This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/sep/05/brexit-lords--blow--boris-johnson-pass-bill-stopping-no-deal-politics-live

The article has changed 24 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 16 Version 17
Brexit: Boris Johnson gives speech after brother Jo quits citing 'national interest'– live news Brexit: Boris Johnson gives speech after brother Jo quits citing 'national interest'– live news
(32 minutes later)
Q: Corbyn says he cannot trust you to have an election before the EU summit in October?
Johnson claims this is a new charge.
He says he wants an election on 15 October. “Earlier if he wants ... let’s crack on with it.” He says he does not see how the UK’s negotiating position can be torpedoed.
One of the police officers standing behind Johnson has just stood down. She seems to be feeling faint or ill. Johnson expresses some concern, and then winds up his remarks.
As Johnson is winding up, the officer stands up again.
And that’s it.
I will post a verdict and summary shortly.
Q: Are you planning an all-Ireland regime for agri-foods?
Johnson says there is the germ of a solution to the backstop problem in the late Ian Paisley comment about the Northern Irish being British, but their cattle being Irish.
But he says what is crucial is the idea of democratic control by the people of the UK.
Q: When are you going to have an inquiry into Islamophobia in the Conservative party, as you promised in the BBC TV debate?
Johnson says he will have an inquiry into all kinds of racism in the party. He does not say when it will start.
Q: Do you regret the purge of MPs?
Johnson says the bill passed yesterday will make it harder for him to get a Brexit deal.
Under this plan, Brussels would decide how long the UK stayed in the EU. He says he cannot see how that is democratic.
(Actually, the bill does not say that. The UK would get the final say. More details here.)
Discipline is sometimes tough, he says.
Q: Can you promise not to go back to Brussels and ask for an extension?
Yes, says Johnson.
I would rather be dead in a ditch.
He says an extension would cost £1bn a month and be “totally pointless”.
Q: You said you would unite the country when you became leader. But you are now splitting your own party, and your own brother won’t even support you.
Johnson says people disagree about Brexit. But the way to unite this country is to get this done, he says.
Q: Shouldn’t you be next to resign?
Johnson says MPs said they would respect the referendum.
He says there is a stark contrast between his approach and Jeremy Corbyn’s. He says they are making it impossible for the country to leave the EU, and for the country to have an election. He says Corbyn must be the first opposition lead to oppose an election. That goes against his job description, he says.
Q: Aren’t people entitled to ask, if your own brother can’t back you, why should anyone else?
Johnson says his brother Jo is fantastic guy and was a fantastic minister for science. (His most recent job was universitiies minister.)
He says Jo wants the government to sort Brexit out.
And he says Jo has said this afternoon that he supports his domestic policies. (See 3.10pm.)
Johnson is now talking about Brexit.
He says he will take the UK out by 31 October.
Or someone else would have to take over. But that is not the best course, he says.
He says an election should decide.
He says he “hates banging on about Brexit”.
I don’t want an election at all ... But frankly I don’t see any other way.
He says people must choose between sending him or Jeremy Corbyn to the Brussels summit in October.
He apologises for bringing “this painful subject” up.
People do not want to see politicians going on about Brexit, he says.
He says they want to see politicians focusing on people’s concerns, like policing.
But we must, must, must settle this EU debate.
Policing is “the top priority of this government”, he says.
My colleague Jessica Elgot is not impressed.
Can he be cautioned for wasting police time?
Johnson asks police what the police caution is.
None of them read it out to him, so he tries to recite it himself. You do not have to say anything, but anything you do say may be taken down as evidence and used in evidence against you.
(Except Johnson does not say it coherently. He stumbles, and gives up half way through. Is he expecting someone to help him out? It is not clear, but it looks as though he has given no thought at all to what he wants to say.)
Boris Johnson is speaking now.
He says today is the launch of his programme to recruit a large number of extra police officers.
He wants to deliver on the priorities of the British people.
He says he hopes people saw the spending announcement yesterday.
In his view, policing is the bedrock of society. It is what gives people the confidence to grow the economy.
He says he used to be mayor of London, crime commissioner for London.
The most important thing politicians can do is back the police.
It is up to politicians to provide “top cover” for the police, he says.
More from my colleague Kate Proctor at the Boris Johnson speech
Boris is so late for his speech... Surely these police officers need to get back on the beat/get home for their tea. The smiles are fading... pic.twitter.com/SXNUMHPbxu
And this is from the New Statesman’s Patrick Maguire.
Get you a prime minister who treats the country like the Telegraph comment desk https://t.co/JRREXhsAqW
At the Daily Telegraph Johnson was notorious for always filing his column very, very, very late.
