Welcome to the Guardian’s weekly Brexit briefing. If you would like to receive this as a weekly email, please sign up here. And you can catch our monthly Brexit Means … podcast here. For daily updates, follow the indefatigable Andrew Sparrow and the politics live blog.
Top stories
Last week started with the Brexit party’s MEPs turning their backs in the European parliament and ended with the leak of emails from the British ambassador in the US referring to “vicious infighting and chaos” within the Trump administration.
Kim Darroch’s memos were leaked to a pro-Brexit journalist at the Mail on Sunday, and there was speculation that the motive might have been to exact revenge for what Brexiters see as a failure to promote a pro-Brexit Britain in Washington.
There were also suggestions that the leak would stop the new PM from appointing a pro-EU ambassador when Darroch leaves by the end of the year. Nigel Farage said Darroch was “totally unsuitable to remain as our man in the US”.
Farage’s Brexit party colleague Ann Widdecombe used her maiden speech as an MEP to liken Brexit to the emancipation of slaves.
Elsewhere, the perils of no deal remain the focus of many, and there have been a series of warnings from former civil servants. Philip Rycroft, the former permanent secretary at the Department for Exiting the EU, said the public should be worried about no deal, while a former official in charge of delivering a frictionless border in Ireland and Dover said that just because planning for the worst-possible scenario was good, “it doesn’t mean everything will be fine”.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Brexit chief, Tim Mairs, went on record to tell the BBC’s Panorama programme that no deal would be a recruitment opportunity for the New IRA.
What about the Tory leadership campaign?
Boris Johnson, who has pledged that the UK will leave the EU on 31 October “do or die”, is stretching his lead over his rival, Jeremy Hunt, two polls over the weekend suggest.
His biggest problem remains the parliamentary arithmetic on Brexit. On Monday the Tory backbencher Dominic Grieve launched another attempt to block no-deal with an amendment to the Northern Ireland bill, claiming he would get “30-plus” Tories onside.
According to the Sunday Times, Johnson has considered offering the people of Northern Ireland their own referendum on whether the region should stay in the customs union. Such as poll would not warm the hearts of the Democratic Unionist party and is therefore unlikely to be a runner.
What else?
The Labour MP Kate Hoey, who has enraged many of the party’s supporters in her London constituency with her support for a hard Brexit, is standing down at the next election.
Jaguar Land Rover, which has previously issued warnings about the future of the UK car industry after a no-deal Brexit, had some good news for workers, announcing it would invest billions in producing new electric vehicles in Britain.
The European commission settled on its nominees to take over from Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk: the little-tipped German defence minister, Ursula von der Leyen, and the former Belgian prime minister Charles Michel.
Labour splits over Brexit continue with Tom Watson urging grassroots members to sign up to a public declaration calling for Labour to be “the party of remain”, as a YouGov poll puts its ratings at 18%, its joint lowest ever ranking.
Other news
Boris Johnson is considering establishing six “Singapore-style” tax-free economic zones and says it could be a good idea for Belfast.
The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, rejects claims he has been urging Jeremy Corbyn to sack his two most senior aides over their stances on Brexit.
Threat of no deal causes sharpest drop in investment since financial crash.
Top comment
The psephologist Peter Kellner says polling shows an autumn election would offer a huge advantage for Johnson:
There is one big downside for Johnson in delaying an election. Labour might acquire a new leader. Its current support – even taking Ipsos Mori’s 24% rather than YouGov’s calamitous 18% – is simply awful for an opposition party facing a government whose record is less than glorious
Farewell tweet for Hoey
While there are many who dislike her politics on Brexit, her decision to stand down brought gratitude from local councillors who praised her “tireless” work in her constituency:
Thank you Kate for working tirelessly for your constituents you've been an excellent local MP who will be missed by those who you have championed over the last 30 years, whoever's the next MP is will have a hard act to follow.
— Andy Wilson (@cllr_andywilson) July 8, 2019
