Boris Johnson has admitted he cannot remember the lunch at which he is alleged to have groped a female journalist – despite repeatedly denying the incident took place.
It comes as opposition talks to oust the PM if he tries to force through a no-deal Brexit have been plunged into fresh turmoil amid splits over who should lead a temporary government.
And Conservative MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown has been sent home from the party's annual conference in Manchester after what a Tory spokesperson described as a "totally unacceptable" clash with security staff.
Late in the evening details emerged of Mr Johnson's planned offer to Brussels. In a speech tomorrow he is to say that the EU must "engage" with his proposals or see the UK walk away without a deal.
The plans, reportedly including the offer of a four-year period inside the EU's regulatory framework for Northern Ireland following the end of the transition period in 2021, represent a "reasonable compromise" on his part, the PM is to say.
Mr Johnson's ultimatum will be delivered despite the passing of the Benn Act, which is designed to prevent a no-deal Brexit.
His opponents accused him of being determined to “force an undemocratic and destructive vision of Brexit on the country”.
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Good morning and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of events at Westminster and Manchester, where the Conservative party conference continues.
Boris Johnson said the negotiations were now entering a crucial phase “when the rubber hits the road”.
He claimed criticism of the customs proposals related to ideas that had previously been floated, rather than the formal text the government will present in the next few days.
“They are not talking about the proposals we are going to be tabling, they are talking about stuff that went in previously,” he told the BBC’s Dan Walker.
“But clearly this is the moment when the rubber hits the road. This is when the hard yards really are in the course of the negotiations.
“The difficulty really is going to be around the customs union and to what extent Northern Ireland can be retained within EU bodies at all.
“We’re going to make a very good offer, we are going to be tabling it very soon, but there is a difficulty if you try to keep Northern Ireland in a customs union because one of the basic things about being a country is you have a single customs perimeter and a single customs union.”
Asked about the claim he squeezed the thigh of a journalist while editor of The Spectator, he said: “It’s very sad that someone should make such allegations – they’re not true.”
Confronted with the importance of the allegation, Johnson said: “I don’t want in any way to minimise the importance of the kind of stuff you are talking about.
“Yes, I get it. Yes, of course this kind of thing, if true, would be very important. As it happens, it’s not true.”
The idea for “customs clearance zones” - reported this morning as a part of Boris Johnson’s final Brexit proposal - was contained in the so-called “non-papers” submitted by UK officials during recent technical discussions, Irish officials have claimed.
Deputy Irish premier Simon Coveney tweeted: “Non-Paper = Non-Starter. Time the EU had a serious proposal from the UK Govt if a Brexit deal is to be achievable in October. NI and IRE deserves better!”
An Irish government spokesman said a credible alternative to the backstop had yet to be proposed by the UK. “The EU taskforce has indicated that any non-papers it has received from the UK to date fall well short of the agreed aims and objectives of the backstop,” he said.
“The UK’s non-papers were given to the taskforce on the strict understanding they would not be shared with anyone. The taskforce has said it has received no credible proposals from the British.
“Ireland's priorities are protecting the Good Friday Agreement, avoiding a hard border and protecting the all-island economy, and protecting the EU single market and its benefits for Irish businesses and consumers.
“We have yet to see any credible alternatives to the backstop.”
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Boris Johnson has given a revealing interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning.
Asked whether the final Brexit plan would mean a string of customs checkpoints not on the Irish border but near the border, Johnson said. “That’s not what we’re proposing at all … But if you’ll forgive me I would like to veil our proposals in decent obscurity.”
Johnson also claimed it costs the UK £1bn a month to stay in the EU.
When challenged by Nick Robinson on the figure – and the notorious Leave campaign bus which included the discredited £350m a week claim – he responded:
“Since you want to drag that in, were we to be obliged to stay in the EU we would need a bigger bus because the figure would go up – I think it would be rising to £400m [a week] gross.”
The prime minister also tried to discredit the Benn Act. “It is not subjected to normal parliamentary scrutiny.”
He denied having a “woman problem” after several days of headlines about groping allegations and his ties to Jennifer Arcuri. “I’ve always been a big champion of women at the top of every organisation I’ve run,” claiming he ran a “feminocracy” at City Hall.
“It is not true,” he said again on the accusation he squeezed a journalist’s thigh.
