Evening summary
- Sajid Javid, the home secretary, has depicted himself as the change candidate in the Conservative leadership election, dismissing Boris Johnson, the favourite, as “yesterday’s news”. At a launch event where he stressed his upbringing as the son of immigrant parents, and the contrast with his more privileged rivals, he said the Tories needed a “new kind of leadership from new kind of leader”. Asked how he differed from Johnson, Javid said:
I’m a change candidate. Boris Johnson is yesterday’s news.
He’s been around in politics for a while, he’s achieved a lot, he’s still got a big role to play, but I think if we are trying to connect with the next generation and move forward as a country then I think it’s time for the next generation with a bold new agenda.
What I can do in terms of the policies, I think being able to articulate the policies, it’s not just about articulating that core message – I think the messenger makes a real difference as well.
- Javid claimed his background as a leading international banker gave him the experience needed to deliver a Brexit deal. Asked how he would be able to agree a deal, he said:
When I look at my own experience of doing deals – big international deals in the 19, 20-year career I had before I came into politics – I started at the bottom of the finance industry and finished towards the top, and that was because I built a reputation of doing many multibillion-dollar deals, including some of the largest financing and bond transactions the world had ever seen. And they weren’t easy. They weren’t straightforward. They were all involving negotiation, involving competition to win the deals.
So, while I think no one has got perfect experience to deliver Brexit because no one has done anything like it before, I think with that experience that I’ve got outside government and the experience I’ve got in government … I think I’m in a very good position to get a good Brexit deal for the United Kingdom.
That’s all from me for tonight.
Thanks for the comments.
Updated
Brexit party at 'high risk' of accepting impermissible donations, says Electoral Commission
Turning away from the debate, the Electoral Commission has said that Nigel Farage’s Brexit party is at a “high and ongoing risk” of accepting impermissible donations. As the Press Association reports, the commission said the party’s system of using its online platform for donors to contribute small sums created “additional risk” in relation to compliance with the laws on political funding. In a statement it said:
The Electoral Commission visited the Brexit party on Tuesday 21 May to review the systems it has in place to receive funds. We have concluded that the fundraising structure adopted by the party leaves it open to a high and ongoing risk of receiving and accepting impermissible donations. We have made recommendations that will, if implemented by the party, achieve and maintain robust procedures for receiving funds and help it comply with its legal requirements.
In response, the Brexit party said the commission had confirmed its method of fundraising was legitimate and had been adopted by other political parties and campaigners. It went on:
They haven’t found any examples of infringement of Electoral Commission rules
However, we are grateful that they have made some helpful suggestions to reduce future risk as we fundraise and we will be working to embrace those recommendations as soon as practicable and possible and in the time frame set out.
We trust that the Electoral Commission have been applying the same oversight and rigour to the other political parties and their fund-raising.
Sajid Javid's campaign launch – verdict from Twitter commentariat
This is what political journalists and commentators are saying on Twitter about the Sajid Javid campaign launch.
From the Financial Times’ Robert Shrimsley
As these things go, Javid was pretty good. He had a story and he told it pretty well.
— robert shrimsley (@robertshrimsley) June 12, 2019
From the Guardian’s Peter Walker
Javid is carefully but very definitely adopting the language of populism in this speech - talks about being on the side of the "people", versus the "Westminster elite", and the "cartels". It's quite fluffy populism, but still populism.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) June 12, 2019
From the FT’s Sebastian Payne
That was @sajidjavid’s best speech to date: impassioned, funny yet serious at times, telling his backstory and his (broad) plans for the future too. Some of Ruth Davidson has clearly rubbed off on him, delivery improved from the robotic stiffness in the past.
— Sebastian Payne (@SebastianEPayne) June 12, 2019
From the BBC’s Norman Smith
Cd @sajidjavid be the big upset in this Tory contest ? A desperately slow start but big gear change with powerful launch. Best so far. Oh....and he's got a mad looking dog.
— norman smith (@BBCNormanS) June 12, 2019
From my colleague Gaby Hinsliff
If Javid had governed half as well as he tells a story on the campaign trail, can't help feeling this leadership contest might have been different.
— Gaby Hinsliff (@gabyhinsliff) June 12, 2019
From Sky’s Beth Rigby
Javid making his own ‘populist’ pitch as the political outsider from an immigrant background and on the side of ordinary people. “It wasn’t birthright that got me where I am today. It was hard work, public services and family”
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) June 12, 2019
From the Independent’s Jane Merrick
This is an amazing leadership speech by Sajid Javid. Has the contest saved the best til last? Promises “a leader not just for Christmas, not just for Brexit”
— Jane Merrick (@janemerrick23) June 12, 2019
Updated
The 10 Tories and eight Labour MPs who defied the party whip on no-deal vote
Back to the no-deal vote earlier, and here is the Commons division list showing the MPs who backed the cross-party motion. They included 10 Conservatives who were defying the government whip: Guto Bebb (Aberconwy), Kenneth Clarke (Rushcliffe), Jonathan Djanogly (Huntingdon), Justine Greening (Putney), Dominic Grieve (Beaconsfield), Sam Gyimah (East Surrey), Phillip Lee (Bracknell), Oliver Letwin (West Dorset), Antoinette Sandbach (Eddisbury), Caroline Spelman (Meriden).
And here is the list of MPs who voted against. They included eight Labour MPs who were defying the whip: Kevin Barron (Rother Valley), Ronnie Campbell (Blyth Valley), Jim Fitzpatrick (Poplar and Limehouse), Caroline Flint (Don Valley), Stephen Hepburn (Jarrow), Kate Hoey (Vauxhall), John Mann (Bassetlaw), Graham Stringer (Blackley and Broughton).