NHS trusts in Kent have block-booked hotel rooms for staff who may not be able to get into work because the country’s roads are gridlocked if there is a no-deal Brexit.NHS trusts in Kent have block-booked hotel rooms for staff who may not be able to get into work because the country’s roads are gridlocked if there is a no-deal Brexit.
Health service bosses have also discussed with the police using them to get patients through unusually heavy traffic to hospitals in Ashford and Canterbury, which are near the ports of Dover and Folkestone, the Health Service Journal reports today.Health service bosses have also discussed with the police using them to get patients through unusually heavy traffic to hospitals in Ashford and Canterbury, which are near the ports of Dover and Folkestone, the Health Service Journal reports today.
East Kent University Hospitals NHS trust, which runs the two hospitals, confirmed to HSJ that it has “booked a small number of hotel rooms close to our emergency hospitals as a precautionary measure, for an initial two-week period [after 31 October]”. The William Harvey hospital near Ashford, which is the area’s main trauma centre - where the most seriously injured patients are treated - “is particularly vulnerable because it is located just off the M20, which is already facing significant delays and disruption due to long-term upgrade work”, HSJ adds.East Kent University Hospitals NHS trust, which runs the two hospitals, confirmed to HSJ that it has “booked a small number of hotel rooms close to our emergency hospitals as a precautionary measure, for an initial two-week period [after 31 October]”. The William Harvey hospital near Ashford, which is the area’s main trauma centre - where the most seriously injured patients are treated - “is particularly vulnerable because it is located just off the M20, which is already facing significant delays and disruption due to long-term upgrade work”, HSJ adds.
And here is a clip from Adam Price, the Plaid Cymru leader, speaking in the Welsh assembly debate.
"To the leader of the Conservatives, your undemocratic behaviour and of your friends in Westminster with Brexit have killed the idea of a Welsh Conservative Party stone dead. Alun Cairns as Sec of State for Wales has as much legitimacy as Carrie Lam does in Hong Kong" @Adamprice pic.twitter.com/mi94QCrBmJ
From the Welsh assembly’s twitter feed
BREAKING NEWS: In a vote today the Assembly has voiced its opposition to the Prime Minister’s decision to prorogue the UK Parliament. It has also reiterated its view that a no deal #Brexit would cause significant disruption and long-term damage to Wales. pic.twitter.com/NLuuzBpRDU
From my colleague Kate Proctor, who is in Yorkshire for the Boris Johnson speech
Waiting for @BorisJohnson to give his speech in the Yorkshire sunshine...flanked by 30 cops. It's been a torrid day for him so far and he's going to face some tricky questions. pic.twitter.com/ipMDldrcya
Peers have been debating the Benn bill this afternoon, the one intended to stop a no-deal Brexit on 31 October. The bill is expected to clear the Lords by 5pm tomorrow, but Michael Howard, the former Conservative leader, used his speech to attack it strongly. He said:
This bill represents an attempt by the legislature to assume the mantle of government. That is why it is wrong. That is why it is illegitimate ...
It gets us nowhere. We’ve had one extension. It’s given six months of extra time which resulted in no conclusion.
It’s bad enough that parliament thinks it knows better than the British people on this issue.
It’s even worse that parliament, as things stand at the moment, is denying the British people a general election, in which they would have the right to decide ...
This bill is one of the final acts of a House of Commons which has proved itself manifestly incapable of meeting the challenges in front of it.
Boris Johnson’s speech is about to start. He is speaking at a police training centre in Yorkshire.
There is a live feed at the top of this page.
And here are images of the key documents.
Here Nikki Da Costa tells Boris Johnson, Mark Sedwill, Ed Lister, Dominic Cummings of #prorogation plan, telling Palace 13 days before meeting Queen at #Balmoral pic.twitter.com/cRIh2qtxOu
Da Costa admits Queens Speech on 14 October clashes with @theSNP conference but says it means SNP MPs can get to Commons for key votes later that week #stopBoris #courtofsession pic.twitter.com/qzHKlcS6nC
BREAKING Boris Johnson memo saying September session at Westminster just “a rigmarole”#stopBoris #courtofsession pic.twitter.com/Oj4kgU9i2H
Confidential No 10 documents about the government’s decision to prorogue parliament have now been published, as my colleague Severin Carrell anticipated earlier. (See 1.11pm.)
The lawyer Jolyon Maugham has tweeted the links.
Here is Boris Johnson's handwritten note. pic.twitter.com/Qkvf6V14jU
Here is Nikki da Costa's memo to Boris Johnson. https://t.co/aIjSFBUWfG
Here is her second Memo to the PM. https://t.co/U7OegbkNh5
And here the minutes of the Cabinet Meeting. https://t.co/k8AmysgtLo
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, has been strongly criticised for using parliamentary privilege to attack the reputation of a doctor who has warned about the dangers of a no-deal Brexit.
