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Morning,
With just hours left before the US goes to the polls Hillary Clinton will be relieved to have been cleared of wrong-doing over her use of private emails.
Whether the FBI’s volte face has come too late to make any difference is a moot point.
Donald Trump may be a boorish, mendacious, unpleasant, uncouth and sexist braggart but he is also no fool.
A running theme of his campaign has been to smear Clinton at every opportunity as “crooked Hillary” in the knowledge that the slur, if repeated often enough, will seep into the public conscious.
In the noise of the last two days of the Presidential race, many voters may only hear the words “emails” and “crooked.”
For round-the-clock updates do follow our live blog on the election here. Theresa May landed in Delhi last night to find a city clouded in thick fog.
Which is a fitting metaphor for where we are with Article 50 after last week’s High Court ruling.
There remains a chance the Supreme Court will overturn the judgement next month but the Government appears to be working on the assumption that they will lose the appeal and need to bring in legislation.
Pro-Remain MPs are keen to stress they will not block the passage of Article 50.
They are also equally clear they see this as an opportunity to prevent a hard Brexit.
At some point these Brexit dissidents are likely to force a showdown but they are unlikely to use a Bill on Article 50 as the mechanism as long as they get a clear signal from Mrs May she will give Parliament a say on the final Brexit deal.
They are conscious of the backlash if they act in a way which casts them as wreckers or anti-democratic.
The latest thinking is that the Great Repeal Bill might be a better opportunity to rein in those stampeding towards a hard Brexit. One of their problems is trying to read Mrs May.
Is she a soft Brexiteer who pretends to be in favour of hard Brexit?
Or is she a hard Brexiteer who occasionally makes softish noises?
There is, of course, a third interpretation: she still hasn’t formulated any strategy.
The Prime Minister’s visit to India means she will not be present for the Commons statement this afternoon on the High Court ruling.
It would be an opportunity for ministers to calm the more hysterical reaction to the verdict.
Given we have seen a rise in hate crime and racist attacks since the June referendum, politicians and the media should be careful before whipping up further resentment.
A more worldly minister might also wish to point out the judges have ruled in favour of the parliamentary sovereignty which the Brexiteers were demanding. Today also marks the introduction of the new benefit cap.
The total amount of benefits a household can receive will be cut from £26,000 to £23,000 in London and to £20,000 in the rest of the country.
Charities have warned the new measures will leave 112,000 families responsible for 320,000 children up to £115 a week worse off.
For all Mrs May’s talk about a country which works for everyone there has been no noticeable change in either rhetoric or policy when it comes to welfare. If you want to get in touch my email is jason.beattie@mirror.co.uk and you can follow us @mirrorpolitics on Twitter.
Thanks,
Mirror Politics | 
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