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| Boris Johnson says he would rather 'be dead in a ditch' than delay Brexit, in rambling speech – live news | Boris Johnson says he would rather 'be dead in a ditch' than delay Brexit, in rambling speech – live news |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Judges are expected to announce their decision on Friday on the latest legal attack brought over Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend Parliament for five weeks. | |
| Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett and two other judges at the high court in London have been urged to find that Johnson’s 28 August advice to the Queen to prorogue Parliament for an “exceptional” length of time was an “unlawful abuse of power”. | |
| After hearing submissions on Thursday on an urgent judicial review application brought by Gina Miller, Lord Burnett announced that the hearing would be adjourned until 10am on Friday. | |
| In a witness statement released after the hearing, Sir John Major said it was “utterly unacceptable” for the government to “seek to bypass” Parliament because it does not agree with the proposed course of action on a certain policy. | |
| The former prime minister, who joined the Conservative party on his 16th birthday, said: | |
| I served in Parliament for over 20 years both as a backbench MP and as a government minister at cabinet and more junior levels. I was, of course, prime minister for nearly seven years and am very proud to have been in the Commons and a minister. | |
| I have huge admiration for our Parliament and am a keen supporter of its rights and duties. I cannot stand idly by and watch them set aside in this fashion. | |
| I appreciate that this is not the government’s stated intention for proroguing Parliament, but for the reasons set out in this statement, the inescapable inference to be drawn is that the prorogation is to prevent Parliament from exercising its right to disagree with the government and to legislate as it sees fit. | |
| He said the government had not adequately explained why it needed to suspend Parliament for as long as five weeks. | |
| Essentially, the protection of individual rights afforded by Parliament is being compromised. | |
| In order to allegedly protect the democratic outcome of the referendum, the government believes it is justified in suspending the UK’s democratic processes to achieve its desired ends. | |
| This is unacceptable and is the reason I was determined to assist in these proceedings. | |
| Here’s more from Yvette Cooper, who has said she will be taking the matter further: | |
| For Boris Johnson to make so many police stop their training and work to be part of his political stunt is an abuse of power. | |
| Police officers and trainees are overstretched and need to be able to get on with their job, not have to waste time listening to Boris Johnson’s political press conference. | |
| For Boris Johnson to draw so many of them into a long, election-driven event like this is completely inappropriate and it is unfair on the people of West Yorkshire who are entitled to expect that their police are allowed to get on with the job of working and training to keep them safe. | |
| I am writing to the Cabinet Secretary as well as the West Yorkshire Chief Constable, John Robins, to ask how this has happened and what guidelines were followed. | |
| Johnson’s use of police officers as a backdrop to his speech has been criticised by opponents, including the shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott: | |
| Labour's @HackneyAbbott calls the Johnson press conference "a really crude abuse of political power". "It's very wrong that he should use serving police officers as a backdrop for an essentially party political announcement." | |
| Yvette Cooper, the chair of the Commons Home Affairs committee, has said: | |
| This is an abuse of power by Boris Johnson, making so many police stop their training and work to be part of his political stunt. They have a job to do here in West Yorks, and they train and work hard for the whole community - completely unacceptable to use them in this way https://t.co/9J1iImeiSc | |
| And then there’s this from the Labour MP, David Lammy: | |
| Boris Johnson using police as props to give a weird, rambling speech on Brexit. Does he realise this makes him look anything other than strong? I can't remember a Prime Minister who looked this weak so soon after taking office. pic.twitter.com/RLfww3nWzM | |
| And the BBC’s Danny Shaw reports that the local police and crime commissioner, Labour’s Mark Burns-Williamson, is less than happy: | |
| UPDATE: West Yorkshire Police & Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson (Labour) tells me Boris Johnson has "abused" the police force's position & says the officers should not have been used in this way, for a "political speech about Brexit". https://t.co/mytmAvrvIk | |
| The Northern Ireland minister, Nick Hurd, has become the latest Tory MP to announce he will not stand at the next general election as he cited the “ongoing division” over Brexit. The Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner MP said: | The Northern Ireland minister, Nick Hurd, has become the latest Tory MP to announce he will not stand at the next general election as he cited the “ongoing division” over Brexit. The Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner MP said: |
| Fourteen years ago, my intention was to serve in Parliament for as long as my constituents continued to elect me. | Fourteen years ago, my intention was to serve in Parliament for as long as my constituents continued to elect me. |
| However, much has changed since then. Politics is now dominated by the ongoing division over Brexit. More happily, my private life has been changed profoundly by the birth of my two youngest children. | However, much has changed since then. Politics is now dominated by the ongoing division over Brexit. More happily, my private life has been changed profoundly by the birth of my two youngest children. |
