What a shower: 
policy statements "by whoever has charge of the megaphone" while TMay is on hols
She is flying to the Swiss Alsps now for Part 2 of her hols
So expect more chaos
(Telegraph paywall) www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/07/31/analysis-boris-johnsons-silence-forced-downing-street-rein-philip/
Having had sole charge of the megaphone while Theresa May is on holiday,
Mr Hammond had merrily told the world that Britain would have a “standstill” transition in March 2019, in which “many arrangements” would be “very similar” to the day we left the EU.
......
The Treasury insisted that this was entirely “consistent” with Mr Hammond’s position, but language, and perception, are vital in politics and Downing Street had chosen language that left the perception Mr Hammond was being undermined.
Mr Johnson and Dr Fox, two of the Cabinet’s “three Brexiteers” (with David Davis making up the trio) were both thousands of miles away when Mr Hammond hogged the Brexit agenda last week.
Conveniently for Mr Hammond, Mr Johnson was in Australia at the time and Dr Fox was in America, leaving them isolated from London and each other.
With New York 14 hours behind Sydney, and with no prospect of raising Mrs May on her summer break in Lake Garda, the two men were reduced to texting each other to ask what was going on.
< how UK govt is run atm. Maybe carrier pigeons next time - since Brexiters keep looking back in history >
Treasury sources insist Mr Johnson and Dr Fox spoke to the Chancellor “lots” of times by phone last week.
Sources close to Mr Johnson deny this.
< well, that clarifies matters >
Dr Fox’s friends, meanwhile, said he stood by a Sunday Times interview in which he said he had “not been party” to any discussions about a potential three-year transition period,
even though the Treasury claimed the interview, conducted on July 24, was out of date.
< 24 July was yeeeeears ago >