Rebel Tories have defied Boris Johnson's threats of deselection to align with opposition MPs and derail his Brexit plans in a historic Commons vote.
MPs voted to seize control of the house agenda, paving the way for a bill to be tabled tomorrow that would prevent the prime minister from crashing the country out of the EU on October 31.
The prime minister's statement to the House earlier this evening was upstaged when Tory MP Dr Phillip Lee dramatically crossed the floor to sit with the Liberal Democrats, depriving him of his majority.
Mr Johnson said he would put in train a motion calling for a general election next month.
Labour have said they may vote in favour of such a poll, but only if they could be certain Mr Johnson would not move the date until after Britain is due to leave on October 31, in effect bringing about a no-deal by default.
Good morning and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of events at Westminster, as MPs return from summer recess and rebel parliamentarians prepare to vote on a motion to seize control of Commons business.
Boris Johnson will call a general election for 14 October if he loses today’s crunch vote designed to block a no-deal Brexit, senior government officials have said.
The source said the prime minister was confident about getting the two-thirds majority required to trigger an early poll.
Our political editor Andrew Woodcock has the details.
Boris Johnson to call general election if rebels vote to block no-deal
Prime minister insists that he does not want an early poll
Jeremy Corbyn says Labour will “take the fight to the Tories” in a general election, insisting the party is ready after the government said could push for a snap election.
Addressing a rally in Salford, Corbyn said: “I am proud to lead our party, I’m proud to take the fight to the Tories and I will be delighted when the election comes. I’m ready for it, you’re ready for it, we're ready for it, we'll take the message out there and above all we will win for the people of this country.”
The Labour leader also said: “What Boris Johnson was doing was essentially threatening people, threatening people with a no-deal Brexit if he doesn’t get his way in parliament.
“I know people voted both ways in the referendum, obviously, I know people have different views about these things, obviously, but I simply say this - people didn’t vote to lose their jobs, didn’t vote to see our environmental standards, workers’ rights, consumer protections ripped up.”
Justine Greening, the former education secretary, has announced she will stand down at the next election.
The Tory rebel told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I will not be standing as a Conservative candidate at the next election.”
The ex-international development secretary said her concerns that the Tory Party was morphing into Nigel Farage's Brexit Party had “come to pass”, and said that Prime Minister Boris Johnson was offering the country a “lose-lose” situation by threatening a general election.
Greening said: “I don’t believe that the Conservative Party will offer people a sensible choice at the next election in respect of the fact that Boris Johnson is going to offer people a general election that faces them with the choice of a no-deal or Jeremy Corbyn.
“That is a lose-lose general election for Britain.”
The Putney MP said her party was “narrowing down its appeal” - a move, she suggested, that had been highlighted by the threat this week to long-serving MPs who would have the whip removed if they voted against the government on Brexit.
No 10 has been forced to deny claims that Boris Johnson’s right-hand man Dominic Cummings has referred to negotiations with the EU on a new Brexit deal as “a sham”.
Two sources told The Daily Telegraph Cummings openly described the idea of reaching an agreement with Brussels this way.
A Downing Street source said: “Dom has not said this. He does not believe this to be the case.”
Sources also told the newspaper that Attorney General Geoffrey Cox made clear to Johnson that it was a “complete fantasy” to think EU chiefs would ever drop the backstop.
A defiant Philip Hammond has confirmed he will vote for legislation designed to block a no-deal Brexit.
“I will support the bill,” he told the Today programme, claiming “there will be enough people for us to get this over the line today”.
Asked whether Downing Street had the power to prevent him from standing as a Tory at the next election, said: “I don’t believe they do and there would certainly be the fight of a lifetime if they tried to.”
Asked whether he would be prepared to take such a fight to the courts, he said: “Possibly. A lot of my colleagues have come under immense pressure. Some have responded to that by saying ‘enough, I’m going’. That is not going to be my approach. This is my party. I have been a member of this party for 45 years.”
In what was seen as a swipe at Dominic Cummings, he said: “I am going to defend my party against incomers, entryists, who are trying to turn it from a broad church to narrow faction.
“People who are at the heart of this government, who are probably not even members of the Conservative Party, who care nothing about the future of the Conservative Party, I intend to defend my party against them.”
