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| Macron warns Boris Johnson Brexit could turn UK into vassal state of US before they meet in Paris - live news | Macron warns Boris Johnson Brexit could turn UK into vassal state of US before they meet in Paris - live news |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| During the Tory leadership contest Boris Johnson claimed (implausibly) that the chances of a no-deal Brexit were a million to one. Subsequently he has admitted it is more likely than that, but he has not gone as far as David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, who told the Today programme this morning that he thought the odds on that outcome were now “50/50”. It was now “a high probability”, Davis said. | |
| But Davis also insisted that the dangers of a no-deal Brexit had been overblown. Dismissing the claims in the Operation Yellowhammer document leaked at the weekend as “rubbish”, Davis said: | |
| I think there will be some turbulence. There will be some bumpiness in terms of cross-border traffic and so on. | |
| When it was put to him that in the past he has said a no-deal Brexit would lead to nothing that a reasonably competent government would not be able to handle, he replied: “That’s precisely what I think.” | |
| The recently-appointed Scottish secretary Alister Jack has ignited a furious row with the Scottish National party after claiming it was no different from other nationalist movements as it “needs an enemy to thrive”. | |
| In an article for the Times (paywall), his first newspaper opinion piece since being appointed by Boris Johnson, Jack wrote: | |
| Scottish nationalists like to claim that theirs is a different kind of nationalism, somehow uniquely benign. I’m sorry but I’m not sure I can spot the difference. Like nationalist movements the world over, it requires an enemy to make it thrive. It needs an ‘other’ to rail against. | |
| Jack, a staunch Brexiteer, accused Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP of inventing grievances; using “the Westminster system” as an insult coded to attack the UK as a whole; and inventing a “fiction” that devolution no longer works. | |
| He said many fiercely proud Scots were comfortable being Scottish and British. Acknowledging the Brexit crisis was putting the union under strain, he blamed Sturgeon using “anger, bitterness and resentment” over Brexit to promote independence. | |
| Ian Blackford, the SNP’s Westminster leader, called on Jack to withdraw the piece on Twitter. | |
| Wow, I am surprised the secretary of state has sunk to this level. He should withdraw this article and apologise. Lets have an informed debate of Scotland as an independent country and yes unionists should speak of their vision. This is not it. It lacks dignity. https://t.co/1gY2N8vUJG | |
| Some SNP figures worry about the labelling. Humza Yousaf, Holyrood’s most successful non-white MSP, and now the SNP’s justice secretary, said last week at an Edinburgh fringe event he disliked the “national” in its name. | |
| I do struggle with it, because people do associate it with all the various elements of nationalism that exist. [I] think people understand that we are an open and inclusive party. But do I think that the name can present us with some challenges? For sure. | |
| Libby Brooks, the Guardian’s Scotland correspondent, said Sturgeon had addressed this point at another Fringe event the previous day. In 2017, Sturgeon said she would prefer another one but last week claimed to be “100% comfortable” with it. Other nationalist parties, she said, were not seeking independence like hers but were nationalist in an exclusive, xenophobic sense. She said: | |
| Scottish independence is not just at the other end of the spectrum of that, but on another spectrum altogether. The SNP today is and I think I can say it without fear of justifiable contradiction, the most pro-immigration party in the UK which is not what you would expect of a nationalist party, so my nationalism is rooted in a desire to make the country I live in as good as it can be. | |
| Last night I posted a summary of the immediate media reaction to the Angela Merkel/Boris Johnson press conference here. The pro-Brexit papers in the UK have put a positive gloss on what happened, with the Sun story, under the headline “We can Merk it out”, saying that Johnson was delighted with the outcome, and the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Express all splashing on stories implying the prospect of a no-deal Brexit has been reduced. | Last night I posted a summary of the immediate media reaction to the Angela Merkel/Boris Johnson press conference here. The pro-Brexit papers in the UK have put a positive gloss on what happened, with the Sun story, under the headline “We can Merk it out”, saying that Johnson was delighted with the outcome, and the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Express all splashing on stories implying the prospect of a no-deal Brexit has been reduced. |
