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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
(30 minutes later)
From my colleague Kate Proctor, who is in Yorkshire for the Boris Johnson speech
Q: Are you planning an all-Ireland regime for agri-foods?
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
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.
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:
But he says what is crucial is the idea of democratic control by the people of the UK.
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 ...
Q: When are you going to have an inquiry into Islamophobia in the Conservative party, as you promised in the BBC TV debate?
It gets us nowhere. We’ve had one extension. It’s given six months of extra time which resulted in no conclusion.
Johnson says he will have an inquiry into all kinds of racism in the party. He does not say when it will start.
It’s bad enough that parliament thinks it knows better than the British people on this issue.
Q: Do you regret the purge of MPs?
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 ...
Johnson says the bill passed yesterday will make it harder for him to get a Brexit deal.
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.
Under this plan, Brussels would decide how long the UK stayed in the EU. He says he cannot see how that is democratic.
Boris Johnson’s speech is about to start. He is speaking at a police training centre in Yorkshire.
(Actually, the bill does not say that. The UK would get the final say. More details here.)
There is a live feed at the top of this page.
Discipline is sometimes tough, he says.
And here are images of the key documents.
Q: Can you promise not to go back to Brussels and ask for an extension?
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
Yes, says Johnson.
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
I would rather be dead in a ditch.
BREAKING Boris Johnson memo saying September session at Westminster just “a rigmarole”#stopBoris #courtofsession pic.twitter.com/Oj4kgU9i2H
He says an extension would cost £1bn a month and be “totally pointless”.
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.)
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.
The lawyer Jolyon Maugham has tweeted the links.
Johnson says people disagree about Brexit. But the way to unite this country is to get this done, he says.
Here is Boris Johnson's handwritten note. pic.twitter.com/Qkvf6V14jU
Q: Shouldn’t you be next to resign?
Here is Nikki da Costa's memo to Boris Johnson. https://t.co/aIjSFBUWfG
Johnson says MPs said they would respect the referendum.
Here is her second Memo to the PM. https://t.co/U7OegbkNh5
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.
And here the minutes of the Cabinet Meeting. https://t.co/k8AmysgtLo
Q: Aren’t people entitled to ask, if your own brother can’t back you, why should anyone else?
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.
Johnson says his brother Jo is fantastic guy and was a fantastic minister for science. (His most recent job was universitiies minister.)
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”.
He says Jo wants the government to sort Brexit out.
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.
And he says Jo has said this afternoon that he supports his domestic policies. (See 3.10pm.)
Rees-Mogg told MPs:
Johnson is now talking about Brexit.
Preparations are in place and they are being done with remarkable efficiency. But yes, a lot of remainers wish to make our skins crawl.
He says he will take the UK out by 31 October.
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?
Or someone else would have to take over. But that is not the best course, he says.
And I’m afraid it seems to me that Dr David Nicholl is as irresponsible as Dr Wakefield.
He says an election should decide.
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?”
He says he “hates banging on about Brexit”.
Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said Rees-Mogg’s comments were “offensive, irresponsible [and] shameful”.
I don’t want an election at all ... But frankly I don’t see any other way.
Offensive, irresponsible, shameful garbage from Jacob Rees Mogg. He should have the decency and courtesy to withdraw & apologise. https://t.co/9JCXX9QIIy
He says people must choose between sending him or Jeremy Corbyn to the Brussels summit in October.
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”.
He apologises for bringing “this painful subject” up.
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
People do not want to see politicians going on about Brexit, he says.
The BMA said Rees-Mogg’s comment was “disgraceful”.
He says they want to see politicians focusing on people’s concerns, like policing.
.@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
But we must, must, must settle this EU debate.
In a tweet Nicholl himself said Rees-Mogg’s comment was defamatory.
Policing is “the top priority of this government”, he says.
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.
My colleague Jessica Elgot is not impressed.
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.
Can he be cautioned for wasting police time?
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
Johnson asks police what the police caution is.
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.
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.
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
(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.)
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”
Boris Johnson is speaking now.
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
He says today is the launch of his programme to recruit a large number of extra police officers.
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”
He wants to deliver on the priorities of the British people.
