Afternoon summary
- Boris Johnson has told Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, that the EU must abandon the backstop if it wants to reach an agreement on Brexit with the UK. (See 3.51pm.) The two leaders spoke as Downing Street played down the prospect of Brexit talks with the EU reopening until Brussels agreed to drop the backstop.
That’s all from me for today.
Thanks for the comments.
Earlier, in response to a question from a reader, I posted a paragraph explaining why Boris Johnson might not be quite as fearful of an early general election as people generally think he should be. (See 2.37pm.) But my colleague Severin Carrell, the Guardian’s Scotland editor, points out (fairly) that I left out the Scottish dimension. He’s sent me this.
Amidst all the talk of a snap election this autumn, it is unwise to ignore the likely scale of an Scottish National party “win” in Scotland. All the recent polls show the SNP will romp home with a larger number of seats: not quite as high as the 56 out of 59 seats they won in 2015 but they’re on course to easily surpass 40, leaving the other parties trailing.
Those numbers will have significant impact on the prospects of both the Tories and Labour of winning a majority in the Commons, where the SNP is currently the third largest party.
The SNP are currently polling at around 40% for a Westminster election. Scottish Labour is in freefall under Richard Leonard’s lacklustre leadership, and is now below 20% - as are the Scottish Tories. That makes it impossible for Labour to win the 20 seats in Scotland it needs to gain a Commons majority; indeed it will struggle to hold the seven it won in 2017.
Now, we don’t know how many centrist and anti-Boris pro-UK voters will switch to the Lib Dems (which did very well in Scotland in the European elections and now have a young, female Scottish leader) but it’s quite possible the LDs will win a couple of more seats, more likely from the Tories in rural areas where farming will be heavily hit by a no deal Brexit.
And with those polling numbers, it is hard to see the Scottish Tories holding onto their current tally of 13 Scottish seats: the conflicts and contradictions between Ruth Davidson, a strong soft-Brexiteer who has built the Tory renaissance by appealing to centrist voters, and Johnson are too significant.
While there are pockets of strong pro-Brexit sentiment in Scotland, there are not enough pro-Brexit votes here to make the difference in first past the post seats other than in north east Scotland and, potentially, in the rural south west - areas where the Tories already have MPs. (It is also the case that with Johnson as Tory leader, the Brexit party has no chance of winning a Westminster seat in Scotland.)
And if the SNP clean-up north of the border, the constitutional crisis over Brexit will be amplified by a constitutional crisis over Scottish independence.
Updated
Angela Merkel has wished Boris Johnson “a sure hand” in his new role as British prime minister inviting him to visit Berlin in a telephone call.
The German chancellor interrupted her summer break to speak to Johnson today, in a conversation which a spokeswoman said focussed on Brexit as well as future bilateral relations.
The spokeswoman, Ulrike Demmer said Merkel “congratulated him on assuming his new office and wished him a sure hand in exercising the duties of this responsible task.”
Demmer said the leaders’ conversation centred “around the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union as well as efforts to deepen bilateral relations”.
She added that Johnson had accepted the invitation to visit Berlin. He is expected to combine it with a visit to French president Emmanuel Macron. Political insiders in Berlin say the visit could take place as early as next week but no date has been announced.
The arrival of Johnson in Downing Street has been met with a mix of bewilderment and defiance in Berlin, where he is often referred to, particularly in the boulevard press, as ‘Brexit Boris’.
Berlin has repeatedly ruled out reopening Britain’s withdrawal agreement with the EU, putting particular emphasis on its refusal to renegotiate the Northern Ireland back-stop unless a viable alternative is found.
Updated
Here are some pictures from Boris Johnson’s visit to West Midlands Police’s learning and development centre. I have not found any pictures of people posing for selfies with him yet.
This is from Sky’s Sam Coates, who has obviously seen TV footage of Boris Johnson’s walkabout this afternoon that has not been broadcast yet.
Interesting watching pictures of Boris Johnson doing a walkabout. Public coming up and doing selfies with the PM, without the police intervening. Not very Theresa May.
— Sam Coates Sky (@SamCoatesSky) July 26, 2019
This is from the Mail on Sunday’s Harry Cole.
Ohhh... Sunday Times journalist Andrew Gilligan is the Prime Minister's new adviser on Transport.
