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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Haroon Siddique and Mattha Busby

Brexit: Amber Rudd says Boris Johnson's language 'does incite violence' – as it happened

Amber Rudd said she was ‘disappointed and stunned’ by Boris Johnson’s comments on Jo Cox.
Amber Rudd said she was ‘disappointed and stunned’ by Boris Johnson’s comments on Jo Cox. Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP

Summary

Thanks for all your comments today. I’m going to leave you with a summary of the afternoon’s main developments:

  • The Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has backed the idea of Jeremy Corbyn becoming a caretaker prime minister, in a bid to secure an extension to the Brexit deadline. She said she agrees with installing the Labour leader as PM through a vote of no confidence in Boris Johnson. The Scottish Lib Dems said Corbyn was too divisive to lead a caretaker government.
  • The Labour MP Jess Phillips says she has received more threats after an incident outside her constituency office on Thursday when a man allegedly tried to smash her windows. She showed Sky News a message that said: “Unless you change your attitude, be afraid, be very afraid.”
  • Labour has condemned the veteran Conservative backbencher Desmond Swayne for defending wearing blackface makeup as an entirely acceptable bit of fun. His comments after Justin Trudeau’s admission he had worn blackface makeup were described by Dawn Butler as “another example of a politician not even trying to understand the history of oppression”.
  • The Labour MP David Lammy has criticised the columnist Brendan O’Neill after he said on BBC Politics Live that the delay to Brexit should have sparked riots. It came after the Times quoted an unnamed senior cabinet minister today who warned the country risked a “violent, popular uprising” if a second referendum overturned the result of the first.

Updated

Here is a last post to bring a smile to your face before I wrap up the blog with a summary. My eagle-eyed colleague Mattha Busby writes about an advert on the Working for an MP website posted by the Conservatives in the European Parliament:

The Eurosceptic Conservatives and Reformist Group in the European parliament, which includes Conservative MEPs, are recruiting an intern to begin work in Brussels at the European parliament on 1 November for six months, the day after the UK is expected to have left the EU.

The successful applicant for the role working for the Conservatives and Reformist Group will receive €1,500 a month and will work to “nurture the relationship between the group and the party now and beyond Brexit”.

It is made up of MEPs from rightwing parties across Europe such as Spain’s Vox, Brother’s of Italy, Poland’s Law and Justice, and Sweden Democrats, and the Tories have previously been criticised for their affiliation with the group.

Updated

Hugo Dixon, a supporter of the People’s Vote campaign, says that Nicola Sturgeon’s reasoning, that installing Jeremy Corbyn as a caretaker PM after a vote of no confidence in Boris Johnson could secure a Brexit extension, is flawed:

Updated

Boris Johnson has penned a piece for parliament’s the House magazine ahead of the Conservative party conference saying the UK will leave the EU by 31 October “come what may”. It does not really add much to the debate as there is no indication of how this will be achieved in light of the Benn Act, which was passed to prevent a no-deal Brexit. He writes:

We are leaving the European Union by 31 October come what may. This is absolutely crucial in order to renew and restore trust in our precious democracy. The British people have had enough of waiting; the constant message I hear from the public is that they are tired of delay. By getting on with the job we will unite and re-energise our great United Kingdom. I would much prefer the UK to leave the EU with a deal, and the government I lead is working flat out to do its part to make that happen. We have also stepped up preparations and will be fully prepared to leave without an agreement.

Updated

Unfortunately, as well as receiving support (see previous post), the Labour MP Jess Phillips has also received more threats overnight.

From Sky News:

It reads: “Unless you change your attitude, be afraid, be very afraid... wherever you are, keep looking over your shoulder. The person standing behind you may not be friendly. You and your remain friends have been warned.”

Ms Phillips said: “The other thing that happened yesterday is that all day the phones in my Westminster [office] had to eventually be switched off because the line was being jammed with people.

“I won’t say what they were shouting because I’m not sure it’s fit for the television, but using words like ‘traitor’,” the Labour MP added.

Asked if she’s had death threats she said: “Yeah, lots.”

