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| Brexit: Tory MP defects ahead of crucial no deal vote | Brexit: Tory MP defects ahead of crucial no deal vote |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Conservative MP Phillip Lee has defected to the Liberal Democrats ahead of a showdown between Boris Johnson and Tory rebels over Brexit. | |
| Dr Lee, the MP for Bracknell, took his seat on the opposition benches as the PM addressed the Commons. | |
| His defection means that Boris Johnson no longer has a working majority in the Commons. | His defection means that Boris Johnson no longer has a working majority in the Commons. |
| He said the government was "pursuing a damaging Brexit in unprincipled ways", putting lives and livelihoods at risk. | He said the government was "pursuing a damaging Brexit in unprincipled ways", putting lives and livelihoods at risk. |
| Speaking in the Commons, Mr Johnson told MPs he wanted a negotiated exit from the EU and insisted there was "real momentum" behind the talks. | |
| But he said plans by rebel Tory MPs to pass legislation effectively blocking a no-deal exit on 31 October would "destroy any chance of negotiating a new deal". | |
| If the rebels succeeded in their aims, he said it would force him to go to Brussels to "beg for another pointless delay" to Brexit and he would "never" do that. | |
| "It is Jeremy Corbyn's surrender bill. It means running up the white flag," he added. | |
| Before Dr Lee's defection, Mr Johnson only had a working majority of one in the Commons. | |
| In a letter to the prime minister, Mr Lee said Brexit divisions had "sadly transformed this once great party into something more akin to a narrow faction in which one's Conservatism is measured by how recklessly one wants to leave the European Union". | |
| "Perhaps more disappointingly, it has become infected by the twin diseases of English nationalism and populism." | |
| He said the Lib Dems - who back another referendum on Brexit and want the UK to remain in the EU - were best placed to "heal the divisions" and "overcome the challenges we face as a society." | |
| 'Not at war' | |
| Dr Lee's decision to cross the floor was greeted with cheers on the opposition benches. | |
| Amid angry exchanges during the PM's statement on last month's G7 summit, Jeremy Corbyn urged the prime minister to "reflect on his choice of language" to describe the rebels' bill. | |
| The Labour leader said the UK was "not at war with Europe" and it was a no-deal exit which would see the UK "surrender" jobs, employment standards and social protections. | |
| "His is a not government with no mandate, no morals and, as of today, no majority," he added. |