Robert Armstrong: Worse than Suez –Margaret Thatcher’s Cabinet secretary on how he would reform Brexit relations with the EU

It is nearly 70 years since I joined the Civil Service. In all that time, I do not think that I have ever felt, even at the time of Suez, a stronger sense of shame at the spectacle which we are presenting to an astonished world. As one journal put it, Brexit is breaking British politics. A country once envied for its political stability, steadiness and maturity has descended into a chaos of division and indecision.