On Monday Rees-Mogg was involved in a row on his LBC phone-in with David Nicholl, a consultant neurologist drew up a risk register of epilepsy and neurology drugs for the government’s Operation Yellowhammer plans for no deal. Rees-Mogg said he did not accept Nicholl’s claim that people could die because of drug shortages in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Nicholl subsequently described the MP as an ignorant “muppet”.
Today Rees-Mogg resumed the dispute at business questions, comparing Nicholl to Andrew Wakefield, the doctor whose discredited research linking autism to the MMR vaccine has been blamed for vaccination levels falling, putting lives at risk.
Rees-Mogg told MPs:
Preparations are in place and they are being done with remarkable efficiency. But yes, a lot of remainers wish to make our skins crawl.
What [Nicholl] had to say, I will repeat it, is as irresponsible as Dr Wakefield in threatening that people will die because we leave the European Union. What level of irresponsibility was that?
And I’m afraid it seems to me that Dr David Nicholl is as irresponsible as Dr Wakefield.
In response, the SNP MP Carol Monaghan said Rees-Mogg’s comment suggested the government wanted to cause “reputational damage to experts such as Dr David Nicholl who dare to challenge the government or indeed raise legitimate concerns about the impact of no-deal?”
Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said Rees-Mogg’s comments were “offensive, irresponsible [and] shameful”.
Offensive, irresponsible, shameful garbage from Jacob Rees Mogg. He should have the decency and courtesy to withdraw & apologise. https://t.co/9JCXX9QIIy
Alistair Burt, a former health minister who had the Tory whip withdrawn on Tuesday after he voted against the government, described Rees-Mogg’s comment as “sheer irrationality”.
As a former Minister fully aware of the worldwide risks to health security from Wakefield’s anti-vax consequences, I am distressed such a comparison could come from a Government Minister in the U.K. The Brexit obsession is giving rise to sheer irrationality. https://t.co/aMRxHN3kqX
The BMA said Rees-Mogg’s comment was “disgraceful”.
.@Jacob_Rees_Mogg insult about Dr David Nicholl is disgraceful. @djnicholl has courage and experience to speak the truth about the disaster of a no-deal Brexit. He should be praised not attacked https://t.co/oSDE3n5UW9
In a tweet Nicholl himself said Rees-Mogg’s comment was defamatory.
A statement was made by a govt minister this am which I believe 2 be defamatory but is protected by Parliam privilege.I am currently catching train 2 London 2 speak to @bbcpm Im happy 2 speak to any other legitimate journo on College Green afterwards.Apologies 2 my dentist.
Here is the Guardian’s Politics Weekly podcast. Heather Stewart is joined by Theresa May’s former press secretary Paul Harrison, the psephologist John Curtice and Guardian journalists Jonathan Freedland, Zoe Williams and Larry Elliott to discuss Boris Johnson’s triple Commons defeat, Sajid Javid’s spending review and the likelihood of a snap general election.
Sorry your browser does not support audio - but you can download here and listen https://audio.guim.co.uk/2019/09/05-53485-gdn.pw.190905.sb.johnson-commons-humiliation-spending-review-election.mp3
These are from the BBC’s Damian Grammaticas. @ph_lamberts is Philippe Lamberts, co-president of the Greens/European Free Alliance group in the European parliament and a member of the parliament’s Brexit steering group.
UK-EU negotiations are “window-dressing” so Boris Johnson “can send someone to Brussels to give an appearance of negotiation, so he can claim something is going on” European Parliament #Brexit Steering Group member @ph_lamberts tells BBC after briefing by @MichelBarnier on talks pic.twitter.com/tXmKzIhhEm
and EU Parliament #Brexit Steering Committee member @ph_lamberts v critical of @BorisJohnson, accusing UK PM of “lying”, tells BBC “when in Biarritz he said at the G7 tremendous progress was achieved, he was just lying… no progress had been achieved”
European Parliament #Brexit Steering Group member @ph_lamberts tells BBC there’s still no real negotiation almost two weeks later. “There is no negotiation going on at the moment so we sensed that the Johnson government was not… coming to us in good faith.” pic.twitter.com/k0g6pwNuTO
So @ph_lamberts on Euro Parliament Brexit Steering Group believes Boris Johnson wants a no-deal “they claim they want a deal” but “their whole strategy.. is to force a no-deal Brexit, for which he knows there is no democratic majority, that was proven in the Commons yesterday”