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Sajid Javid's campaign launch – Snap verdict
People who give presentations for a living will tell you it is always best to be the first person to make a sales pitch to the customers or the last, because these are the ones people tend to remember. Sajid Javid was the last of the 10 Tory leadership contenders on the ballot tomorrow to hold his formal campaign launch, and it was definitely one of the best – and probably the one that most surpassed expectations. It may be too late, but this did feel like an event that might persuade a sceptical selectorate (in terms of declared MP supporters, Javid is struggling) to think again.
Javid’s personal story is well known and he spoken many times before about how he was brought up by immigrant parents who were poor but who were hardworking and loving. In the past, particularly when he first got a cabinet job, he was seen as a wooden speaker devoid of charisma. You would not say that about him today, and this speech, in terms of emotional reach, was probably the best he’s ever given. More importantly, he managed to connect his own experience to the plight of the Conservative party and its need to sound less privileged, and his argument – particularly the line about how the Scottish Tories are winning votes because they “threw out central casting and they elected someone totally different [Ruth Davidson]” – was a persuasive one. His policy offerings were routine and his Brexit solution sounded even more fanciful than most of the others in this contest. But in most elections, it is easier being the change candidate than the status quo candidate, and Javid convincingly presented himself as the most changey person on the ticket.
Updated
Q: When did you decide that Theresa May had cut police numbers too far?
Javid says that even before he became home secretary, he was concerned the cuts had gone too far.
But he was bound by collective responsibility, he says. He says that was right.
But he is speaking out now because he is running for leader, and people need to know what he would and would not do, he says.
And that’s it. The press conference is over.
Updated
Javid has now taken questions from all the journalists on the list he had of news organisations he was planning to call. He says he will take questions from others in the room.
Someone who is head of private wealth at a law firm asks what he would do to stop members of the armed forces being prosecuted for historical allegations.
Javid says he is not happy with the current situation. He would ask his attorney general as a priority to stop these sorts of cases.
Updated
Q: Are you worried your campaign has started too slowly?
Javid says he is happy with the way it is going, although he is worried his dog Bailey (which features in Javid’s video) is becoming more popular than he is.
Q: Do the Tories have a problem with Islamophobia?
Javid says he thinks there is a growing problem with Islamophobia in society at large.
He does not think the Conservatives have a particular problem. But people should speak out if they hear something objectionable, he says. He says he would be happy for an organisation to come in and look at the party’s record.
Updated
Q: Why do you think you could get the EU to offer a Brexit deal?
Javid says having a new team will make a difference. There have been reports that the EU will be more flexible.
He says he started in the City at the bottom. He ended up near the top. He spent his career doing deals, doing some of the biggest bond trades in the world.
Q: Would you appoint someone who has taken class A drugs as home secretary?
Javid says that is a reference to his good friend Michael Gove. He says Gove is big enough himself to defend his record.
Q: Do you regret depriving Shamima Begum of her citizenship?
Javid says he cannot comment on individual cases such as this.
But he says as home secretary, his priority is to keep the country safe. And he says, when he receives advice from security officials, people would expect him to take it.
Updated
Javid says he would not push to change abortion laws.
Updated
Javid dismisses Boris Johnson as 'yesterday's news'
Q: What are the main differences between you and the favourite, Boris Johnson?
Javid says he is a change candidate.
Boris Johnson is yesterday’s news. He’s been around in politics for a while.
Javid says his life experience is different. He can connect with 90% of the country.
Updated
Sajid Javid's Q&A
Javid starts by taking a question from Sky’s Beth Rigby.
And he says she does not need to worry about anyone booing her for doing her job.
That is a reference to what MPs supporting Boris Johnson were doing at this morning’s event. Javid’s comment goes down very well with journalists.
Q: Are you worried the Tories are turning into the ‘nasty party’?
Javid says he is worried about politicians “around the world” promoting division.
(That seems to be a reference to Donald Trump.)
And he claims Jeremy Corbyn is already pursuing divisive politics.
He wants to bring people together, he says.
Q: Are you saying Boris Johnson is like Trump?
Javid says of course we need vigorous debate. But he wants to bring people together.
Updated
Javid says it is almost two centuries since Benjamin Disraeli coined the concept of one-nation conservatism.
It is no coincidence he was an outsider (Disraeli was Jewish).
Now it is time for another outsider to revive the party.
Javid’s family came here for freedom and prosperity. He has always been an optimist. And he feels an obligation to his family to secure the country’s future, so it remains a beacon.
Updated
Javid says he wants to see more police on the streets.
And he wants to continue investing in the NHS.
He says he has a supportive family. The government must support families in everything it does, he says.
Javid says the UK needs world-class public services.
It needs fiscal responsibility – keeping debt going down.
And it needs a more balanced economy and investment in the whole of the UK.
He says people argue we should not obsess so much about growth.
But he does care about growth. That guarantees people can have jobs and public services.
Public services were a lifeline for him, he says.
Services such as the NHS are “the beating heart of our country” and they deserve a prime minister who believes in them.
Updated
Javid says the Tories won’t deliver on the referendum result just by leaving the EU.
The vote to leave was not only a critique of the EU system, but of the Westminster system too.
He says the Conservatives have lost their competence and their confidence.
The Tories need to take on the elites and the cartels, in the public and private sectors, he says.
The problem with the Westminster elite is they have always been insiders. He does not blame them for that.