— Harry Cole (@MrHarryCole) July 26, 2019
My colleague Peter Walker, author of the excellent Bike Nation, approves.
There had been rumours of this. Good news for cycling - based on their double act in London, anyway. https://t.co/MsMKDo0R8V
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) July 26, 2019
Downing Street has announced that six junior ministers (all parliamentary under secretaries of state) are saying in post. They are:
Kevin Foster, a Welsh Office minister and Cabinet Office minister, and government whip
Chloe Smith, a Cabinet Office minister
Rebecca Pow, a culture minister
Guy Opperman, a work and pensions minister
Will Quince, another work and pensions minister
Nusrat Ghani, a transport minister and government whip
Boris Johnson to visit Berlin soon for talks with Merkel, Germany government announces
And here is the German read-out from the Boris Johnson/Angela Merkel call. This is from Ulrike Demmer, a German government spokeswoman.
Chancellor #Merkel spoke to the new UK Prime Minister Boris #Johnson on the telephone today; they discussed #Brexit as well as bilateral relations. The Chancellor invited the Prime Minister to come to Berlin for his first visit in the near future. @10DowningStreet pic.twitter.com/TdW1NUDKSb
— Ulrike Demmer (@UlrikeDemmer) July 26, 2019
Updated
Boris Johnson tells Merkel EU must abandon backstop if it wants Brexit deal
Boris Johnson has had a telephone call with Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. According to the Downing Street read-out, Merkel got exactly the same message about how the backstop must go that Emmanuel Macron received. (See 12.38pm.) A Number 10 spokesman said:
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.
The pound has been falling in value this afternoon in the light of Simon Coveney’s comments about Brexit (see 1.08pm), the BBC’s Faisal Islam reports.
Sterling now dipping below 1.24 to $1.2395 this afternoon, after comments such as this from Ireland’s Tanaiste Coveney that PM Johnson “deliberately” put UK “on collision course” with EU and Ireland, and No 10 saying EU needs to drop backstop for talkshttps://t.co/xSgR7yOK8q
— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) July 26, 2019
Defence minister Tobias Ellwood sacked in reshuffle
It looks like Tobias Ellwood has been sacked. Ellwood, a defence minister, said at the weekend that a no deal Brexit could plunge the Tories into opposition for an awfully long period of time. But two days later he said he would not be resigning from government.
Now he is out. He has posted this on Twitter.
It’s been a privilege.
— Tobias Ellwood MP (@Tobias_Ellwood) July 26, 2019
I return to the backbenches with ever more passion, respect and humility for our amazing Armed Forces. And will continue to make the case for further defence spending.
Si vis pacem, para bellum pic.twitter.com/j535Go7Ui1
The final line of his tweet, “Si vis pacem, para bellum”, means “If you want peace, prepare for war”. Whether that is a comment on defence spending, or on relations with Downing Street, remains to be seen.
Ellwood was honoured for his bravery after he intervened to try to save the life of PC Keith Palmer, the police officer killed in the Westminster terror attack in 2017.
Julian Smith, the new Northern Ireland secretary, has been visiting Derry.
As the BBC reports, Smith was greeted by protesters from the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign, as well as activists in favour of same-sex marriage and Irish language legislation.
No 10 starts announcing junior ministerial appointments
We’ve had another instalment of the reshuffle.
These are all parliamentary under secretary of state appointments, or the equivalent, which is the most junior level of minister.
Sideway move
Nadhim Zahawi moves from education to business.
Staying put
Kelly Tolhurst remains a business minister.
John Glen remains economic secretary to the Treasury.
Graham Stuart remains an international trade secretary.
Victoria Atkins remains a Home Office minister and minister for women.
Here are two questions from below the line that I’ll answer up here because they raise issues of general interest.
This Commons library briefing note has a good explanation of the various rules that determine how much time must elapse between a no confidence vote in the Commons and a general election. Given that Labour has not tabled a no confidence motion for the first day back in September, it now seems impossible to have a general election before 31 October against the wishes of the government.
Even if there were a no confidence vote on 3 September, as the note explains, the PM could set a later date for a general election.
Andrew - could you please explain what Boris's thinking might be behind an autumn election, assuming it's planned to occur pre-Brexit? Much though Labour is in a fairly miserable position, aren't the Tories equally vulnerable to their vote being split by Brexit Party candidates standing everywhere? If the Remain factions do get themselves sorted enough to identify a single remain-friendly candidate in most consituencies, hasn't Boris got an awfully hard job on his hands to get a majority?
