The Guardian reports:

Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, made an attempted power grab on key areas of Boris Johnson’s Foreign Office, writing to his colleague and the prime minister, Theresa May, in an effort to wrest control of Britain’s overseas economic policy, a leaked letter has revealed.

Tensions have been escalating between the Foreign Office and Fox’s Department for International Trade, but the former defence secretary’s suggestion has apparently been given short shrift by No 10, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

Within a fortnight of arriving at the newly created department, Fox wrote to Johnson, copying in May, to ask for economic diplomacy – a key function of the Foreign Office – to become part of the remit of his department.

Tom Brake, the Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs spokesperson, remarked:

Johnson and Fox are more concerned with Westminster power games than rebuilding Britain’s standing in the world after the Brexit that they both campaigned for. The Prime Minister has told the press she won’t have it, but it seems like it’s time she told them to their faces.

I suggest they both take a trip to their sizeable shared country home, Chevening, to sort out their differences and come up with an actual plan for Britain’s foreign policy going forward.

Most people don’t care about the egos of two pompous characters who are acting like the protoganists from deVito’s ‘the War of the Roses’. What they do care about is Britain’s international reputation, which is currently plummeting fast.

Meanwhile, the organisation chart of the new Department for Exiting the EU reveals the department has seven directors and an eye-watering 24 deputy directors.

While such turf wars and empire building goes on, what Brexit will actually mean, apart from, er, Brexit, is still very unclear.

* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist. As part of the Liberal Democrat Voice team he helps with photos and moderation on the site, as well as occsionally contributing articles. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.