Asked whether his character had changed during his 10 weeks of intransigence at No 10, and whether he would change course, Johnson said: “Forgive me if I seem stubborn.
“All those who wish to see the return, as it were, of the old generous-hearted, loving, caring, mayor of London – that person has not gone away. I am a one nation Tory. But we are in a position where the only way we can take this country forward and unite our country again is to get Brexit done.”
Here’s our political editor with more on Boris Johnson’s final Brexit proposal – set to be submitted within days.
Boris Johnson claims he has 'solution' to secure a Brexit deal by deadline
Prime minister distances himself from reports of customs checkpoints away from the Irish borderHere’s our correspondent Lizzy Buchan with more on Boris Johnson’s last remarks on the groping allegation.
Boris Johnson denies 'very sad' allegations he groped a journalist
'I don't minimise the importance of such allegations, and I don't minimise the importance of the issue'Northern Ireland secretary Julian Smith has also denied that the government is proposing customs centres at locations away from the border.
“I don’t know where these papers have come from that were reported on yesterday, I’ve not seen them, I don't know who’s written them, but I’m clear that we can’t have customs facilities in the places mentioned in the reports,” he said.
“And I’m clear that the prime minister is fully committed to the Good Friday Agreement.”
Smith told BBC Radio Ulster: “Five or 10 miles from the border is still an issue and I am clear on that, and the government is clear that the Good Friday Agreement needs to be respected.”
Boris Johnson, who also urged cautioned against reading too much into reports of “customs clearance zones”, has had yet more to say on radio this morning.
The prime minister has just told LBC the government would have a clear idea by the weekend whether a deal with the EU would be possible.
“What we will be doing is giving our friends a proposal, we think it’s a good proposal.
“Clearly, if there is no way of getting it over the line from their point of view, we will have to live with that.”
Home secretary Priti Patel is expected to tell criminals “we are coming after you” during her conference speech today – the latest sign of the Tories seeking to burnish their credentials as the party of law and order ahead of an expected election.
Justice secretary Robert Buckland will confirm he will end the system which sees some of the most serious offenders released after serving just half their sentence.
Releasing violent criminals halfway through sentences to end under new government plans
New announcement comes as home secretary set to warn lawbreakers: 'We are coming after you'
Steve Baker MP, leader of the European Research Group (ERG) – a band of staunch pro-Brexit Tory MPs – defended the government proposal, and said “there are going to be some additional checks, yes”.
He argued checks were “inescapable” and claimed the Irish border could be “world-class”.
Baker said: “I’m absolutely confident this can be world-class border with a real minimisation of inconvenience to businesses and individuals.”
The former Brexit minister also told the BBC: “We are leaving … and that means there is going to be a change to the status quo.
“Remember there are already some checks in some places [on the Irish land border],” he also told the BBC.
“There are checks on duty on the border, there are sometimes checks on passports.”
Baker earlier told the Today programme he is “highly confident” fellow ERG members would vote for the government’s Brexit deal – if agreed by the EU.
Dominic Grieve, co-Chair of the People’s Vote Political Committee, has responded to reports about the government’s final Brexit plan, saying: “It is difficult to see these proposals as a serious effort to secure a deal on Brexit.
“A plan to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland that actually creates two such borders is a plan that is going to fail. It is no surprise that the Irish government has responded to say the proposals are unacceptable.
“Nor should they be acceptable to anyone in the United Kingdom who is serious about preserving the letter and the spirit of the Belfast and other agreements in Northern Ireland.
“Proposals such as this leave one with the impression that Boris Johnson does not want any sort of deal. Instead he seems to want someone else to blame for No Deal, and if that is the Irish government or the EU Commission, so much the better.”
The expelled Tory rebel added: “Boris Johnson is not making the right decisions on Northern Ireland. He seems incapable of being able to act in our national interest. In all the circumstances it would be very much better to trust to the people to decide on Brexit in a final say referendum.
“This is only fair and democratic way out of the crisis.”
Here’s Boris Johnson giggling as he is asked about comparing himself to the Incredible Hulk:
Labour, the SNP, the Lib Dems and the smaller parties have decided to put plans for a no-confidence vote on ice for now, and deep rifts remain over who would lead any temporary government.