You’re right. An autumn election would be huge gamble for Boris Johnson. The polls suggest the electorate is broadly split four ways - Tory, Labour, Lib Dems, Brexit party - and the Peterborough byelection showed how a Tory/Brexit party split can let Labour through.
But -
a) Johnson may be assuming that it is going to happen anyway, whether he wants one or not. As far as I can tell, the only parliamentary mechanism which would definitely stop a no-deal Brexit would be a no confidence vote. And the prorogation vote last week suggests that in extremis there are enough Tory MPs who feel strongly about no-deal to ensure Boris Johnson would lose a vote like this. It is probably now too late to ensure an election before 31 October. (See above.) But it is possible that rebel Tories could try to force Johnson to delay Brexit (ie, ask for another article 50 extension) pending the result of the general election by promising to install Jeremy Corbyn as PM if he does not.
b) The Brexit party bubble may be about to burst. Johnson has formed what looks like a Brexit party government, and it is possible that Brexit party support could start to evaporate over the next few weeks. Look at the Brexit party vote in yesterday’s two council byelections: at 16% and 10%, it was well below what it is polling nationally. (See 9.59am.) If that were to happen, and with the remain vote fragmented between lots of parties that don’t like or trust each other, Tory chances in an early election might be quite promising.
Updated
Boris Johnson could be joined in Downing Street by a new companion - a pet dog, the Press Association reports. The prime minister is understood to have raised the prospect of bringing in man’s best friend when he addressed staff in Number 10 for the first time. Johnson began by declaring that he wanted to end the feud between Downing Street cat Larry, and his rival across the street at the Foreign Office, Palmerston, who famously do not get on. He then apparently suggested the idea of getting a dog - to cries of approval from the assembled staffers. Insiders acknowledged that any new four-legged resident of Number 10 would have to get on with Larry, who was originally brought in by David Cameron to deal with the Downing Street mice. However a decision may be some way off. “It is a longer-term project,” a source said.
No 10 announces more middle-ranking ministerial appointments
Downing Street has just announced a new tranche of ministerial appointments.
Promotions
George Freeman has been made minister of state at transport. He was a junior minister until 2016, but since then he has been on the backbenches.
Annabel Goldie, a peer, has been made a minister of state at defence. She was a whip in the House of Lords.
Lord Ashton of Hyde has been made chief whip in the Lords. He was a junior culture minister.
Sideways moves
Nick Hurd, who was a minister of state at the Home Office, has been made minister of state at the Northern Ireland Office. But he remains minister for London.
Michael Ellis becomes solicitor general. He was a minister of state at transport.
Staying put
Lady Williams of Trafford remains minister of state at the Home Office and minister for equalities.
Lord Ahmad remains minister of state at the Foreign Office.
Lord Callanan remains minister of state at the Brexit department.
Irish deputy PM Simon Coveney says Boris Johnson putting UK on 'collision course with EU'
This is what Simon Coveney, the Irish deputy prime minister, said this morning about how Boris Johnson has put the UK “on a collision course” with the EU over Brexit. (See 11.56am.) Coveney said:
The statements of the British prime minister yesterday in the House of Commons were very unhelpful to this process.
He seems to have made a deliberate decision to set Britain on a collision course with the European Union and with Ireland in relation to the Brexit negotiations, and I think only he can answer the question as to why he is doing that.
Coveney described Johnson’s comments as “very bad from a Brexit negotiations perspective” and said his approach “is not the basis for an agreement”. He went on:
I think from a Brexit negotiating perspective, it was a very bad day yesterday, we will have to wait whether that message coming from London changes in the weeks ahead.
Yesterday "was a very bad day" from a #Brexit negotiating perspective.
— Darran Marshall (@DarranMarshall) July 26, 2019
Tánaiste @SimonCoveney says "we will have to wait and see if the message coming from London changes in the weeks ahead." pic.twitter.com/rlEMe7gaan
Steve Baker, the Tory Brexiter and deputy chair of the European Research Group, has told the Evening Standard that he is is worried Boris Johnson will ask MPs to back “a ‘compromise’ withdrawal agreement with a time limit on the backstop”, Joe Murphy reports. Baker and his fellow ERG hardliners think only the complete removal of the backstop would be acceptable.