| I now feel that it is time for me to make a change and embrace a new challenge. After a very great deal of thought, I have decided not to stand again as a candidate at the next general election. | I now feel that it is time for me to make a change and embrace a new challenge. After a very great deal of thought, I have decided not to stand again as a candidate at the next general election. |
| I shall of course continue to serve as Member of Parliament for Ruislip Northwood and Pinner until such time as a General Election is called. I would like to thank my constituents for giving me the chance to represent them for the past 14 years. 2/2 | I shall of course continue to serve as Member of Parliament for Ruislip Northwood and Pinner until such time as a General Election is called. I would like to thank my constituents for giving me the chance to represent them for the past 14 years. 2/2 |
| And this is what some other journalists and commentators are saying about the Johnson speech. | And this is what some other journalists and commentators are saying about the Johnson speech. |
| From the Daily Mail’s Jason Groves | From the Daily Mail’s Jason Groves |
| Verdict from lobby colleague: 'That was more Boris Yeltsin than Boris Johnson' | Verdict from lobby colleague: 'That was more Boris Yeltsin than Boris Johnson' |
| From LBC’s Theo Usherwood | From LBC’s Theo Usherwood |
| This speech from Boris Johnson is seriously strange. It’s like the energy has been sucked out of him.It’s all gone. | This speech from Boris Johnson is seriously strange. It’s like the energy has been sucked out of him.It’s all gone. |
| From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg | From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg |
| A very, very bumpy day for the PM - his brother suggests he’s not acting’s in the national interest, heckled on the high street in Morley and a surreal press conference in Wakefield straight after .. all of it on #bbcnewssix now | A very, very bumpy day for the PM - his brother suggests he’s not acting’s in the national interest, heckled on the high street in Morley and a surreal press conference in Wakefield straight after .. all of it on #bbcnewssix now |
| From the Daily Mirror’s Pippa Crerar | From the Daily Mirror’s Pippa Crerar |
| I know it was a terrible speech & the police thing was not a good look, but think about how this looks from outside the bubble. Boris Johnson is prepared to "die in a ditch" and risk his relationship with his own brother to deliver his Brexit promise. That will resonate. | I know it was a terrible speech & the police thing was not a good look, but think about how this looks from outside the bubble. Boris Johnson is prepared to "die in a ditch" and risk his relationship with his own brother to deliver his Brexit promise. That will resonate. |
| From my colleague Patrick Wintour | From my colleague Patrick Wintour |
| Pure Trump. The relevant chief constable/police commissioner will have to explain what possessed them to allow recruits to be used as props in Johnson's campaign to leave the EU. pic.twitter.com/thAUUijWbn | Pure Trump. The relevant chief constable/police commissioner will have to explain what possessed them to allow recruits to be used as props in Johnson's campaign to leave the EU. pic.twitter.com/thAUUijWbn |
| From Politico Europe’s Jack Blanchard | From Politico Europe’s Jack Blanchard |
| Worth remembering that while SW1 laughs at how weird / terrible that press conference was, most people will still just see the PM stood in front of a load of police officers saying he'd rather "die in a ditch" than delay Brexit | Worth remembering that while SW1 laughs at how weird / terrible that press conference was, most people will still just see the PM stood in front of a load of police officers saying he'd rather "die in a ditch" than delay Brexit |
| From the Daily Mail’s Peter Oborne | From the Daily Mail’s Peter Oborne |
| I have just added Boris Johnson's claim at his press conference today that the Tory Party has a zero tolerance policy towards Islamophobia to my bulging dossier of Mr Johnson's lies. | I have just added Boris Johnson's claim at his press conference today that the Tory Party has a zero tolerance policy towards Islamophobia to my bulging dossier of Mr Johnson's lies. |
| That’s all from me for today. | That’s all from me for today. |
| My colleague Kevin Rawlinson is taking over now. | My colleague Kevin Rawlinson is taking over now. |
| That was the most extraordinary prime ministerial press conference we’ve seen for years - perhaps not quite as dramatic as Theresa May’s “nothing has changed” meltdown, but certainly more peculiar. Even by Johnson’s standards, it was rambling and shambolic. The only rational explanation I can think for what happened is that it is all part of some ultra-cunning plan to convince Jeremy Corbyn that he can vote for an election because Johnson will be such a hopeless campaigner, but life normally doesn’t work like that. If it looks like a cock-up, it probably is a cock-up. | That was the most extraordinary prime ministerial press conference we’ve seen for years - perhaps not quite as dramatic as Theresa May’s “nothing has changed” meltdown, but certainly more peculiar. Even by Johnson’s standards, it was rambling and shambolic. The only rational explanation I can think for what happened is that it is all part of some ultra-cunning plan to convince Jeremy Corbyn that he can vote for an election because Johnson will be such a hopeless campaigner, but life normally doesn’t work like that. If it looks like a cock-up, it probably is a cock-up. |