Updated

This is Haroon Siddique back at the controls. A positive message from Jess Phillips to resume with. It is about the response to an incident outside her constituency office on Thursday when a man allegedly tried to smash her windows:

Updated

Following his exchange with the No 10 senior adviser Dominic Cummings yesterday, the Labour MP Karl Turner has issued this statement.

Updated

The Labour MP David Lammy has criticised the columnist Brendan O’Neill after he said on BBC Politics Live earlier that the delay to Brexit should have sparked riots.

It comes after the Times quoted an unnamed senior cabinet minister today who warned the country risked a “violent, popular uprising” if a second referendum overturned the result of the first, adding that it would only take “a couple of nasty populist frontmen to inspire people”.

Updated

A new civility awards scheme for politicians has been launched by members of the House of Lords and campaigners, after stormy proceedings in parliament on Wednesday were widely condemned.

The annual Civility in Politics prizes will be given out to politicians who have shown courtesy and decency through their work, with categories of bridge-builder of the year and campaigner of the year, political correspondent Kate Proctor reports.

Labour peer Lord Wood, one of the figures behind the awards, said: “Everyone agrees that politics in the UK is facing a crisis of trust and a crisis of civility.

“As divisions and bitterness mount in the continuing debates around Brexit, we strongly believe that politics must respond not by mirroring these trends, but by resisting them.”

Boris Johnson’s spokesman has insisted the government does not recognise a plan that Sir John Major warned could be used to circumvent the Benn Act, which is aimed at forcing the prime minister to seek a Brexit extension, Heather Stewart and Matthew Weaver report.

It comes after the former justice secretary David Gauke insisted ministers could not bypass the Benn law, which he described as “watertight”.

Labour has condemned the veteran Conservative backbencher Desmond Swayne for describing criticism of Justin Trudeau’s admission he had worn blackface makeup as “the latest absurdity of political correctness”.

In a post on his personal blog, the New Forest West MP said there had been no need for the Canadian prime minister to make a “cringing apology” for wearing what Trudeau called racist makeup to a costume party in 2001.

“It was a themed ‘Arabian Nights’ fancy-dress party for heaven’s sake!” Swayne wrote. “It comes to something when you can’t dress-up as Aladdin without attracting the opprobrium of the ‘great and good’. He would have done better to have said it was an entirely acceptable bit of fun and refused to apologise.”

Swayne went on: “I once went to a ‘Blues Brothers’ themed fancy-dress party as James Brown. I went to some trouble to be as authentic as possible. I can assure readers of this column that I have no intention of apologising.”

Dawn Butler, Labour’s shadow women and equalities secretary, said the comments were “another example of a politician not even trying to understand the history of oppression”.

She said: “The Tories need to explain what action will be taken against him and whether this took place while he was a government minister.”

Trudeau, who is in the midst of a re-election struggle, admitted last week that he could not recall how many times he had worn blackface makeup after footage emerged of a third occasion.

Updated

Here is some reaction to Nicola Sturgeon’s announcement that she would support Jeremy Corbyn as a caretaker prime minister.

The Scottish Liberal Democrat spokeswoman for constitutional relations, Wendy Chamberlain, said:

We need a plan that has a whiff of a chance of working. Liberal Democrats will back a temporary government to stop a no-deal Brexit but that cannot be led by the divisive Jeremy Corbyn.

The numbers don’t add up. Even Nicola Sturgeon has said that she doesn’t trust him. Jo Swinson is working hard across parties to build a majority at Westminster to stop the damage of Brexit. Anyone who wants to keep Scotland in the UK and the UK in the EU should vote for the Liberal Democrats.

Kirstene Hair, Conservative MP for Angus, said:

This confirms what many have long suspected – SNP MPs will happily prop up Jeremy Corbyn in No 10. There is no doubt that Corbyn’s weak stance on indyref2 is a deciding factor for the nationalists.

He has already left the door open for a re-run of the 2014 referendum if he becomes prime minister. Only a Conservative government will stand up for those who voted no in what was meant to be a once-in-a-generation event.

Elaborating on the SNP leader’s tweet earlier, a spokesman for the party said:

The SNP has led the way in ensuring Brexit can be stopped and in bringing parliament back into action after the Tories sought to shut down UK democracy, and we will continue to work with all opposition MPs to stop a no-deal Brexit and call a general election to remove this dangerous and undemocratic prime minister as soon as possible.