In his Commons statement yesterday Johnson did say the backstop would have to go for good. He told MPs:
If an agreement is to be reached it must be clearly understood that the way to the deal goes by way of the abolition of the backstop.
Downing Street repeated this line this morning, also using the word “abolition”. (See 12.38pm.)
But, for reasons that are perhaps understandable, some Tory MPs are perhaps worried that Johnson does not always mean what he says.
Downing Street lobby briefing - Summary
Here is a full summary of the Downing Street lobby briefing.
- No 10 is playing down the prospect of Brexit talks with the EU reopening until Brussels agrees to drop the backstop. The prime minister’s spokesman said that Boris Johnson spoke to Emmanuel Macron, the French president, last night. Describing the call, the spokesman said:
The purpose of the call was to congratulate the prime minister. They did discuss Brexit.
When the prime minister has these conversations with fellow leaders and the discussion moves onto Brexit, he will be setting out the same message which he delivered in the House of Commons yesterday and in his conversation with President Juncker.
He wants to do a deal. He will be energetic in trying to seek that deal but the withdrawal Agreement has been rejected three times by the House of Commons. It is not going to pass. That means reopening the withdrawal agreement and securing the abolition of the backstop.
The spokesman was repeatedly asked when talks with the EU on Brexit might resume. The spokesman said the UK was ready to engage in talks, but he also kept repeating the point about the need for the EU to accept the need to get rid of the backstop. He said:
We are clear-eyed about what needs to happen if we are going to be able to secure a deal which parliament can support.
When asked if the UK would refuse to engage in fresh talks unless the EU agreed to change its stance on this point, the spokesman would not explicitly confirm that this was a precondition. But he did not deny it either, and he repeated the point about the current withdrawal agreement being unacceptable to the Commons.
- Johnson has formally added the title “minister for the union” to his job title, to stress his commitment to the union. This is a symbolic change that he promised during the leadership contest. The spokesman said Johnson confirmed this change to his job title at cabinet yesterday.
- The spokesman said that Johnson had “positive discussions” on the phone last night with Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, Mark Drakeford, Wales’s first minister, Arlene Forster, the leader of the DUP, and Michelle O’Neill, the leader of Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland. Johnson stressed in those calls that he would be a prime minister for the whole of the UK, the spokesman said.
- Johnson has not received a congratulatory call from Donald Trump, the US president, since his arrival in Number 10, the spokesman confirmed.
- The spokesman said the government’s fiscal targets for debt and borrowing are under review.
- The spokesman said there more minister of state appointments would be coming soon. After that Downing Street would start appointing the most junior ministers, he said. Number 10 hopes to get as many of those appointments as possible done today, the spokesman added.
- The spokesman was unable to say whether cabinet would meet on Tuesday next week.
Updated
The French government has warned Boris Johnson against playing games with the Irish border after the new British prime minister demanded the ditching of the backstop, my colleague Daniel Boffey reports.
At its regular briefing the European Commission also said that there are no meetings scheduled yet between the EU and Boris Johnson’s government. The commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, spoke to Johnson on the phone yesterday, and said officials remain available should the UK wish to hold talks. But today the commission’s spokeswoman, Natasha Bertaud, said:
I have no further announcements in terms of timing or planning of that to announce today.
She added that the commission noted Johnson’s announcement that he would not nominate a UK commissioner for the incoming administration under Ursula von der Leyen, who is expected to take office on November 1, after the Brexit deadline. The EU’s “working assumption” was for an October 31 Brexit but if the UK was still in the EU on November 1 “this is a bridge that we will cross when we come to it”, Bertaud said.
David Mundell, who was sacked as Scottish secretary by Boris Johnson on Tuesday, has said he “will not shirk” from challenging the new prime minister if his policies risk boosting calls for Scotland’s independence.
Mundell had been openly hostile to Johnson’s leadership bid, making it widely known he feared his populist and at time jingoistic brand of politics, and his openness to a no deal Brexit, threatens the future of the UK.
In a commentary piece for the Scottish edition of the Daily Mail, Mundell, who served as Scottish Office minister and then Scottish secretary for nine years, suggested he was hopeful that Johnson was listening to those anxieties and would act on them.
