DOWNING Street says the report of last Wednesday’s dinner between Theresa May and Jean-Claude Juncker and their officials is not one it recognises.

It could be that someone in Brussels or Berlin has made all of this up and asked FAZ to print away.

It’s certainly partisan, but for seasoned Europe watchers, there’s enough here that makes it all seem likely. In fact, there is much in the FAZ story that we already know – what the Europeans think and want, for example.

What it does do is expose the staggering arrogance and incompetence of an uncomfortable and angry alliance in the UK Government.

There are many reasons for May to have called a General Election, like the CPS going ahead and charging some of the 30 MPs who have been investigated in the so-called Tory election fraud scandal, or Jeremy Corbyn’s astounding unpopularity. But I’m not sure that it had occurred to many people that it might be so she could get rid of David Davis.

Apparently Davis mentioned a number of times at the dinner how he had taken May to the European Court of Justice over her Snoopers’ Charter plan that would have given the intelligence agencies more power.

I’ve read two translations of that part of the paper. One suggests the Prime Minister was “unamused”, another said she looked “pissed off”.

Either way the Europeans think Davis might not be in the job after the June 8 elections.

The other thing to take away from this is that the UK really thinks it can get away without paying its divorce bill, reportedly £60bn, and that May believes this whole thing is going to be a doddle.

FAZ reports that the Prime Minister wanted to guarantee the rights of UK citizens living in European countries and EU citizens living in this country by June.

This would, the report says, see EU citizens living in the UK given the same rights as non-EU citizens.

It is, of course, not a doddle.

Juncker gives the example of healthcare rights. These are the responsibilities of individual governments. London will have to agree deals with Madrid, Rome, Paris, Riga ... everyone.

The EU also wants a better deal than non-EU citizens, because the UK citizens living in European countries are getting better deals than non-EU citizens. Obviously.

Talk to a lawyer, and the most worrying part of the report is the claim that May believes Brexit will be as simple as the meaningless and inconsequential opt-out on justice and home affairs legislation she negotiated as Home Secretary.

Brexit is complicated. Not even the smartest person in the room has quite got their head round it, but if this report is true, the Prime Minister and the UK Government aren’t even trying.

That should terrify you whether you voted Remain or Leave.