But it was not connections that got him where he is today; it was public service, hard work and family.
Updated
Javid says his experience, dealing with issues such as Grenfell Tower and Windrush, has humbled him greatly.
He says the Conservative party should not be doubling down on divisions.
We are at a crossroads, he says, and need to stop the country going in the wrong direction.
Updated
Javid says Tories need 'new kind of leadership from new kind of leader'
Sajid Javid says the Tories need “a new kind of leadership from a new kind of leader”.
The Conservatives have been in power for almost a decade.
They will face a fourth general election. But they have won only one majority in the past quarter of a century, and they only won that narrowly.
Javid says the Tories need to extend their appeal: “We need tomorrow’s leader today.”
Updated
Javid says he has a positive plan for Brexit.
And he says he can keep Jeremy Corbyn away from Brexit.
Delivering Brexit is only a first step, he says. It will not be enough for the Tories to win a majority.
It might surprise some people in Westminster, but most people in this country don’t just talk about Brexit.
Javid says people want to hear the Tories talk about other things.
And he knows this can happen – because it has happened in Scotland.
The Tories used to do so badly in Scotland that people joked about there being more pandas there than Tory MPs. But then the party threw out candidates from central casting, and elected Ruth Davidson (a young, blunt-speaking lesbian). Since then, the party has been gaining support in Scotland.
Updated
Sajid Javid is speaking now.
He says he is used to being told he is different. As a child, he remembers being advised by friends they had to walk home a different route because they were being threatened.
His friends went abroad on holidays. He went to Rochdale, but his friends did not realise, because it looked like he had a tan.
Javid says he has been constantly told options are not for him – going to university, going into banking, going into Conservative politics.
And when he wanted to marry a white Christian, there were people in his wider community who said he should not, and that his children would be half-caste.
But he did marry and his children would not even recognise the term. They are part of modern Britain.
Javid says he is used to being told what he can’t do. But he is more interested in what people can do.
He says the fact he can put himself forward as a candidate shows the strength of his party.
Updated
Sajid Javid's campaign launch
The Sajid Javid campaign launch is getting under way. It was held up because of the Commons vote.
Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, is introducing him.
She has recently had a baby and she says there is not much that would get her to leave her child. But she has come from Edinburgh to London to introduce him because she is such an admirer.
She says they first met when Javid beat her in the contest to be selected as the candidate for Bromsgrove 10 years ago.
She says he has shown energy and dynamism in all the government jobs he has had.
She says the Tories are struggling to speak to great swathes of the country. But she says Javid understands people’s concerns because he has lived them.
The Conservatives have always done well with a leader brought up above the shop, she says.
Updated
The pound has fallen to its lowest level of the day against the US dollar, suggesting City traders think the risk of a no-deal Brexit has risen. Sterling just dropped by one-third of a cent to $1.269, the lowest level since early yesterday morning
Updated
Government defeats cross-party bid to allow MPs to legislate to rule out no-deal
The government has won by 309 votes to 298 - a majority of 11. That means the motion has been defeated, and MPs won’t get control of Commons business on Tuesday 25 June to enable them to pass legislation blocking a no-deal Brexit.
Updated
What Dominic Grieve told MPs about why he would vote down Tory government to block no-deal
Here is an extract from Dominic Grieve’s speech, the highlight of the debate.
If we get to a point where a prime minister is intent on doing this [taking the UK out of the EU without a deal], the only way of stopping that prime minister would be to bring down that prime minister’s government.
And I simply have to say here and now I will not hesitate to do that if that is what is attempted, even if it means my resigning the whip and leaving the party. I will not allow this country to be taken out of the EU on a no-deal Brexit without the approval of this house, in my view going back to the country and asking them if that is what they want.
So me, desiring the best for my party, as a loyal member of it, as far as I’m concerned, this is probably the last opportunity to have a sensible way of influencing the outcome ...
I was elected as member of parliament for Beaconsfield to represent my constituents’ interests. No-deal is not in their interests, and nor is there the smallest shred of evidence that there is some majority for this appalling and chaotic proposal. Yet I have to face up to the fact that there are some people who wish to lead my party who appear to believe that it is a viable option, and indeed that they can’t become leaders of my party without it being an option that they are prepared to put forward – all part of the process, I’m afraid, of further deceit which is slowly swallowing up the democracy of this country and the reputation of this house.
So, I simply say this; I shall support the motion. I disagree on most things with [Jeremy Corbyn], I disagree fundamentally with every tenet of his philosophical outlook. But I have to say it is the only opportunity we’ve got. And I’m not going to spend my time talking to children or grandchildren later on saying, ‘When it came to it, I just decided to give up.’ I won’t do that.
Updated
From Tony Grew’s @PARLYapp
At least five Tory MPs have gone into the aye lobby despite last minute efforts by ministers to dissuade them
— PARLY (@PARLYapp) June 12, 2019
Text of cross-party motion to allow MPs to legislate to rule out no-deal
Nick Brown, the Labour chief whip, intervenes to propose that the vote be held now.
MPs are voting.
Here, for reference, is the text of the motion.
Business of the House Motion (United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union)
(1) That, on Tuesday 25 June –
(a) standing order no. 14(1) (which provides that government business shall have precedence at every sitting save as provided in that order) shall not apply;
(b) precedence shall be given to a motion relating to the business of the house in connection with matters relating to the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union;
(c) if more than one motion relating to the business of the house is tabled, the Speaker shall decide which motion shall have precedence;
(d) the Speaker shall interrupt proceedings on any business having precedence before the business of the house motion at 1.00 pm and call a member to move that motion;
(e) debate on that motion may continue until 2.00 pm at which time the Speaker shall put the questions necessary to dispose of proceedings on that motion including the questions on amendments selected by the Speaker which may then be moved;
(f) any proceedings interrupted or superseded by this order may be resumed or (as the case may be) entered upon and proceeded with after the moment of interruption.