| First, the backdrop was pure Donald Trump. Although ostensibly an event to promote the government’s police recruitment plans, this was obviously a party political event - No 10 described it this morning as day one of the election campaign - and so there was something clearly improper about getting the police to act as extras on set. And if you do want to present yourself as a politician committed to supporting the police, it is best not to force them to stand in the sun for so long (Johnson started about an hour late) that they start dropping like flies. | First, the backdrop was pure Donald Trump. Although ostensibly an event to promote the government’s police recruitment plans, this was obviously a party political event - No 10 described it this morning as day one of the election campaign - and so there was something clearly improper about getting the police to act as extras on set. And if you do want to present yourself as a politician committed to supporting the police, it is best not to force them to stand in the sun for so long (Johnson started about an hour late) that they start dropping like flies. |
| If you do invite people to listen to a speech and then force them to wait, you should at least prepare something of merit to say. But Johnson wasn’t speaking from a script, and he appeared to have given very little thought to what he wanted to say about policing (beyond a threadbare argument about policing being at the heart of a successful economy). At one point he launched into a very bizarre routine about the police caution; quite what that was all about remains a mystery. Of course, sounding improvised is part of the Johnson schtick - in his Churchill biography he quotes approvingly the FE Smith line that Churchill “spent the best years of his life preparing his impromptu remarks”; Johnson has mastered the same trick himself - but today this did not sound like artful spontaneity. To be honest, it sounded like he had had a glass too many at lunchtime. | If you do invite people to listen to a speech and then force them to wait, you should at least prepare something of merit to say. But Johnson wasn’t speaking from a script, and he appeared to have given very little thought to what he wanted to say about policing (beyond a threadbare argument about policing being at the heart of a successful economy). At one point he launched into a very bizarre routine about the police caution; quite what that was all about remains a mystery. Of course, sounding improvised is part of the Johnson schtick - in his Churchill biography he quotes approvingly the FE Smith line that Churchill “spent the best years of his life preparing his impromptu remarks”; Johnson has mastered the same trick himself - but today this did not sound like artful spontaneity. To be honest, it sounded like he had had a glass too many at lunchtime. |
| On Monday Johnson stood outside Number 10 and said he did not want an election. Today’s message was all about taunting/shaming Corbyn into agreeing one. Even someone as practiced at inconsistency as Johnson would find this hard to pull off, and in the office where I was watching his insincerity seemed obvious - although perhaps outside the “bubble” people may be willing to credit his claim that he doesn’t really want an election at all. | On Monday Johnson stood outside Number 10 and said he did not want an election. Today’s message was all about taunting/shaming Corbyn into agreeing one. Even someone as practiced at inconsistency as Johnson would find this hard to pull off, and in the office where I was watching his insincerity seemed obvious - although perhaps outside the “bubble” people may be willing to credit his claim that he doesn’t really want an election at all. |
| To his credit, Johnson did take a large number of questions. His most interesting line was his assertion that he would rather “die in a ditch” than request an article 50 extension in October, as he might be obliged to by a bill becoming law on Monday. That did not sound literally true either, but at least that was a hyperbole untruth, not a statement of bad faith. Perhaps leave voters, and the wider group of voters who just want the Brexit crisis saga to end, will cheer this message. But whether that compensates for the overall impression of omnishambles is another matter. | To his credit, Johnson did take a large number of questions. His most interesting line was his assertion that he would rather “die in a ditch” than request an article 50 extension in October, as he might be obliged to by a bill becoming law on Monday. That did not sound literally true either, but at least that was a hyperbole untruth, not a statement of bad faith. Perhaps leave voters, and the wider group of voters who just want the Brexit crisis saga to end, will cheer this message. But whether that compensates for the overall impression of omnishambles is another matter. |
| Q: Corbyn says he cannot trust you to have an election before the EU summit in October? | Q: Corbyn says he cannot trust you to have an election before the EU summit in October? |
| Johnson claims this is a new charge. | 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. | 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. | 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. | As Johnson is winding up, the officer stands up again. |
| And that’s it. | And that’s it. |
| I will post a verdict and summary shortly. | I will post a verdict and summary shortly. |
| Q: Are you planning an all-Ireland regime for agri-foods? | 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. | 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. | 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? | 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. | 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? | 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. | 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. | 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.) | (Actually, the bill does not say that. The UK would get the final say. More details here.) |
| Discipline is sometimes tough, he says. | Discipline is sometimes tough, he says. |