It is now possible – if the political will is there – that parties could come together to ensure that the letter to secure an extension is not left in the hands of Boris Johnson and his cronies, who are determined to find a way to get around the Benn Act, but is instead sent by a temporary caretaker prime minister, who would be in office only as long as is necessary to send the letter, with an election held immediately afterwards.

We remain open to all options to achieve the aim of stopping a no-deal Brexit and getting rid of Boris Johnson.

Updated

The deputy speaker Rosie Winterton has written to her fellow MPs today asking for their support in her effort to become the next Speaker of the House of Commons.

She said that she would build on her experience as deputy speaker and seek to be a stabilising, unifying speaker who could help resolve the tensions that have built up in recent times by working with all colleagues in a low-profile, consensus-building way.

“We must learn to disagree better,” she said.

The current Speaker, John Bercow, announced this month that he would step down by 31 October, after a decade in the role. Harriet Harman is seen as the frontrunner in the role to succeed him, alongside her fellow Labour MP Lindsay Hoyle, another deputy speaker.

Chris Bryant, another Labour MP, is among those also pitching for the position. He has pledged a “return to the rule book” in what has been described as an anti-Bercow campaign.

Updated

Sturgeon supports Corbyn as caretaker PM

Good afternoon, Mattha Busby here taking over from Haroon Siddique.

This is from PA Media:

Nicola Sturgeon has backed the idea of Jeremy Corbyn becoming a caretaker prime minister, in a bid to secure an extension to the Brexit deadline.

The Scottish first minister tweeted on Friday that she agrees with the idea of installing the Labour leader as PM through a vote of no confidence in the Conservative administration so he can secure a Brexit extension, before then calling an immediate general election.

In response to a tweet making the suggestion, Ms Sturgeon said: “Agree with this. VONC [vote of no confidence], opposition unites around someone for sole purpose of securing an extension, and then immediate general election.

“Nothing is risk free but leaving Johnson in post to force through no deal – or even a bad deal – seems like a terrible idea to me.”

Updated

Lunchtime summary

  • The former cabinet minister Amber Rudd has said Boris Johnson’s language “does incite violence”. Rudd who quit the cabinet and party earlier this month said she was stunned by his comments about Jo Cox and compared his rhetoric to that of Donald Trump.
  • Johnson, speaking in Essex, defended his description of legislation designed to prevent a no-deal Brexit as “surrender”. He argued that barring such language would have the effect of “impoverishing debate”.
  • A cross-party initiative has been launched to attempt to counter inflammatory language in parliament by issuing “civility in politics” awards.
  • The former justice minister David Gauke has dismissed fears, raised by John Major, that the government could bypass a law to force the government to delay Brexit beyond 31 October if no deal is agreed. Gauke, one of 21 Tory rebels fired from the party for supporting the Benn Act said it was “watertight”. Legal commentators concurred with Gauke’s comments.
  • Responding to Major, the PM’s spokesman said the former prime minister’s suggestion that the government could bypass the Benn Act via the privy council was “not something that we recognise”. A No 10 source described it as “total cobblers”.
  • The court of appeal in Belfast has dismissed an application that the British government’s Brexit policy will damage the Northern Ireland peace process. Three applicants failed in their appeal against a Belfast high court judgment that rejected their challenge against the government’s handling of the Brexit process.
  • Ministers do not know whether there are sufficient medicines, medical supplies or freight capacity to support the NHS if the UK leaves the EU without a deal next month, the National Audit Office has found.

Updated

Amid mounting concern about the use of inflammatory rhetoric in parliament, a cross-party initiative has been launched to attempt to counter it by highlighting those who refrain from such language.

Updated

Rudd says PM's language 'does incite violence'

The former cabinet minister Amber Rudd has accused Boris Johnson of inciting violence.

She told the Evening Standard:

The sort of language I’m afraid we’ve seen more and more of coming out from No 10 does incite violence. It’s the sort of language people think legitimises a more aggressive approach and sometimes violence.

She added: “The casual approach to safety of MPs and their staff is immoral,” and said she was “disappointed and stunned” by the prime minister’s comments relating to Jo Cox.