Labour’s Angela Eagle is speaking now. She says MPs have to stop a new PM acting like a “latter-day Charles I” and suspending parliament to facilitate no-deal.
Dominic Grieve says he would not hesitate to vote down Tory government to block no-deal
Dominic Grieve, the Conservative former attorney general and a leading pro-European in his party, says Stephen Barclay’s speech was full of “obfuscatory facts” obscuring the reality, which is that if this motion does not pass, a new prime minister will be able to stop MPs voting to block no-deal before 31 October.
He says, if the motion were to fail, then the only option would be to bring down the government with a vote of no confidence. But he says he would not hesitate to do so to stop a no-deal Brexit. He would have to resign the whip, he says.
He says he considers himself a loyal Conservative. But he is dismayed that some of his colleagues think no-deal Brexit would be acceptable. It would not be, he says. He says he is not willing to face the prospect of having to tell his grandchildren that, faced with the prospect of no deal, he just gave up.
Updated
Gareth Snell, one of the more pro-Brexit MPs on the Labour benches, is speaking in the debate now. He says he regrets not voting for the deal in the last Commons vote in March. If someone can bring a deal to the house, he will vote for it, he says.
He says if Labour MPs do not vote for a deal they will be responsible for a no-deal Brexit by default.
The fact is there is a deal. It is not a great deal. But it is what we are presented with ... We can only make decisions on what we are presented with.
Cash says it would be wrong for MPs to pass legislation to block a no-deal Brexit because, by doing so, they would be abrogating the decision taken when they said the public at large should determine whether or not the UK should remain in the EU in the 2016 referendum.
Sir Bill Cash, the Tory Brexiter, is speaking in the debate now. He says this is “an open door” motion. It opens the door for any bill on Tuesday 25 June.
He says this is an attempt by Labour, not just to disrupt the Tory leadership contest, but to reverse Brexit.
Nick Boles, the former Conservative who now sits as an independent, says a no-deal Brexit would lead to the decimation of lamb imports and the destruction of jobs in manufacturing. Those should be reasons enough to back the motion, he says.
In the debate, Sir Oliver Letwin, the Tory former cabinet minister who is backing the cross-party motion, says a government would not have to prorogue parliament to facilitate a no-deal Brexit. A new prime minister could avoid MPs amending any legislation to block a no-deal departure just by not scheduling any votes.
Letwin says people think 31 October is a long time away. But if MPs do not establish a process now to give themselves a mechanism to block a no-deal Brexit, there will not be time later. MPs are away in August, and then the Commons will only sit for two weeks in September, and for two weeks in October.
If we do not take the fuse out now, we will not be able to disassemble the bomb in either September or October.
He says he has taken the “very uncomfortable” step of signing a motion tabled by Jeremy Corbyn, whose policies he profoundly disagrees with, because he does not want a no-deal Brexit on his conscience.
Updated
Sajid Javid, the home secretary, was due to be holding his leadership launch at 3.30pm.
But that has been held up because the no-deal debate is still running. Javid has to be in the Commons to vote, and the division is not due until 4pm, or later.
Back in the Commons, Ken Clarke, the Tory pro-European, is speaking now. He says that if the Conservatives were in opposition, they would be supporting this motion. When David Cameron was in opposition, he favoured the idea of control of Commons business being handed over to a business committee, he says.
Updated
Turning back to the Tory leadership, Boris Johnson was keen to present himself earlier as the candidate best able to unite the Conservative party. (See 11.12am, 12.26pm and 3.08pm.)
But this claim has been undermined by new evidence published by the academic Tim Bale, a specialist in party membership, showing Conservative members who are backing Johnson for the leadership are more rightwing than those supporting Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt, and more rightwing than the average for a Tory member.
In an article for the Conversation, Bale says his analysis, based on survey data from YouGov, also shows Johnson supporters are significantly more in favour of a no-deal Brexit than the average for Conservative members (quite a feat – overall 66% of members are in favour of no-deal; among Johnson supporters, this rises to 85%). Johnson supporters are also more likely to want less emphasis on climate change than Tory members on average.
Bale says Johnson’s backers are also more likely to have joined the party after the 2016 referendum. Bale concludes:
We can only guess as to how many of Johnson’s supporters were former Ukip sympathisers switching to the Tories, but it certainly seems possible. And, who knows, given that one doesn’t have to renounce one’s membership of the Conservative party to become a registered supporter of the Brexit party, perhaps some of them hold a candle for Nigel Farage as well as Johnson.
Whether the country will be as pleased as they will be if Johnson does end up making it all the way to No 10, however, remains to be seen.
Leave.EU, the pro-Brexit group co-founded by Arron Banks, has been encouraging Brexiters, like former Ukip supporters, to join the Conservative party to influence its decisions. It called the campaign Blue Wave. It is hard to know what effect this has had, but the Bale research suggests Brexiter entryism is having some impact.
Updated
The SNP’s Peter Grant is speaking now in the debate. He says that in other parliaments, such as Holyrood, parliament decides on its own business, not the executive. That seems to work perfectly well, he says.
