit secretary): "What's the requirement of my job? I don't have to be very clever. I don't have to know that much."

We can also see his incompetence writ large in his actions.

This was the chief negotiator who arrived at the negotiations without briefing papers, who would only turn up to the start and end of the talks until his counterpart opposite (Mr Barnier) complained that the UK were not taking negotiations seriously.

He is the leader of the negotiating team that achieved nothing in initial talks until Mrs May flew in and introduced some realism to British demands.

He is also the government minister who claimed that we had detailed analyses of the effect of Brexit on 58 economic sectors, and when he was forced to release them denied that they had any economic analysis. Not all that surprising given that he said, "I don't actually believe economic forecasts."

When Mrs May managed to concoct an Irish border fudge that satisfied the interests of all opposed parties, Mr Davis announced the next day that it was only a "statement of intent" and not legally enforceable. Unsurprisingly, his statement torpedoed that trust-based arrangement and meant that the EU negotiators now require legally enforceable commitments.

He has recently stated that a face-off with Brussels and a no-deal Brexit is better than Mrs May's deal, and a further 10% drop in the value of the pound would be a good thing, even though it will mean higher living costs for us.

Now this clown wants to be prime minister.