He said it was his understanding that Cummings was “not and never has been” a party member.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has told Good Morning Britain that he believed “shenanigans” in parliament were weakening the government’s negotiating position with the EU.
“We’re making good progress with the EU negotiations. The one thing that has helped focus minds in the EU is that we’re leaving come what may and we’ve got a very focused task of what a good deal would look like,” the former Brexit secretary claimed.
“But the lingering doubt they’ve got is will the shenanigans in parliament somehow lead to the cancellation or the delay of Brexit. That’s encouraging them and weakening our position to actually get the deal we all want.”
Nigel Farage confirms something he has repeatedly suggested – he would be willing to form an electoral pact with the Tories if Boris Johnson promises to leave the EU without a deal.
Labour fear Boris Johnson is planning a “trick” that will end in a no-deal Brexit during an election campaign.
Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick has more.
Labour set to block snap general election over fears of a Boris Johnson no-deal Brexit 'trick'
‘Will we fall for Boris Johnson’s trick? No we won’t. Boris Johnson is a man who has got form for reneging on his promises’Shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti has been talking about the kinds of things the Labour leadership will be considering on a possible general election motion which could soon be put forward by the government.
Former Tory MP Nick Boles, who now sits as an independent MP, suggested he hoped to persuade Justine Greening to stand for election for a “new” political movement.
The British government has been accused of lying to the public about the state of progress in Brexit negotiations in Brussels.
Jon Stone has more on the remarkable claims.
Boris Johnson's government 'lying to public' about state of Brexit negotiations
Dominic Cummings described talks as a 'sham' leak claimsLike fellow Tory rebel Philip Hammond, Dominic Grieve has said he will not bow down to No 10’s threats over anti no-deal legislation.
The backbencher said the deselection threats make “no difference”, despite being “painful” to the veteran politician.
He told the BBC: “I see myself as a Conservative, I’m not about to go off and join another party, but if ultimately the prime minister and leader of my party is doing something which I think is so fundamentally wrong then I can’t continue supporting it.
“If that means he decides to chuck me out of the party, then that's a matter for him.”
Like other rebels, the former attorney general said he has had “absolutely no contact whatsoever” from the leader’s office to convince him to vote with the government.
Could Boris Johnson deselect the Tory MP for Mid Sussex – who also happens to be the grandson of his political hero?
The work and pensions secretary Amber Rudd is sticking with the PM but clearly doesn’t like the idea of revenge deselections – something No 10 has threatened prospective Tory rebels with ahead of today’s big showdown vote in parliament.
One of the biggest stories of the morning is Philip Hammond’s vow to fight any attempt to deselect him in his Surrey constituency of Runnymede and Weybridge or expel him from the party.
The former chancellor said condemned the “incomers and entryists” who were turning the Conservative party into “a narrow faction”. His fellow Tory rebels will be looking on with interest.
Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick has all the details.
Tory civil war intensifies as Philip Hammond vows 'the fight of a lifetime' to stop Boris Johnson expelling him
Former chancellor also pours scorn on prime minister's claims on fresh Brexit deal, saying: 'There is no progress. There are no substantive negotiations going on'
The pound has tumbled below 1.20 US dollars to a near three-year low amid Brexit tumult in Westminster and mounting speculation over a general election.
Sterling was 0.9 per cent lower against the US dollar at 1.196, which marked its lowest level since the “flash crash” in October 2016.
Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: “The outlook for sterling may well worsen if there is an election and will certainly deteriorate if it’s a no deal.”
Something we missed from Philip Hammond’s interview this morning.
The leading Tory rebel claimed Jeremy Corbyn made a “commitment” not to back any government motion for a general election until the legislation to block no deal is firmly in place.
“The decision the Labour party has to make which is to honour the pledge which I understand Jeremy Corbyn made to the other opposition party leaders last week that he would prioritise supporting cross-party legislation to block no-deal on the 31 October over a general election – and that he would not support a general election until this legislation was in place.
“Once the election is called, and parliament is dissolved, the prime minister has control over the election date,” Hammond added. “He can change the election date by proclamation.”
Plenty of chatter this morning about whether Labour should back a general election, and what the conditions would have to be.