Updated
Anna Soubry raises a point of order. She says this debate was meant to be lasting an hour, but there are only 20 minutes left. Will other MPs get to speak?
John Bercow, the Commons Speaker, says that although the debate was listed for an hour, it could run until 8.33pm. He does not expect it to run for that long, he says. But he expects several other MPs to speak.
Updated
Back in the debate, the Change UK MP Anna Soubry asks Barclay if the government thinks it would be acceptable for a prime minister to prorogue parliament to facilitate a no-deal Brexit.
Barclay says this prime minister has been clear about her opposition to that. Proroguing parliament would involve the Queen (she prorogues parliament, on the advice of her government), and it would be wrong to involve her in an issue such as this, Barclay says.
Updated
Turning back to the Tory leadership, this is the tweet Boris Johnson has posted about his launch today.
Today I set out my vision for sensible, pragmatic, One Nation Conservatism. We must deliver Brexit by Oct 31st, restore faith in our democracy, and support the wealth creators that fund our vital public services. Together, we will succeed > https://t.co/tGRXu94CmT pic.twitter.com/x9HfKOP0Qu
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) June 12, 2019
Johnson is trying here to show he has support from both sides of the party. One picture features backers from the centrist/remain wing (Chloe Smith, James Brokenshire and Grant Shapps) and another features Brexiter rightwingers from a different faction (Iain Duncan Smith, Priti Patel and Nadine Dorries).
Updated
In the debate, Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary, is now speaking for the government.
He says Labour frequently objects to the concept of a “blind Brexit”. But this is a blind motion. It does not say what would happen on Tuesday 25 June, the day that would be set aside for a bill to be passed trying to block a no-deal Brexit.
UPDATE: Here is a clip.
Brexit Secretary @SteveBarclay "...he [Sir Keir Starmer[ keeps telling me how much he doesn't like a blind Brexit, and yet what we have before the House is in essence, a blind motion..." pic.twitter.com/R5vmcVciA6
— BrexitCentral (@BrexitCentral) June 12, 2019
Updated
John Bercow, the Commons Speaker, interrupts the debate to announce the results of an election for the chair of the Northern Ireland affairs committee. The Conservative Simon Hoare has been elected. He replaces Andrew Murrison, who has recently been made a minister.
Updated
Starmer says this move is about allowing MPs a “safety valve”. He urges all MPs to back the motion.
Here is Catherine Haddon from the Institute for Government on the debate.
This is (another) extraordinary situation where the Opposition are basically arguing against the conservative leadership candidates (who presumably won't be answering back) and agreeing with the prime minister (or implying she agrees that no deal should be prevented)
— Dr Catherine Haddon (@cath_haddon) June 12, 2019
Starmer says he accepts he is using an unusual device to try to block a no-deal Brexit.
John Baron, a Tory Brexiter, says that if the motion is passed, the government will not be able to control the business of the house. And if it cannot do that, it cannot deliver its manifesto promises, and democracy breaks down.
Starmer says, if the government cannot control the business, it should go.
Updated
Back in the debate, Keir Starmer says his staff tried to find out more about Dominic Raab’s Brexit plan.
But, he says, when they tried to log on to Raab’s Tory leadership campaign website, a message come up saying it could not be accessed because it belonged to a category blocked by parliament.
Updated
Turning away from the debate, this is from my colleague Jennifer Rankin in Brussels.
No-deal home truths 🔽
— Jennifer Rankin (@JenniferMerode) June 12, 2019
European commission repeats that precondition for talks on future trade and everything else... is 1. citizens' rights 2. money 3. Irish borderhttps://t.co/mYw4fEhKRT pic.twitter.com/hJAqWxMe4S
Starmer says that although Theresa May originally said she would be willing to contemplate a no-deal Brexit, she eventually concluded that was not acceptable. He says he thinks she decided the threat it would post to national security was too severe.
Updated
MPs debate cross-party move to give Commons chance to pass bill blocking no-deal Brexit
Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, is opening the debate on the cross-party motion designed to give MPs the chance to pass legislation aimed at blocking a no-deal Brexit.
(We published details of the plan here and the text of the motion here.)
Starmer says this move has the support of the SNP, the Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru, the Greens and the Conservative MP Oliver Letwin. He says the Tory leadership candidate Rory Stewart also seemed to back it last night, until he withdraw his support – presumably after a call from the chief whip, says Starmer says.
Updated
As Boris Johnson made his first public pitch to Tory MPs in front of the media, the European commission published a warning to businesses in which it cited political instability in Britain as a major threat to hopes the UK will leave the EU smoothly with a deal.
The commission’s report on the bloc’s preparedness, published almost exactly as Johnson stood up to speak, claimed:
The continued uncertainty in the United Kingdom regarding the ratification of the withdrawal agreement … and the overall domestic political situation means a ‘no-deal’ scenario on 1 November 2019 very much remains a possible – although undesirable – outcome.
The commission reiterated that it would not countenance a “managed no-deal Brexit”, and that the bare bones contingency measures in place to ensure basic connectivity in areas such as aviation and haulage for up to nine months after the UK crashes out would not be supplemented.
“There will be no transition period, as provided for in the withdrawal agreement,” the commission said.
This will obviously cause significant disruption for citizens and businesses and would have a serious negative economic impact, which would be proportionally much greater in the United Kingdom than in the EU27 member states.
The commission said it was confident European businesses were as prepared as possible for Brexit on 31 October, in contrast to the apparent state of readiness in the UK.
