More than 50 Labour MPs could be ready to rally behind a compromise Brexit agreement allowing Boris Johnson to avoid crashing out of the EU, according to a leading member of a cross-party group.
It comes as DUP leader Arlene Foster demanded a meeting with Mr Johnson amid growing unionist fears that he will cut Northern Ireland loose in his desperation for a deal.
Tory rebel Oliver Letwin, meanwhile, has backed a second Brexit referendum, while Jeremy Corbyn vowed Labour would fight a general election with the “biggest people-powered campaign we’ve ever seen”.
Follow along with how the day in Westminster unfolded
Good morning and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of events at Westminster and beyond.
A five-week break has begun after Boris Johnson shutdown parliament at the earliest opportunity.
But the Commons went out with a bang, it seems. Order had well and truly broken down by the time it came to finally prorogue shortly before 2am last night. Some Labour MPs began singing socialist anthem The Red Flag, while SNP MPs belted out Flower of Scotland.
Labour’s Lloyd Russell-Moyle and other opposition MPs even attempted to pin speaker John Bercow to his chair, while Caroline Lucas and others held up signs saying “silenced”.
A red-eyed Bercow made sure to say that this was “not normal prorogation” before winding up proceedings and gave shadow chancellor John McDonnell a hug.
Boris Johnson assembles his cabinet this morning and will tell them he is ready to “step up diplomatic efforts” to get a new Brexit agreement.
A key part of the five-week presentation to the public will be trips abroad in an effort to suggest he is still searching for a deal.
Reports suggest Johnson may actually visit Brussels next week for talks with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, while a meeting with European Council president Donald Tusk at the UN General Assembly at New York later this month is now in the diary.
The Lib Dems are poised to campaign to cancel Brexit by revoking Article 50, Jo Swinson has said. Ahead of the party conference this weekend, the leader has made it clear she wants it in the manifesto.
Here are all the details.
Liberal Democrats set to back revoking Article 50 to scrap Brexit
Party would campaign to cancel UK withdrawal from EU at general election if move supported by membersLabour former minister Harriet Harman defended the way Commons speaker John Bercow has handled the Brexit situation in Parliament – and confirmed she wants to replace him in the post when he stands down.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I will put myself forward for election as speaker.”
Historian Simon Schama accused Boris Johnson of “grotesque cowardice” for proroguing parliament. Here’s just some of the reaction to the shutdown.
Expelled Tory heavyweight Oliver Letwin has backed a second Brexit referendum – and said there was “an increasing number of Conservative and ex-Conservative” MPs now ready to deliver a majority for a further public vote.
Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick has all the details.
Expelled senior Tory backs second Brexit referendum and says other Conservatives will follow
'There is another option - which is to bring back a deal and ensure a majority for it by attaching it to a referendum'Now that parliament has closed its doors for five weeks, our correspondent Ashley Cowburn has taken a look at the key dates ahead between now and 31 October.
All the key dates before the Brexit deadline
The three main party conferences are among a number of events coming up in the next few weeks
Theresa May’s resignation honours list has drawn a heated reaction from some quarters.
Critics rounded on her choice to reward civil servants who worked on her failed Brexit strategies, as a knighthood is given to Olly Robbins, May’s chief Brexit negotiator, and the CBE awards are bestowed on her former joint chiefs of staff Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy, the so-called “terror twins”.
Andrew Woodcock has the details.
Theresa May hands out honours to architects of her doomed Brexit deal
Labour accuses former prime minister of cronyism as awards go to aides and donors, as well as her cricket hero Geoffrey BoycottHere’s the strange moment some MPs, including Labour’s Lloyd Russell-Moyle, tried to pin speaker John Bercow to his seat to stop him rising to prorogue parliament.
Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle has explained that he grabbed John Bercow’s leg to stop him leaving while others clutched at his arms in a symbolic attempt to stop the shutdown.
Here’s our deputy political editor Rob Merrick with all the details of the late-night drama.
MPs try to pin John Bercow to his seat during late-night mayhem in parliament
Labour MPs attempted to interrupt the prorogation ceremony - before being bundled aside by officials
Jeremy Corbyn is speaking at the TUC conference in Brighton today. The Labour leader will tell delegates that a “general election is coming” but he won’t allow Boris Johnson to “dictate terms”.
Having promised an election once a no-deal Brexit is thwarted, he will seek to galvanise trade unionists with promise of the “biggest people-powered” campaign ever seen.
Lizzy Buchan has more.
Boris Johnson and ‘wealthy friends’ will not bear cost of no-deal Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn warns
Labour leader will seek to galvanise trade unionists with promise of the ‘biggest people-powered’ election campaign ever seenReports this morning that DUP leader Arlene Foster is travelling to London to meet Boris Johnson this afternoon. Foster recently revealed will not be seeking a seat in the next UK general election. Could it lead to greater flexibility over the backstop?
Parliament may be suspended, but Yvette Cooper says she will keep on working anyway. The Labour MP says her home affairs committee is “meeting informally” to hear from borders and freight transport chiefs.
Fair to say Theresa May is coming in for a lot of flak this morning for awarding Geoffrey Boycott with a knighthood.
Domestic abuse campaigners have criticised the decision to honour the former England cricketer, who was convicted in France in 1998 of beating his then girlfriend in a Riviera hotel. Boycott has said he does not “give a toss”.
Here’s Maya Oppenheim with more on the row.
Geoffrey Boycott says he 'doesn't give a toss' about criticism of his domestic violence conviction
'You can take your political nature and do whatever you want with it,' Former England cricket captain saysUnite boss Len McCluskey, a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, has warned Boris Johnson the workers are “coming for you”, in a fiery speech to the Trades Union Congress.
He said: “We know who you are Boris Johnson. We know your game. Your wish to be Churchillian, rather than the Wreck-it Ralph that you are.
“But know this. We will fight you in our hospitals, we will fight you in our factories, we will fight you in our communities. Pick your beach prime minister – we’ll never surrender. We are the workers of Britain and we’re coming for you.”
A reminder – for the benefit of McCluskey in case he missed it – than Corbyn condemned Johnson’s use of violent / war-related imagery in the Commons yesterday.
“I condemn the language the prime minister used when he talked about a “surrender bill”. We are not at war with Europe, they’re our partners.”