Insisting he was willing to accept Johnson’s assurances that the chances of a no deal Brexit “were a million to one against”, his article was peppered to coded warnings. Mundell said Sturgeon wanted to ensure a no deal departure would be “chaotic” and boost independence. He went on:
The new prime minister must work hard to ensure that does not happen. Having listened carefully to everything he has had to say over the past few weeks, I’m hopeful ...
I take the prime minister at his word, but I made clear that I see my role as a backbench MP as holding him to account on his commitment to the union – and I will not shirk from doing so.
These are from my colleague Lisa O’Carroll, who has been following Simon Coveney, the Irish deputy prime minister’s, meeting with the new Northern Ireland secretary, Julian Smith, at Stormont.
PA reporting from Coveney presser:
— lisa o'carroll (@lisaocarroll) July 26, 2019
Yesterday was a very bad day for Brexit negotiations perspective
NEW: Coveney press (via press association)
— lisa o'carroll (@lisaocarroll) July 26, 2019
IRELAND'S COVENEY SAYS APPROACH BY UK'S JOHNSON IS NOT THE BASIS FOR AN AGREEMENT
Coveney: - Johnson's comments designed to set UK on collision course with the EU
— lisa o'carroll (@lisaocarroll) July 26, 2019
Coveney: - Boris Johnson's comments in House of Commons have been very unhelpful
— lisa o'carroll (@lisaocarroll) July 26, 2019
Coveney says hopes to have deal on restoring Stormont "concluded in a matter of weeks"
— lisa o'carroll (@lisaocarroll) July 26, 2019
Updated
No 10 plays down prospect of Brexit talks with EU reopening until Brussels agrees to change backstop
I’m just back from the Downing Street lobby briefing. Here are the three main lines
- No 10 is playing down the prospect of Brexit talks with the EU reopening until Brussels agrees to change the backstop. The prime minister’s spokesman did not explicitly say there would be no negotiations this summer, but, when asked if the UK was requesting talks, he repeatedly said that the EU would have to accept the need for the withdrawal agreement to change before there would be any point in the two sides meeting. Boris Johnson set out his views in a conversation with Emmanuel Macron, the French president, last night.
- Johnson has formally added the title “minister for the union” to his job title, to stress his commitment to the union. This is a symbolic change that he promised during the leadership contest.
- Johnson has not received a congratulatory call from Donald Trump, the US president, since his arrival in Number 10, the spokesman confirmed.
I will post a full summary soon.
Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, has restated her view that congress will not pass a UK-US trade deal if Boris Johnson’s government puts the open border between Ireland and Northern Ireland at risk, the Irish Times reports. Pelosi said:
We made it clear in our conversations with senior members of the Conservative party earlier this year that there should be no return to a hard border on the island. That position has not changed. Any trade deal between the US and Great Britain would have to be cognisant of that.
I’m off to the Number 10 lobby briefing now. I will post again after 11.30am.
Some figures in the Boris Johnson camp are pushing back against the conventional media assumption, which has been fuelled by what Johnson has been doing and saying over the last 48 hours, that he is planning for an early general election. This is from the Spectator’s James Forsyth.
Leading Number 10 figure tells me that there’s no plan for an election in September and that the focus is on leaving on October 31st without a general election. Am informed that this has been made extremely clear to both Downing Street SPADs and officials
— James Forsyth (@JGForsyth) July 26, 2019
And this is from the political blogger Guido Fawkes (real name - Paul Staines), who was actively campaigning for Johnson to become Tory leader.
Punditocracy already deciding that the primary mission of the government is to get re-elected. Wishful thinking. Primary mission of that team in Downing Street is to Brexit. An election before Brexiting is a possibility, not the priority.
— Guido Fawkes (@GuidoFawkes) July 26, 2019
Good news for all those in Downing Street working on the reshuffle: Peter Bone, the outspoken Tory Brexiter, is available to serve. Bone, a serial rebel, is one of those MPs assumed at Westminster to be destined for a lifetime on the backbenches, but when he was asked on Sky’s All Out Politics if he would take a job in Boris Johnson’s government, he replied:
Yeah, I would, actually. The odds of that are extremely unlikely. But I would, because I want to support Boris. I went up and down the country running the ‘Back Boris’ rallies to support him.