An official note to the British cabinet leaked to the Financial Times claimed the government needed a further six to eight months of engagement with the pharmaceuticals industry “to ensure adequate arrangements are in place to build stockpiles of medicines by 31 October”.
The note added that the government would need “at least 4-5 months” to improve trader readiness for the new border checks that would be enforced in the event of the UK leaving on Halloween without an agreement with the EU.
Updated
This is from Rory Stewart, one of Boris Johnson’s rivals for the Tory leadership.
I am trying to restrain myself from tweeting that I’m beginning to think there are only 2 candidates who can beat Boris - me, and Boris himself....
— Rory Stewart (@RoryStewartUK) June 12, 2019
Given that Stewart has actually tweeted this, it does not say a lot for his self-control ...
'Direct link' between politicians talking up no-deal Brexit and British firms losing business, MPs told
A no-deal Brexit would be “commercial suicide”, with tens of thousands of jobs already lost in the UK because of political uncertainty, manufacturing representatives have said.
As Boris Johnson was launching his campaign for the Tory leadership, industry representatives were telling MPs crashing out of the bloc was “economic vandalism”.
Seamus Nevin, the chief economist at Make UK, which represents some of the country’s largest manufacturers, said:
There is a direct link between politicians talking up the prospect of no deal and British firms losing customers overseas and British people losing jobs.
He told the Brexit select committee that some businesses were already “downsizing or completely shutting down in the UK”. Some were very profitable and leaders in their sector, but were struggling because of the political uncertainty.
Nevin said he was aware of one company, which he could not name because of a confidentiality agreement, that was planning to leave the UK. “That will result in several thousand job losses,” he said, adding that a no-deal Brexit “would be nothing short of an act of economic vandalism” and “undo 25 years of economic progress and consign a generation of highly skilled workers to the scrapheap.”
Updated
Updated
This is what the Press Association has filed on the Theresa May/Jeremy Corbyn exchanges from PMQs.
Theresa May was urged to remind her potential successors of the dangers of a no-deal Brexit, amid criticism of her industrial legacy.
The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said MPs sitting behind and alongside the prime minister needed to be told again about the “disastrous” impact of the UK leaving the EU without an agreement, as he took aim at the government’s record on cars, steel and renewables.
But May hit back by insisting Corbyn’s warning would be a little more sincere if he had not consistently voted against her agreement, and thereby increased the risk of a no-deal Brexit.
Speaking at PMQs, Corbyn said: “The country is in crisis over Brexit. Manufacturing is in crisis. The prime minister’s government has brought us to this point.
“And now the Conservative party is once again in the process of foisting a new prime minister on the country without the country having a say through a general election.
“This prime minister created the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in July 2016. Has the prime minister actually delivered an industrial strategy since then?”
May accused Corbyn of writing his question before listening to her previous answer, in which she had laid out details of the government’s industrial strategy across the country and in the Midlands to the Tory MP Michael Fabricant.
Corbyn went on to warn UK car production has been “virtually cut in half” in the past 11 months, saying: “Ford has also said that a no-deal Brexit would put a further 6,000 UK jobs at risk, with thousands more at risk in the supply chain. Nissan, Toyota, BMW and JLR have all said similar.
“Will the prime minister take this opportunity to reiterate her government’s assessment that a no-deal Brexit would be disastrous for Britain? I think some of her colleagues behind her and alongside her need reminding of that.”
May, in her reply, noted: “It would come a little bit more sincerely from him if he hadn’t gone through the lobbies regularly and consistently voting to increase the chances of no-deal by voting against the deal.”
Updated
Downing Street has confirmed, to no great surprise, that Tory MPs will be whipped to oppose Labour’s attempt to set aside time later this month to potentially block a no-deal Brexit under May’s successor.
A No 10 source said the tactic was “troubling”, adding:
It is an important constitutional principle and we will whip accordingly.
In recent months the government has not formally opposed votes on Labour’s opposition day debates, the format under which this one is being held.
A spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn said that even if the vote were lost today, the party would seek other parliamentary mechanisms to block a no-deal Brexit, such as a potential no-confidence vote in a prime minister pushing for such a course. He said:
If we are not successful, we will find other mechanisms to arrive at the same outcomes.
Updated
Updated
Boris Johnson's campaign launch - Summary
Here are the main points from the Boris Johnson launch.
- Johnson, the former foreign secretary and clear favourite in the Tory leadership contest, reaffirmed his desire to take the UK out of the EU by 31 October with or without a deal - while refusing to say he would resign if the UK missed this deadline. Asked if he would make this a resigning issue, he said MPs would accept they had to implement Brexit. He explained:
I think maturity and a sense of duty will prevail. I think it will be very difficult for friends in parliament to obstruct the will of the people and simply to block Brexit.
I think if we now block it, collectively as parliamentarians we will reap the whirlwind and we will face mortal retribution from the electorate.
Johnson said that he did not want to leave without a deal, but it said it was essential to prepare for no-deal to increase the chances of getting an agreement. He said he would appoint a new Brext negotiating team that would “hit the ground running” and engage with the EU in the “friendliest possible way”. And he said it would be fatal for both main parties if they failed to deliver Brexit.
The real existential threat that I now think faces both parties if we fail to get this thing done. And I think that in the end maturity and a sense of duty will prevail.
Sky’s Lewis Goodall was not impressed.
Extraordinary. Asked by @GuardianHeather what his plan is if MPs block no deal Johnson’s reply is “you know I think it’s going to be very difficult for colleagues to block Brexit because it is, after all, the will of the people.”
— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) June 12, 2019
Perhaps he’s been asleep for the last 6 months.