| Thursday's Mail: "Can we do it? Ja, we can!" #bbcpapers #tomorrowspaperstoday (via @AllieHBNews) pic.twitter.com/xqzGXAvC2R | Thursday's Mail: "Can we do it? Ja, we can!" #bbcpapers #tomorrowspaperstoday (via @AllieHBNews) pic.twitter.com/xqzGXAvC2R |
| Thursday's Telegraph: "30 days to ditch the backstop" #bbcpapers #tomorrowspaperstoday (via @AllieHBNews) pic.twitter.com/Qm5BdcLjlh | Thursday's Telegraph: "30 days to ditch the backstop" #bbcpapers #tomorrowspaperstoday (via @AllieHBNews) pic.twitter.com/Qm5BdcLjlh |
| Thursday's Express: "30 days to do a deal" #bbcpapers #tomorrowspaperstoday (via @AllieHBNews) pic.twitter.com/CwvmN1Z2is | Thursday's Express: "30 days to do a deal" #bbcpapers #tomorrowspaperstoday (via @AllieHBNews) pic.twitter.com/CwvmN1Z2is |
| But informed commentators are not so sure. Here is another round-up of what journalists and commentators have been saying about the significance of what was said at the Berlin press conference after they’ve had a bit of time to mull it over. | But informed commentators are not so sure. Here is another round-up of what journalists and commentators have been saying about the significance of what was said at the Berlin press conference after they’ve had a bit of time to mull it over. |
| From the Guardian’s Philip Oltermann | From the Guardian’s Philip Oltermann |
| A few hours on from the Merkel-Johnson press conference, I am more and more struck by how quick he was to concede the onus is on UK to come up with a solution within a month. She said 30 days were a possibility, he said it's a "timetable". A sign of an inexperienced negotiator? pic.twitter.com/ZytRsjlYkl | A few hours on from the Merkel-Johnson press conference, I am more and more struck by how quick he was to concede the onus is on UK to come up with a solution within a month. She said 30 days were a possibility, he said it's a "timetable". A sign of an inexperienced negotiator? pic.twitter.com/ZytRsjlYkl |
| From Politico Europe’s Matthew Karnitschnig | From Politico Europe’s Matthew Karnitschnig |
| Nice rhetorical sleight of hand by Merkel here: offer something that has always been on the table, whike making it look a concession. She’s clearly preparing for the “we did everything we could” moment on Nov. 1. https://t.co/873cW5nSl6 | Nice rhetorical sleight of hand by Merkel here: offer something that has always been on the table, whike making it look a concession. She’s clearly preparing for the “we did everything we could” moment on Nov. 1. https://t.co/873cW5nSl6 |
| From ITV’s Robert Peston | From ITV’s Robert Peston |
| Striking that Merkel has pulled rug from under @PhilipHammondUK, the Gaukeward Squad and much of anti-no-deal posse by saying there is negotiation to be had in next 30 days on how to eliminate backstop. No wonder @BorisJohnson looks happy https://t.co/WVSlhv3ZZo | Striking that Merkel has pulled rug from under @PhilipHammondUK, the Gaukeward Squad and much of anti-no-deal posse by saying there is negotiation to be had in next 30 days on how to eliminate backstop. No wonder @BorisJohnson looks happy https://t.co/WVSlhv3ZZo |
| From Berlin Policy Journal’s Henning Hoff | From Berlin Policy Journal’s Henning Hoff |
| Huge misreading: Merkel isn’t negotiating, it’s Barnier/Brussels. Chancellor only polite: Who’s she to exclude possibility that genius new PM could find plausible alternative to backstop w/in 30 days? After all, she’s not in the unicorn hunting business @Peston @PhilipHammondUK https://t.co/sPTMQ7wlid | Huge misreading: Merkel isn’t negotiating, it’s Barnier/Brussels. Chancellor only polite: Who’s she to exclude possibility that genius new PM could find plausible alternative to backstop w/in 30 days? After all, she’s not in the unicorn hunting business @Peston @PhilipHammondUK https://t.co/sPTMQ7wlid |
| From the Economist’s Sophie Pedder | From the Economist’s Sophie Pedder |
| Pre Johnson’s lunch in Paris today, worth recalling that a) Paris + Berlin will have carefully coordinated their positions on not renegotiating Brexit WA b) UK media’s spotting of “glimmers of hope” in Berlin consistently prove unfounded. Merkel + Macron differ in tone not policy | Pre Johnson’s lunch in Paris today, worth recalling that a) Paris + Berlin will have carefully coordinated their positions on not renegotiating Brexit WA b) UK media’s spotting of “glimmers of hope” in Berlin consistently prove unfounded. Merkel + Macron differ in tone not policy |
| From Sky’s Lewis Goodall | From Sky’s Lewis Goodall |
| Think Merkel comments on 30 days are being overinterpreted. Had WA been signed, we'd be in early stages of trying to find solution to border so backstop would never be used. EU has always said find a solution,we'll work with it. That's all she said yesterday. Nothing has changed. | Think Merkel comments on 30 days are being overinterpreted. Had WA been signed, we'd be in early stages of trying to find solution to border so backstop would never be used. EU has always said find a solution,we'll work with it. That's all she said yesterday. Nothing has changed. |