He also said he was not concerned by the reports that his fellow hardline Brexiter Steve Baker turned down a job in government. He suggested that had more to do with Baker wanting to replace Nicky Morgan (back in cabinet now as culture secretary) as chair of the Commons Treasury committee than with Baker having doubts about Johnson’s commitment to Brexit.
According to Jim Pickard and Gillian Tett in today’s Financial Times (paywall), Nigel Farage, the Brexit party leader, and some Donald Trump supporters in the US are backing a new group, World4Brexit, which is being set up to lobby for Brexit. Farage told the FT he was not convinced Boris Johnson will deliver Brexit.
Mr Farage, speaking just before the fundraiser at the New York Athletic Club in Manhattan, said the donations would all be “above the board and legal”.
The cash would not go to political candidates and would be used to “dig deep, find out who is really running the show”, according to the fundraising documents ...
Mr Farage said that W4B was still in a “start-up” phase, and had been organised “at the American end” by Gerry Gunster, the American political strategist who in 2016 helped Leave.EU, the unofficial referendum campaign for the UK to leave the EU.
Its fundraising literature said “we have donors from all across the United States and across the globe”, and stressed that “all our money [raised] will follow the letter of the law in the eyes of the IRS”. As a not-for-profit organisation, it can take donations ranging from $5 to $5,000.
As Pickard says, World4Brexit is also making false claims about how much the billionaire philanthropist George Soros has donated to remain campaigns.
The new Farage-linked group, World4Brexit, is telling potential donors that George Soros has given “tens of millions” to the Remain cause.
— Jim Pickard (@PickardJE) July 26, 2019
In reality the only Soros donations I can find so far (to Best For Britain) amount to under £1m. pic.twitter.com/bwfldQAgut
There were three council byelections yesterday. Nigel Farage’s Brexit party was putting up candidates for the first time in council byelections in two of the wards. They did not win, and instead the Lib Dems gained two seats.
Britain Elects has the results.
Three council by-elections tonight: two in Gloucester (one Conservative defence, one Labour); and one in Hartlepool (Labour defence).
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) July 25, 2019
Our @andrewteale previews them for you here: https://t.co/rjsxaDRa3B
Hart (Hartlepool) result:
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) July 25, 2019
LAB: 30.5% (+1.3)
INDU: 29.8% (+29.8)
GRN: 16.3% (+12.7)
FBM: 13.8% (+13.8)
UKIP: 9.5% (-17.7)
Labour HOLD.
No Independent (-20.3) and Conservative (-19.7) as previous.
INDU: Independent Union.
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) July 25, 2019
FBM: For Britain Movement.
Podsmead (Gloucester) result:
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) July 25, 2019
LDEM: 30.0% (+30.0)
CON: 29.6% (-18.5)
LAB: 18.0% (-33.9)
BREX: 16.4% (+16.4)
GRN: 4.3% (+4.3)
UKIP: 1.6% (+1.6)
Liberal Democrat GAIN from Labour.
Lib Dem gain by just three votes. https://t.co/e9IL0lgo9C
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) July 25, 2019
Barnwood (Gloucester) result:
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) July 25, 2019
LDEM: 46.5% (+15.1)
CON: 34.1% (-6.0)
BREX: 10.5% (+10.5)
LAB: 4.4% (-6.9)
GRN: 4.1% (-1.3)
UKIP: 0.4% (-11.2)
Liberal Democrat GAIN from Conservative.
And here is the Press Association story.
Simon Coveney, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, is meeting the new Northern Ireland secretary Julian Smith at 10am, in the first British-Irish engagement since Boris Johnson became prime minister.
Smith is in Belfast this morning for his first round of meetings with parties at Stormont followed by a trip to Derry this afternoon.
The former chief whip is said to have been the Democratic Unionist party’s choice as new secretary of state as they have come to know him well in Westminster.
The meeting with Coveney be the first opportunity for the two sides to discuss Brexit in the wake of Johnson’s combative exchanges of the past 24 hours.
Getting Stormont up and running again is a stated priority of Johnson.
In an interview with ITV’s Robert Peston a week ago he said “ideally you want Stormont up and running” and the “chain of command” restored in region, which has been without devolved government for more than two years.
