The EU has revealed that no Brexit talks are currently scheduled with Boris Johnson‘s government, despite Britain being on course to leave the bloc without a deal in less than three months.
A spokesperson for the European Commission said they had “no further announcements” to make about future negotiations.
It came after Mr Johnson suffered a blow to his efforts to woo hardline Brexiteers when a senior Eurosceptic MP snubbed his offer of a government job.
However, he may have more success in other areas of recruitment, as insiders said he had requested a dog to join him in No10. The new prime minister is understood to raised the idea with staff when he addressed them on his arrival and received an enthusiastic response.
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He said: "We want to come out of the EU on 31 October - that is what we're going to do.
He will work with fellow co-chairman, James Cleverly, the party said.
"What they want us to do is deliver on their mandate, come out of the EU on 31 October.
Lord Agnew of Oulton remains as a parliamentary under secretary of state at the Department for Education.
According to the style guide obtained by ITV News, Mr Rees-Mogg insists all non-titled males are given the suffix Esq and words including "ongoing" and "hopefully" are banned.
In a call for accuracy he tells staff: "CHECK your work."
Other directions include a call for a double space after full stops and no comma after the word "and".
He also set out a series of banned words and phrases that should not be used by his staff.
They include: very, due to, unacceptable, equal, yourself, lot, got, speculate, meet with, ascertain and disappointment.
Staff should avoid "too many 'Is"' in their writing, Mr Rees-Mogg will not be "pleased to learn" anything, he will not "note/understand your concerns" nor will he "invest (in schools etc)", and the phrase "no longer fit for purpose" has been deemed no longer fit for purpose.
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Downing Street says the new appelation reflects the prime minister's determination to preserve the United Kingdom"I have had a wonderful afternoon here in Derry/Londonderry talking about the city deal, talking about all of the challenges for this wonderful city as we get to the 31st October.
"I have had the warmest of welcomes and I am so grateful, not only to be doing this job, the privilege of doing this job, but also for the warmth of welcome that people have given me in the various meetings I have had today."
"The PM today received a call of congratulations from German chancellor Angela Merkel. They agreed to continue to strengthen our bilateral relationship, and to work together closely on foreign policy and security issues.
On Brexit, the PM said that he would be energetic in reaching out as much as possible to try to achieve a deal, but he reiterated the message he delivered in the House of Commons yesterday: parliament has rejected the Withdrawal Agreement three times and so the UK must fully prepare for the alternative – which is to leave without a deal on October 31.
He said the only solution that would allow us to make progress on a deal is to abolish the backstop. The PM and chancellor agreed to stay in contact."
Labour MP Rachel Reeves wrote to Ms Leadsom calling on her to do more to promote electric vehicles and greater energy efficiency.
She said the new business secretary "will need to hit the ground running" and "act quickly to ramp up efforts on the policies and actions crucial to tackling climate change and capitalising on the opportunities of a low-carbon economy".
She wrote:
"The secretary of state should also seek to overcome Treasury resistance and ensure that her colleague at No 11 examines the potential benefits as well as the costs of the transition to net zero.
"The government should also overcome its ideological opposition to on-shore wind - the cheapest form of electricity generation in the UK - and set out plans to fulfil this technology's huge potential."
Tory minister leaves government two days after Boris Johnson takes over
The former army officer, who was hailed as a hero for his actions during the Westminster terror attack, has been a vocal critic of the prospect of a no-deal Brexit."We spent over an hour going through with him in detail his European strategy, and he was absolutely emphatic that the withdrawal agreement was dead. Therefore, any attempt to revive it in any form would be a complete betrayal of what he told the ERG.”
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Complainants say they had not consented to receive message from new prime minister and do not know how their details were obtainedNigel Farage’s Brexit Party has flopped in its first attempt to win council seats, and may have helped hand two seats to the Remain-backing Liberal Democrats.
The hardline Brexiteers stood in by-elections for two wards in Leave-backing Gloucester and trailed in third and fourth places, taking more votes in one than the margin between victorious Lib Dems and Boris Johnson’s Tories in second.
But a spokesman for Farage’s party defiantly dismissed accusations of splitting the Brexit vote, telling The Independent: “If the Tories are moaning that we’re taking their voters, then tough.
"We have to be very clear on that. We've always said that if the UK wants to leave the EU, and if it wants to do it in an orderly manner, the best thing we have is the agreement."
She said the current deal had not been "imposed on the British" but was the result of painstaking negotiation.
She said:
"It's two years of work between Michel Barnier's team in Brussels and the British team to set out point by point, pragmatically, in a realistic and concrete manner, how we can mark that there is a before and an after.
"It's not us who want there to be a before and an after. What we're trying to say is that in this agreement we are saying 'Here is how we separate' and for me the key, what I'd like to do in the weeks to come, is to pass that stage and negotiate calmly how we can work afterwards."
Meanwhile Irish deputy prime minister Simon Coveney said Mr Johnson's comments in the House Commons on Thursday setting out his Brexit plans were "very unhelpful".
He said:
"He seems to have made a deliberated decision to set Britain on a collision course with the European Union and with Ireland in relation to the Brexit negotiations.
"I think only he can answer the question as to why he is doing that."