She said Johnson’s rhetoric reminded her of Donald Trump leading chants of “lock her up” against Hillary Clinton.

Amber Rudd
Amber Rudd. Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

Rudd resigned the Tory whip in solidarity with the 21 Tories who were expelled from the parliamentary party for voting to stop no-deal Brexit. She told the Standard she was considering standing as an independent Conservative.

Updated

From PA Media, on John Major’s comments:

Downing Street says it does not “recognise” fears flagged by Sir John Major that Boris Johnson could circumvent the Benn Act.

The former Tory prime minister said an order of council issued by ministers in the privy council could avoid the PM having to comply with a demand by MPs for Brexit to be extended if no deal is in place before 31 October.

Asked why ministers such as the international development secretary, Alok Sharma, had not been able to rule out the prospect in interviews, the prime minister’s spokesman said:

I’m sure that the fact these comments were going to be made came as a surprise to everyone because it is simply not something that we recognise.

A No 10 source said:

It is absolute nonsense and (I have) absolutely no idea where he has got it from. Total cobblers. We will not use it [order of council].

You will really have to ask him where he has got these from because it is a mystery to all involved.

Updated

Boris Johnson has once again defended the language he has used to describe the legislation aimed at blocking a no-deal Brexit.

Speaking on a visit to Harlow in Essex, he said:

I think the threats against MPs and particularly female MPs are absolutely appalling and we’re doing a lot of work to give MPs the security that they need.

But then there’s another question which is: can you use words like ‘surrender’ to describe a certain act or a certain bill?

And, quite frankly, I think that you can and if you say that you can’t then you’re kind of impoverishing the language and impoverishing political debate because, after all, the use of that kind of metaphor has been going on for hundreds of years.

Boris Johnson visits the Princess Alexandra hospital in Harlow to make an announcement on new patient scanning equipment
Boris Johnson visits the Princess Alexandra hospital in Harlow to make an announcement on new patient scanning equipment.
 Photograph: POOL/Reuters

Updated

More rubbishing from No 10 of John Major’s claim that Boris Johnson could try to use the privy council to prevent any delay to Brexit in the event that no deal has been agreed.

Updated

From PA Media:

The court of appeal in Belfast has dismissed an application that the British government’s Brexit policy will damage the Northern Ireland peace process.

Three applicants appealed against a Belfast high court judgment that rejected their challenge against the government’s handling of the Brexit process.

One of the applicants was high-profile victims’ campaigner Raymond McCord, whose son was murdered by loyalist paramilitaries in 1997.

It comes after the supreme court unanimously ruled that Prime Minister Boris Johnson acted unlawfully in shutting down parliament for five weeks.

The prime minister’s spokesman is pleading ignorance in relation to John Major’s accusation that Boris Johnson could seek to bypass the Benn Act via the privy council, according to the Mirror.

John Major’s speech is not the only development to raise fears about potential attempts to subvert the Benn Act.

City AM reports that the government believes it is able to circumvent the act requiring it to delay Britain’s departure from the EU in the absence of a withdrawal agreement by (irony alert) invoking EU law.

The article says:

A closely guarded plan known to a small handful of aides would see the government point to the fact that article 50 rests under EU law, while the Benn Act is enshrined in British law.

“European law usurps British law,” a source told City AM. “That means the article 50 deadline trumps the Benn Act.”

No 10 has repeatedly said it will comply with the law, while simultaneously insisting the UK will leave the EU by Halloween. This plan could see both seemingly contradictory statements come to fruition.

One high-ranking Tory MP described the plan as legal, albeit a ‘wheeze’.

It should be noted that legal experts have said any attempt to subvert the Benn Act would be unlawful.

Updated

The former justice secretary David Gauke has rejected the idea that ministers can use a loophole to bypass a law which forces Boris Johnson to seek a Brexit extension, my colleague Matthew Weaver writes.

Gauke, one of 21 Tory rebels who had the party whip removed for voting for the Benn Act, warned Boris Johnson he would face instant legal challenge if he tried to avoid it.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:

The Benn Act is watertight. The overwhelming legal consensus is that the courts will declare that the Benn Act is effective, and the government will be forced to comply with it ...

I don’t know whether it will be me personally, but if it is necessary for it to be challenged, it will be challenged.