Jo Swinson has insisted “Jeremy Corbyn is not going into Number 10 on the basis of Liberal Democrats’ votes”. Swinson has claimed some Labour MPs could not support Corbyn as caretaker PM.
Labour MP Ben Bradshaw says the parliamentary party is “unanimous” in their support of Corbyn as the leader of a temporary government, “but to deliver a referendum before an election – a general election is not going to solve anything”.
Opposition parties need to “go the extra mile” and act together to remove “toxic” PM Boris Johnson from Downing Street, the SNP’s Westminster leader said.
Ian Blackford warned those trying to prevent a no-deal Brexit were now running out of time to attempt to “bring down” the Conservative leader.
He spoke out after talks between Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the SNP and others broke down over the crucial issue of who should be installed as a caretaker prime minister.
He told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “Everyone has to accept their responsibility. We are willing to do our part to bring Boris Johnson down - why are the other parties not prepared to do what is necessary to remove this man from office?
“We are not prepared to sit back and let Scotland be dragged off the cliff edge by Boris Johnson.”
Allowing Johnson to take Britain out of the EU without a deal would be a failure of leadership by the opposition collectively, the SNP Westminster leader insisted.
“All of us have got to recognise the responsibility we have, it is up to the others that have failed to do that to recognise the challenge, and woe betide anyone that puts us in the situation that we run that risk of Boris Johnson driving us out on a no-deal basis - they will pay a price for that.
“Let’s take this toxic prime minister and his government out of office. We can only do that with a motion of no confidence.”
Oh no. We regret to inform you Theresa May is thinking about writing a memoir.
Speaking at the Henley Literary Festival in Oxfordshire, she has been asked whether she would write a book about her career, the 63-year-old said: “I am thinking about whether to do it.
“It has been suggested to me that people involved in significant events should write about them so historians can look back and see what those who were at the centre of events were thinking, why they took decisions and so forth.”
Asked if she had any regrets about how things worked out for her, May replied: “No I don't think so. I have had a fantastic time.”
The expelled Tory MP David Gauke – founder member of the Gaukeward squad – has been talking about his desire to return to the fold.
“I would like to come back … but it depends upon the price of re-entry. If it’s a question of coming back and signing up to leaving without a deal, signing up to a manifesto that says, “Do you support no deal?” – that’s not something I can support.”
“Fundamentally I am a Conservative and I think there are millions of Conservatives that have similar views to mine.”
Reports of an incident outside parliament. Huw Merriman is the Tory MP for Bexhill and Battle.
Jacob Rees-Mogg has been talking about the allegations made by Charlotte Edwardes that Boris Johnson squeezed her thigh.
In sure-to-be-criticised remarks, the Commons leader said “these things are always a matter of power”.
Speaking at the recording of ConservativeHome’s podcast Moggcast at the Conservative party conference,
Rees-Mogg said: “I’m not going to talk about any specific accusations or any pair of individuals, I think that would be quite wrong."
When pushed in general terms on how problematic it would be if accusations like those made against the PM were true, Rees-Mogg added: “Well that was David Cameron’s argument, wasn’t it, that politicians were entitled to a private life before they got into politics, and that the standards that you apply to politicians are different from those that apply to non-politicians.
“A true answer is that these things are always a matter of power and the relationship of power between the individuals concerned.
“And that if it is an employer/employee relationship that is improper because the employer has the opportunity to pay bonuses, to increase salaries, possibly even fire the individual concerned.
“If it is two teenagers at school together it’s in a different sort of magnitude and so you’ve got to be very careful about the specific circumstances.”
Rees-Mogg continued: “Does that mean automatically on entering politics you are senior enough in the general run of things that you should never do this? Well, again it depends on the power relationship.
“But there are questions that get raised when the person is a young intern who is working for the member of parliament hoping for a political career, and the example of that happening is well known and led to impeachment.”
Speaking about those wanting to remain in the EU, Rees-Mogg added: “They will throw any bit of mud at Boris Johnson they can find.”
Boris Johnson’s right-hand man Dominic Cummings behaves like an inquisitive child in cabinet meetings – constantly breaking into discussions with the question “why?”, one minister has said.
The minister told The Independent: “In meetings, it’s a lot like having a small child in the corner – ‘Why? Why? Why?’”
Our political editor has all the details.