- Johnson brushed aside a complaint about offensive language he has used in the past, saying he thought it was important for politicians to speak directly. He was asked about a column he wrote saying women in burqas looked liked letter boxes, but in his reply he made a general point. He said:
I want to make a general point about the way I do things and the language I use.
Occasionally some plaster comes off the ceiling as a result of a phrase I may have used, or the way that phrase has been wrenched out of context by those who wish for reasons of their own to caricature.
But I think it’s vital for us as politicians to remember that one of the reasons that the public feels alienated now from us all as a breed, is because too often they feel that we are muffling and veiling our language, not speaking as we find - covering everything up in bureaucratic platitudes, when what they want to hear is what we genuinely think.
- He refused to confirm a previous admission that he took cocaine as a student. Asked if an account he gave to GQ about this was true, he replied:
I think the account of this event when I was 19 has appeared many, many times.
I think what most people in this country want us to really focus on in this campaign, if I may say so, is what we can do for them and what our plans are for this great country of ours.
Asked by another journalist if he had ever broken the law, he said he could not “swear that I have always observed a top speed limit, in this country, of 70mph”.
Sky’s Tamara Cohen has the GQ quote.
Boris Johnson does not dispute the GQ interview on drugs read out to him by @JasonGroves1 . Here it is. He says the public are more interested in what he’d do for them. pic.twitter.com/j16ztBOcxr
— Tamara Cohen (@tamcohen) June 12, 2019
- Johnson claimed that his record as London mayor showed that he could provide a “sizzling synergy” - promoting growth, thus providing revenue for public services. He explained:
We can fight for the teachers, and the nurses and the firemen, and the armed service personnel, and the police, precisely because we are willing to encourage the tech wizards and the shopkeepers and the taxi drivers and, yes, the bankers as well.
We enable the extraordinary success of our private sector with a strong, committed, passionate, well-funded public sector.
It is that synergy, that symbiosis, that sizzling synergy, that is so fertile in generating further economic growth, that is the formula, that is the way we will bridge the opportunity gap and bring the country together, responding to the mighty plea of the majority of our people for fundamental change.
- He claimed that he had successfully cut crime in London by promoting stop and search. Talking about his time as mayor, he said:
We had kids losing their lives in our city at a rate of 28-30 a year, teenagers were being stabbed to death in London. We had to take some very tough decisions.
I believe, frankly, there is nothing kinder or more loving that you can do if you see a young kid coming down the street who may be carrying a knife, than to ask him to turn out, or her, almost invariably him, to turn out his pockets and produce that knife.
That is not discriminatory, that is a kind, compassionate, loving thing to do. And it worked.
We ended up, as I said just now, we ended up cutting serious youth violence by I think 32%. Knife crime went down, the murder rate went down.
My colleague Peter Walker says this claim has been debunked.
Boris Johnson truth alert - he claims Operation Blunt 2, an increase in police stop-and-search, "saved lives" and reduced knife crime.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) June 12, 2019
BUT: official Home Office study in 2016 said there was "no discernible crime-reducing effects" from the operation.https://t.co/VtfXhdIXwN pic.twitter.com/KtZubdBoEV
- He said he had done more than anyone else in the Conservative party to defend business. Asked about the time he once declared “fuck business” at a Foreign Office reception, he said this was not his stance. He went on:
I don’t think there is anybody in the modern Conservative Party who can honestly be said to have done more to stick up for business, even in the toughest of times.
I will stick up for them.
This is from the Tory Brexiter Nadine Dorries.
At the #BackBoris launch. No tears this time. He gave long, full, substantive and serious answers to every question. He’s going all the way! pic.twitter.com/rcuzjMiCIw
— Nadine Dorries (@NadineDorries) June 12, 2019
My colleague John Crace says this tweet says more about Dorries than it does about Boris Johnson.
Given that Boris Johnson failed to answer any questions, this probably tells you all you need to know about Nad's critical faculties https://t.co/2BJac74gq0
— John Crace (@JohnJCrace) June 12, 2019
Boris Johnson's campaign launch – verdict from Twitter commentariat
This is what some political journalists and commentators are saying about the Boris Johnson launch.
From ITV’s Robert Peston
.@BorisJohnson has been spectacularly dull. Uncharacteristically dull. His supporters will be thrilled. The bandwagon rolls on
— Robert Peston (@Peston) June 12, 2019
From the Mirror’s Pippa Crerar
If it’s any consolation for Team Boris, I can 100% confidently say that it went better for him than last time. pic.twitter.com/0cGMJih7zn
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) June 12, 2019
From BuzzFeed’s Stuart Millar
Boris Johnson's campaign launch speech was all about being serious and businesslike.
— Stuart Millar (@stuartmillar159) June 12, 2019
But he's completely undermining that with his answers to the very good and legitimate questions: dismissive, evasive, flippant, blustering, rambling...
From my colleague Peter Walker
This first media scrutiny of Boris Johnson in the campaign is simultaneously showing him to be slippery, avoidant and unwilling to answer difficult questions, and highly unlikely to stop his trajectory towards No 10. This is where we seemingly are today.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) June 12, 2019
From the Financial Times’ Sebastian Payne
The biggest enemy to Johnson’s victory has always been himself. His professionalised, even slightly dull, performance will have pleased his supporters and campaign team.