Speaking to Boris Johnson earlier, the US vice-president, Mike Pence, claimed that a US-UK trade deal could potentially quadruple the volume of trade between the two countries. Pence said:
He says he hopes people saw the spending announcement yesterday.
I spoke to President Trump this morning, your friend, and he sent his very best greetings and to assure you that the United States supports the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.
In his view, policing is the bedrock of society. It is what gives people the confidence to grow the economy.
But he also wanted me to convey that the United States is ready, willing and able to immediately negotiate a free trade agreement with the UK.
He says he used to be mayor of London, crime commissioner for London.
The president often says the US has the biggest economy in the world and we truly believe that a free trade agreement between the United States and the UK could increase trade between our country by three or four times.
The most important thing politicians can do is back the police.
Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliament’s lead Brexit spokesman, has strongly condemned the government’s decision to described the Benn bill designed to rule out a no-deal Brexit as a “surrender bill”. His tweet references a comment from Sajid Javid, the chancellor, but it is Boris Johnson who is using the phrase most enthusiastically.
It is up to politicians to provide “top cover” for the police, he says.
Opposing a no deal is not "surrender". This is the language of Europe's dark past. It implies Britain's European allies & neighbours are enemies. I refuse to believe the majority of British people think this is the case. https://t.co/A5gMbVgKPl
More from my colleague Kate Proctor at the Boris Johnson speech
The Welsh assembly is has been holding a debate on the Brexit crisis this afternoon. Earlier the first minister Mark Drakeford spoke in Cardiff about his government and Labour’s approach to the crisis. Here are his main points:
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
Drakeford said no-deal Brexit would be “disastrous” for the economy and rural life in Wales.
And this is from the New Statesman’s Patrick Maguire.
Asked what citizens would notice in the first week after a no-deal exit, he said travel to Europe would be more difficult, access to some medicines less secure and claimed shoppers would notice goods missing from supermarket shelves. “People will rapidly see impacts.”
Get you a prime minister who treats the country like the Telegraph comment desk https://t.co/JRREXhsAqW
He said Labour wanted a general election. He said:
At the Daily Telegraph Johnson was notorious for always filing his column very, very, very late.
Of course we want a general election. What we’re not prepared to do is sign up to a general election until we are as certain as we possibly can be that this prime minister would not subvert any agreement and still try to find a way to take the UK out of the EU without a deal.
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.
He dismissed the idea that during the next general election Welsh Labour should forge pacts with other parties to counter a possible Tory/Brexit Party alliance. He said:
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.
I’m instinctively not attracted to them [pacts]. I think it is better than the democratic choices lie in the hands of the voters rather than in deals between parties. I think we have to trust the citizens of Wales to make their decision.
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.
He said he would not be releasing the details of Operation Yellowhammer – the civil contingency planning – that it is privy to. He said the Yellowhammer papers have been shared with the Welsh government on a confidential basis.
On possible problems at Holyhead port on Anglesey – which links mainland Britain to the Republic of Ireland – if there is a no deal Brexit, Drakeford said the government’s intelligence suggested that there would be delays of hours rather than days. But he said the position was “inherently volatile”. He said the “smallest changes” could lead to traffic jams stretching off the island on to the north Wales mainland.
He stressed that Welsh Labour was a party of remain, even though Wales overall voted leave. He said:
We will will continue to argue that Wales’ best interests are best protected by continued membership of the EU. Leaving the EU without a deal will be felt in the lives of every single family and every single community in Wales.
Andrea Leadsom, the business secretary, has put a message on Twitter saying it “has” been a pleasure to work with Jo Johnson, the outgoing universities minister. Johnson has now been removed from the official list of ministers on the government’s website. But the business department is still unable to confirm that his ministerial resignation will take effect from today. Asked about this, it is just referring reporters to Leadsom’s tweet. Johnson’s own tweet about the timing of his departure was ambiguous. (See 11.26am.)
It has been a pleasure to work with @JoJohnsonUK, both in Parliament for nine years and most recently as a Minister at BEIS; his expertise and knowledge of the area were a huge asset to the department. I wish him all the best.
Perhaps Boris Johnson hopes his brother will stay on for a bit? According to the Sun, he begged Jo last night not to quit. The Sun also quotes Jo Johnson saying that, apart from on Brexit, his brother’s policies are excellent. He told the paper:
What is so clearly in the national interest is everything the government is doing in its strong, one nation domestic policy agenda: more police on the streets, more doctors and nurses in our hospitals, a welcoming face to scientists and international students.