And there is time from the 19 October and the 31 October, to go to the courts and ensure that the law is properly applied.

The former Brexit secretary David Davis has weighed into the debate on the language used in parliament, defending Boris Johnson’s description of the legislation aimed at blocking no deal as a “surrender bill”.

Speaking at a conference in Westminster, Davis said:

The effect of the Benn bill is to undermine the government. I deplore the abuse received by MPs (from the public), but it should not be used as an argument for suppressing debate.

Updated

There are a couple of interesting stories around concerning preparedness for Brexit.

This, by my colleague Rajeev Syal, says ministers do not know whether there are sufficient medicines, medical supplies or freight capacity to support the NHS if the UK leaves the EU without a deal next month, the National Audit Office has found.

Meanwhile, Schools Week reports that the the Department for Education has denied the existence of preparation plans for a no-deal Brexit that it claimed existed just two months ago.

Schools Week reports that when it asked the Education and Skills Funding Agency for details of the “decisive action” it previously said it had taken, the agency told it that while it had “discussed the possible contribution of staff as volunteers to be seconded to other government departments for EU exit preparations, there were no specific plans in place regarding discontinuation of work or the allocation of staff numbers or roles to any particular department”.

Updated

David Allen Green’s comments (see below) dismissing the idea that the government can get round the Benn Act, echo those made by others.

They include Jolyon Maugham QC, a leading lawyer in the fight against Boris Johnson’s prorogation of parliament and Mark Elliot, professor of public law at Cambridge University.

The legal commentator David Allen Green has rejected the notion that Boris Johnson could get round the Benn Act via the privy council and says judges would swiftly repudiate any attempt to do so.

Updated

Here is a link to the full text of John Major’s speech warning that Boris Johnson might try to bypass the law preventing no deal.

http://www.johnmajorarchive.org.uk/2015-2/sir-john-majors-speech-at-the-centre-for-european-reform-26-september-2019/

Updated

The international development secretary, Alok Sharma, refused to answer this morning when asked how the government could abide by the Benn Act and yet still leave the European Union on 31 October.

He told the BBC:

I’m not going to set out discussions that have occurred in the privacy of cabinet.

We are absolutely going to comply with the law, we are working incredibly hard to get a deal and we will be leaving on 31 October.

Sharma also said Johnson was right to label the Benn Act, the “surrender act”.

He said:

If you look at the fundamentals of what that bill does, it does surrender our ability to have effective discussions with the European Union and it does surrender our ability to be able to walk away from the table if that is what happens.

We are surrendering our ability to negotiate effectively with the EU. If you were going into a negotiation with both hands tied behind your back, would you not think it somehow a form of capitulation?

In his speech, Major also criticised the language being used by Johnson and others. He said:

We abhor the language of division and hate - and words such as ‘saboteur’, ‘traitor’, ‘enemy’, ‘surrender’, ‘betrayal’ have no place in our party, our politics, nor in our society.

It is emphatically not who we are as a people. And must never be seen as so.

Updated

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the day’s political news. This is Haroon Siddique standing in for Andrew Sparrow.

We’re leading today with the news that the former Conservative prime minister John Major has warned that 10 Downing Street’s current incumbent could seek to subvert the Benn Act, which requires the prime minister to seek an extension to the Brexit withdrawal date beyond 31 October if a withdrawal agreement has not been ratified by then.

In a speech to the the Centre for European Reform, Major said he feared Boris Johnson could try – via the privy council – to bypass the Benn Act by suspending it until after 31 October.

He said:

My fear is that the government will seek to bypass statute law, by passing an order of council to suspend the act until after 31 October.

It is important to note that an order of council can be passed by privy councillors – that is government ministers – without involving Her Majesty the Queen.

I should warn the prime minister that – if this route is taken – it will be in flagrant defiance of parliament and utterly disrespectful to the supreme court.

It would be a piece of political chicanery that no one should ever forgive or forget.

Major also accused Johnson of “wilfully” destroying the prospects of cross-party agreement on Brexit with his Commons onslaught on the opposition.

We’ll be mopping up all the reaction to Major’s speech and covering the other political developments today.

If you want to get in touch, the best way is to tweet me at @Haroon_Siddique.

Updated

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