British Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday assured her German counterpart that preparations for Britain’s exit from the European Union were on track, and that the legal process of leaving would be triggered by the end of March next year.
“Our work is on track, we do stand ready to trigger Article 50 before the end of March, or by the end of March 2017,” she told Angela Merkel during a joint media briefing in Berlin.
May’s comments follow persistent criticism from opposition lawmakers that the government does not have an exit strategy. There is also the possibility that her plans could be delayed by a legal decision that she must win parliamentary approval before triggering Brexit. 
The government’s appeal against that decision will be heard in early December.
“I want to see this as a smooth process, an orderly process, working towards a solution that is in the interests of both the United Kingdom but also in the interests of our European partners too,” May said.
May has also been holding talks with US President Barack Obama and European leaders in Berlin about Nato and the risk of the fight against Islamic State in the Middle East spreading to neighbouring countries.
Meanwhile in London, the carefully brokered truce within Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet is at risk of blowing apart, with the shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, said to be “furious” at John McDonnell’s description of leaving the European Union as an “enormous opportunity”.
Starmer, whose new role was one of the most high-profile appointments when Corbyn restocked his team after the mass resignations of the summer, has been fighting a battle with the leader’s office over how much ‘short money’ - the taxpayer funding for opposition parties - he would receive.
He has just one full-time adviser, and Labour has advertised for another, whom he will have to share with the shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry.
Other shadow cabinet members have three or four.
One frontbencher working on Brexit said the lack of resources “needs to be addressed”.
Allies of Corbyn have said Starmer is being “man marked”, because they are nervous he may use the prominent post as a platform for a future leadership bid - and is too willing to cede to pressure from some Labour MPs to accept limits on immigration.
On one recent EU trip, he was accompanied by Thornberry and Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary.
How to tackle voters’ concerns about the free movement of people has become an increasingly fraught issue within the party since the EU referendum, with some backbenchers, including Emma Reynolds, Stephen Kinnock and Rachel Reeves, suggesting the party should back tougher controls.
But Corbyn, Abbott, and the shadow business secretary, Clive Lewis, are keener to stand up for the benefits of immigration - though Lewis has suggested foreign workers could be forced to join a trade union before they can take up a post in Britain.
Labour’s policy on Brexit is discussed at fortnightly meetings of a “Brexit subcommittee”, chaired by Corbyn, with Starmer, Thornberry and Abbott present.
But McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, reportedly went far beyond the agreed line - and shocked some Labour MPs, including Starmer - when he used his pre-autumn statement speech in London on Tuesday to urge the party to seize on the opportunities opened up by Britain’s exit from the EU.
One source described the shadow Brexit secretary as “absolutely furious” about McDonnell’s intervention.
McDonnell said in his speech: “Labour accepts the referendum result as the voice of the majority and we must embrace the enormous opportunities to reshape our country that Brexit has opened for us.
“In that way we can speak again to those who were left behind and offer a positive, ambitious vision instead of leaving the field open to divisive Trump-style politics.”
A spokesman for McDonnell said the general thrust of the speech had been agreed beforehand.
Hostilities between the warring factions in the parliamentary Labour party have cooled since Corbyn convincingly defeated the summer leadership challenge from Owen Smith.