On the Today programme this morning Bertie Ahern, who was Irish prime minister at the time of the Good Friday agreement said that Boris Johnson was being “not bright” in trying to make 31 October a rigid deadline for Brexit. He told the programme:
I just don’t see how such a tight timescale - [it’s] nothing to do with the determination, or skill, or ability, or anything - just to agree a whole new agreement, it’s just very hard to see how that can be done by Halloween.
Commenting on Johnson’s claim that technology can provide an alternative to controls at the Irish border after Brexit, he said:
I think we should all avoid trying to come up with simplistic solutions that this can all be done just by waving a hand or the stroke of a pen.
It is complex, it is difficult, it is new, and I think forcing a deadline into that is not bright, and I put it no stronger than that.
These are from Alan Travis, the Guardian’s former long-serving home affairs editor, on the announcement about extra police officers.
Wouldn't it make more sense to recruit 10,000 extra mental health nurses and 10,000 extra police officers rather than 20,000 extra police? Much growing demand on the police result of cuts to other services..
— Alan Travis (@alantravis40) July 26, 2019
Metropolitan police have said that 40% of their time is spent dealing with incidents that 'have a mental health element". Kent police say 30%.
— Alan Travis (@alantravis40) July 26, 2019
And this is from John Sutherland, a former police officer who blogs on policing.
Turns out that crime wasn’t down.
— John Sutherland (@policecommander) July 26, 2019
Turns out that police reform wasn’t working.
Boris Johnson sets up national policing board as he says hiring 20,000 more officers starts 'within weeks'
It’s Boris Johnson’s second full day in office and, in a move that will do nothing to quell suspicions that we’ve already slipped into the early phase of a general election campaign, Johnson has announced that he will start the process of recruiting 20,000 extra police officers “within weeks”. Interestingly, he also says that he will set up a new national policing board to ensure that police forces do hire the extra officers needed.
Here is an explanation from the news release.
Chaired by the home secretary and bringing together key police leaders, it will hold the police to account for meeting this target and drive the national response to the most pressing issues that affect communities right across the country.
The National Police Chiefs Council has put out a statement from its chairman, Martin Hewitt, welcoming the announcement, saying that having a new board will “enable us work together to prioritise operational focus and investment in order to have the maximum impact in keeping the public safe.” But in an interview on the Today programme the council’s chief executive Mike Cunningham said that hiring the extra officers would not be straightforward. He explained:
There are a wide variety of logistical challenges that come with the recruitment process ... Not just getting people through the doors, [but] the assessment process, the attraction, recruitment campaigns, the vetting, all of those sorts of logistical challenges, and then of course training people, making sure they are fit for the responsibilities that they have.
And Labour says Johnson cannot be trusted to honour the promise he has made. In a statement Louise Haigh, the shadow policing minister, said:
When it comes to policing, Boris Johnson simply cannot be trusted. He served in a government which promised to protect the police, then voted for brutal real-terms cuts.
As mayor of London, he vowed to recruit thousands of officers, but police numbers fell on his watch.
The damage caused by these broken promises and brutal cuts cannot be reversed and the know-how that thousands of experienced bobbies brought to the job is gone for good - at a time when we’ve never needed it more.
We should hear more from the prime minister himself later. Number 10 are holding a lobby briefing this morning, and Johnson is doing a visit in the Midlands in the afternoon.
Parliament is in recess, and the Westminster diary is empty, but the reshuffle of junior ministers is continuing, and so we should get more names announced today.
As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I plan to publish a summary when I wrap up.
You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe roundup of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads.
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Updated
Andrew – with all eyes on a possible vote of No Confidence as a way of stopping Boris Johnson as PM taking the UK out of the EU on No Deal:
Given that a vote of NC would lead to a General Election, after a cooling off period of 14 days when the PM would try to turn things round (and 25 working days to prepare, after Parliament is dissolved), how can MPs force the date of the GE to be set before 31st October?
It is the PM who advises the Queen to set the date – which is made by proclamation.
As Johnson is PM what is to stop him, for example, setting the date for 1st November?
And to replace him as PM without a General Election (the so-called government of national unity idea) without his agreement has no precedent and would, arguably, be unconstitutional - if even possible.
Johnson remains PM until he resigns and the Queen asks the new leader of the party with the most seats in the Commons to form a government.
I’m beginning to wonder if the FTPA 2011 is a block to removing Johnson as PM before the 31st October without his cooperation and resignation.
What is your solution to this conundrum?
Thank you.