| From my colleague Jennifer Rankin | From my colleague Jennifer Rankin |
| If a backstop alternative was to appear in 30 days - I’m a sceptic - hard to see that UK parliament would have time to ratify deal by 31 Oct, so extension wd be needed.Above all, don’t think 30 days moves things on. Sounds like Merkel being Merkel. EU position unchanged. | If a backstop alternative was to appear in 30 days - I’m a sceptic - hard to see that UK parliament would have time to ratify deal by 31 Oct, so extension wd be needed.Above all, don’t think 30 days moves things on. Sounds like Merkel being Merkel. EU position unchanged. |
| From the Telegraph’s Peter Foster | From the Telegraph’s Peter Foster |
| This. Merkel always clear there are alternative solutions - if U.K., say, wants to be aligned, or accept NI-specific alignment. But not fantasy solutions. Not in 30 days. Or 300. Or 3,000. It needs to work. Trade border in Ireland works for SM integrity. Just not for IE/GFA. /1 https://t.co/oSEXvrSocp | This. Merkel always clear there are alternative solutions - if U.K., say, wants to be aligned, or accept NI-specific alignment. But not fantasy solutions. Not in 30 days. Or 300. Or 3,000. It needs to work. Trade border in Ireland works for SM integrity. Just not for IE/GFA. /1 https://t.co/oSEXvrSocp |
| Boris Johnson received a more cordial welcome than he might have expected last night when he met the German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on his first trip abroad as PM. But today he is in Paris for lunch with the French president Emmanuel Macron and their exchanges might be considerably more prickly. Macron has repeatedly accused the leave campaign, that Johnson led, of lying to the British public, of all the main EU leaders he has been least willing to make concessions to the UK over Brexit, and yesterday, in a two-and-a-half hour briefing with journalists (not mainly about Johnson - the UK is not that important to France - it was a marathon event because Macron is hosting the G7 summit at the weekend) Macron delivered two very unpalatable messages for his British counterpart. | Boris Johnson received a more cordial welcome than he might have expected last night when he met the German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on his first trip abroad as PM. But today he is in Paris for lunch with the French president Emmanuel Macron and their exchanges might be considerably more prickly. Macron has repeatedly accused the leave campaign, that Johnson led, of lying to the British public, of all the main EU leaders he has been least willing to make concessions to the UK over Brexit, and yesterday, in a two-and-a-half hour briefing with journalists (not mainly about Johnson - the UK is not that important to France - it was a marathon event because Macron is hosting the G7 summit at the weekend) Macron delivered two very unpalatable messages for his British counterpart. |
| Macron said that renegotiating the EU withdrawal agreement was “not an option”. Johnson says, without a renegotiation, there will be no Brexit deal. | Macron said that renegotiating the EU withdrawal agreement was “not an option”. Johnson says, without a renegotiation, there will be no Brexit deal. |
| Macron suggested that Brexit would stop the UK being a great power. This was particularly provocative because Johnson claims that Brexit will enhance the UK’s independence and prestige. But Macron argued that Brexit would leave the UK dependent on the US. He said: | Macron suggested that Brexit would stop the UK being a great power. This was particularly provocative because Johnson claims that Brexit will enhance the UK’s independence and prestige. But Macron argued that Brexit would leave the UK dependent on the US. He said: |
| The British are attached to being a great power, a member of the security council. The point can’t be to exit Europe and say ‘we’ll be stronger’, before in the end, becoming the junior partner of the United States, which are acting more and more hegemonically. | The British are attached to being a great power, a member of the security council. The point can’t be to exit Europe and say ‘we’ll be stronger’, before in the end, becoming the junior partner of the United States, which are acting more and more hegemonically. |
| In a particularly neat twist, using the language of Brexiters to contest one of the main claims of the Brexit project, Macron even suggested that outside the EU, instead of being released from European vassalage, Britain would end up a vassal state of the US. | In a particularly neat twist, using the language of Brexiters to contest one of the main claims of the Brexit project, Macron even suggested that outside the EU, instead of being released from European vassalage, Britain would end up a vassal state of the US. |