That’s exactly what a Conservative prime minister should be doing and what Boris does so well.
Michael Gove is to meet Ireland’s deputy prime minister, Simon Coveney, at the weekend for talks on Brexit as tensions mount over Brexit and the Irish border.
The meeting, in Cambridge, will take place just before Boris Johnson’s visit to Dublin on Monday when he will meet the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, for the first time since becoming prime minister.
From my colleague Jessica Elgot
Some Labour MPs starting to believe now there are enough of them to oppose a general election on Monday to mean the motion would fall even if whipped to support. It would need to be a pretty momentous rebellion of more than half the PLP.
More Labour MPs have been using Twitter to say that the party should not vote for an early election until after an article 50 extension has been agreed. Here are the latest tweets I’ve seen, echoing views from other Labour MPs covered earlier. (See 11.03am and 11.07am.)
From Anna McMorrin
Brexit is the most important issue facing our country in a generation. We must protect the country from a disastrous No Deal exit, sort negotiations and secure an extension before we have an election. #NoToNoDeal #PeoplesVote
From Paul Williams
I won’t be voting for a general election until after 31st October. Johnson is trying to trick Parliament into letting him crash out of the EU without a deal, whilst pretending he is negotiating. He’s lying. I won’t let his lies cost Teesside jobs in chemical & car industries
From Paul Sweeney
I did not vote for an election last night because Boris Johnson would use an early vote to push through no deal by default. I want a General Election once an extension has been agreed with the EU. We avoided that trap. Now we'll let Johnson stew in the mess he's made for himself.
From Gareth Thomas
I won’t be voting for an early election; it’s the last thing our people and country needs with a no-deal Brexit still hanging over our heads. https://t.co/eCF1GIzK3v
From David Lammy
I won't vote for an election unless it is guaranteed to happen after October 31st.We desperately need a Labour government, but the immediate priority is to stop no-deal.Boris Johnson cannot be trusted. We won't let him trick us into crashing out.
From Owen Smith
If Labour agrees to an election now we will be doing our country an historic disservice. We would be enabling Brexit and saving Boris Johnson’s skin. We should refuse any election before October 31st, with a No Deal Brexit definitively ruled out. https://t.co/s4HO2PuH3U
From Ben Bradshaw
Johnson’s premiership is in tatters. His October election call a last desperate throw of dice. Labour & the other opposition parties must not save him, but ensure an election is only called after October 31st, when he will have failed completely.
But Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary and a key ally of Jeremy Corbyn’s, has released a video this afternoon saying that the party would be prepared to vote for a general election after the Benn bill has got royal consent. That is what Corbyn told the Commons last night. (See 10.05am.)
The @UKLabour Party is ready for a General Election and ready to make Boris Johnson the shortest-lived Prime Minister in History. However, Boris Johnson has proved he cannot be trusted and so we will not vote through an election on his terms. pic.twitter.com/0h8t37fwrR
Here is Nigel Farage, the Brexit party leader, on Jo Johnson’s decision to stand down.
The centre of gravity in the Conservative party is shifting rapidly. https://t.co/upOYLwb4Xq
Dame Caroline Spelman, the Conservative former environment secretary, has said she is standing down at the next election. Along with Labour’s Jack Dromey (they are both West Midlands MPs with many constituents working in the car industry), she tabled amendments earlier this year that led to the Commons voting against a no-deal Brexit. (The votes were not binding.) She also rebelled yesterday to back the Benn bill designed to rule out a no-deal Brexit.
I am retiring as an MP at the next General Election. It has been a privilege to serve the constituency over the last 22 years, but the time has come for a new person to represent the interests of Meriden in a new Parliament which will be dominated by the consequences of Brexit
Downing Street has rejected the claim attributed to Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, that talks with the UK are in “a state of paralysis”. (See 10.33am.) The prime minister’s spokesman said:
I haven’t seen anything from Michel Barnier on the record but in any event I would completely reject that assessment.
Both sides agree to continue talks tomorrow after constructive discussions yesterday and we have seen from EU leaders that there is a willingness to find and agree solutions to the problems we have with the old deal.