| Can the cost for Britain of a hard Brexit - because Britain will be the main victim - be offset by the United States of America? No. | Can the cost for Britain of a hard Brexit - because Britain will be the main victim - be offset by the United States of America? No. |
| And even if it were a strategic choice it would be at the cost of a historic vassalisation of Britain. I don’t think this is what Boris Johnson wants. I don’t think it is what the British people want. I don’t think it’s the will of the British people … to become the junior partner of the US. | And even if it were a strategic choice it would be at the cost of a historic vassalisation of Britain. I don’t think this is what Boris Johnson wants. I don’t think it is what the British people want. I don’t think it’s the will of the British people … to become the junior partner of the US. |
| There are more accounts of what Macron said at his briefing at the Guardian, at HuffPost, at Politico Europe and at Reuters. | There are more accounts of what Macron said at his briefing at the Guardian, at HuffPost, at Politico Europe and at Reuters. |
| My colleague Angelique Chrisafis has written a preview of the Macron/Johnson meeting which has some very good background on their relationship. Here is an extract. | My colleague Angelique Chrisafis has written a preview of the Macron/Johnson meeting which has some very good background on their relationship. Here is an extract. |
| Johnson began pinpointing France as a problem long before he became PM. While being filmed for a documentary last year when he was foreign secretary, he said of France: “Why are they trying to shaft us?” He called France “naughty children” on the issue of Europe. He later denied he had called the French “turds” over Brexit. | Johnson began pinpointing France as a problem long before he became PM. While being filmed for a documentary last year when he was foreign secretary, he said of France: “Why are they trying to shaft us?” He called France “naughty children” on the issue of Europe. He later denied he had called the French “turds” over Brexit. |
| Johnson is well known in Paris for what the local media call his “French-bashing” for a domestic audience, notably as London mayor when he said his city’s bike scheme was a Rolls-Royce to Paris’s Citroën 2CV. He said the Socialist government at the time, with its proposed high tax rate on the very rich, had been “captured by sans-culottes” running a “tyranny” of the like not seen since the French Revolution. | Johnson is well known in Paris for what the local media call his “French-bashing” for a domestic audience, notably as London mayor when he said his city’s bike scheme was a Rolls-Royce to Paris’s Citroën 2CV. He said the Socialist government at the time, with its proposed high tax rate on the very rich, had been “captured by sans-culottes” running a “tyranny” of the like not seen since the French Revolution. |
| “To be popular in the UK, do you always have to criticise the French?” one French interviewer asked him as mayor. “No, not at all,” he replied, saying he loved France. | “To be popular in the UK, do you always have to criticise the French?” one French interviewer asked him as mayor. “No, not at all,” he replied, saying he loved France. |
| And here is her full article. | And here is her full article. |
| Johnson and Macron to hold ‘frank’ Brexit talks in Paris | Johnson and Macron to hold ‘frank’ Brexit talks in Paris |
| Johnson is due to meet Macron at 12pm UK time. They are not due to hold a press conference, but both leaders are expected to make short statements to the media. | Johnson is due to meet Macron at 12pm UK time. They are not due to hold a press conference, but both leaders are expected to make short statements to the media. |
| Otherwise the diary is relatively light today. At 9.30am the Office for National Statistics is publishing migration figures, and at some point Liz Truss, the international trade secretary, is chairing the first meeting of the Freeports advisory panel. | Otherwise the diary is relatively light today. At 9.30am the Office for National Statistics is publishing migration figures, and at some point Liz Truss, the international trade secretary, is chairing the first meeting of the Freeports advisory panel. |
| As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I plan to publish a summary when I wrap up. | As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I plan to publish a summary when I wrap up. |
| You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe roundup of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads. | You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe roundup of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads. |
| If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow. | If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow. |
| I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone. | I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone. |
| If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. | If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. |