— Sebastian Payne (@SebastianEPayne) June 12, 2019
So the Boris bandwagon rolls on - read more on the @FinancialTimes live bloghttps://t.co/pqL4cq0w8n
From the Daily Mirror’s Kevin Maguire
Cowardice may be added to the list of reasons slippery serial liar Boris Johnson's unfit to be Prime Minister when he took only six questions and dodged answers
— Kevin Maguire (@Kevin_Maguire) June 12, 2019
From the Sun’s Steve Hawkes
Boris didn't screw up and great language as normal.. but precious little detail - not least on Brexit - and he's hardly shed the accusation he has something to hide. Just six questions from the press and his supporters heckled @BethRigby .. Could do better
— steve hawkes (@steve_hawkes) June 12, 2019
From the Observer’s Michael Savage
Was the Boris Johnson launch a success?
— Michael Savage (@michaelsavage) June 12, 2019
The test is a low bar - did he give any MPs backing/considering backing him reason to back away? No. So his team will leave happy.
From my colleague Jessica Elgot
The most depressing thing this morning was actual sitting Members of Parliament *booed* a journalist for asking a question about something a candidate wrote in a newspaper column. Hope some of them have pause when they watch it back.
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) June 12, 2019
HuffPost has more on that booing here.
Updated
Here is my colleague Jessica Elgot’s news story about the Boris Johnson campaign launch.
Updated
Boris Johnson’s campaign launch – snap verdict
To anyone familiar with Boris Johnson, and in particular the performances he has given at Conservative party conference fringe meetings in recent years, that was a predictable Johnson stump speech – perhaps a bit shorter on jokes than usual, but generally heavy on sunshine and optimism, short on policy, and focused entirely on how his record as London mayor purportedly shows he is a mainstream politician who can deliver prosperity while raising standards for everyone. A colleague will be looking at the truth of this proposition shortly (and it was striking how Johnson had almost nothing to say about his record as foreign secretary), but this fitted in quite well with what now seems to be the Johnson campaign USP: the claim that he is the unity candidate, acceptable to all wings of the party. Tory MPs and members will not have been particularly surprised by any of this, but it probably did the job, and his passage about how beating Ken Livingstone taught him how to beat Jeremy Corbyn may have struck a chord. Overall, the most impressive thing about the event was probably the large and diverse crowd of Tory MPs who turned up.
On policy, he has almost nothing to say at all. In fact, even Rory Stewart’s new age sermon last night probably contained more in in the way of specific commitments. Johnson seems quite happy to make policy through the pages of the Daily Telegraph, but curiously reluctant to discuss it in public. It remains to be seen whether or not this will change as the campaign goes on. Many observers will see this as a weakness, although arguably micro-policy is overrated in a leadership election, which is a test of character. (I remember thinking Yvette Cooper’s campaign was doomed in 2015 when I heard her mulling over whether to accept some minor benefit policy proposal, or whether just to “offer a review”, at an event where what was needed was big picture vision.)
Johnson got through the questions without major mishap, although at times his evasiveness was particularly transparent. Faced with a question about his cocaine use (and there are legitimate questions about why this issue is damaging Michael Gove more than Johnson), he just waffled. And he got even more circumlocutory when my colleague Heather Stewart asked if he would resign if he could not deliver Brexit by 31 October. His newfound friends in the ERG will have noted he did not say yes.
Johnson was no better than any of the other candidates have been (with the exceptions of Stewart and Mark Harper, who have been a bit more candid) when it came to explaining how he would deliver Brexit. His account of how the vote to leave was partly a protest vote from people who felt ignored by Westminster sounded just like Theresa May circa autumn 2016. At one point, in his waffly answer to Heather, Johnson even started sounding like a pro-European. But the most revealing thing was when he said he was looking forward to the moment when Brexit was no longer a headline issue. (See 11.18am.) Given how badly it has all gone, it is no surprise that one of the key architects of this crisis is keen to talk about something else.
Updated
The press conference is now over. There were plenty of other journalists wanting to answer questions, but Boris Johnson would not take them.
PMQs starts in 10 minutes. I almost always cover PMQs live, but for the next half an hour or so I will focus instead on unpacking the Johnson launch, with a summary, analysis and reaction.
I will pick up highlights from PMQs later.
Johnson refuses to commit to resigning if UK still in EU after October
Q: [From my colleague Heather Stewart] You have promised to leave the EU on 31 October with or without a deal. Will you commit to resign if you fail to meet that deadline?
Johnson says he understands why MPs are trying today to block a no-deal Brexit.
But there is a real existential threat to the government if it does not get this done.
It will be very difficult for MPs if they fail to deliver Brexit.
It was right to have a referendum. The people delivered a clear answer.
If MPs block it, they will “reap the whirlwind”.
He says he is just saying to colleagues, let’s get this done.
He says he is not going to pretend it will be “plain sailing”.
His team will work flat out. He thinks he will get the result he needs.
If there has been one failing, it is that the UK has not made enough of the future partnership with the EU.
Not enough has been done to promote “a new Europeanism, and a new Conservative sense of Europeanism”.
He says some bilateral relationships have declined. Language teaching has declined.
It is time to intensify those partnerships, he says.
- Johnson refuses to commit to resigning if UK still in EU after October.
Updated
Q: [From the Financial Times’ George Parker] You famously said “f- business”. What do you say to FT readers worried about this? And why did you say it?
Johnson says he loves the FT. He has the app, and reads it every day. He says he thought the anti-banking stance taken by some after the crash was “disastrous”. And not everyone in financial services is wealthy.
As London mayor, he had to sell the UK abroad.
If he were prime minister, there would be no more committed salesperson for the UK, he says.
Updated
Q: Can we sort out this drugs question. You told GQ you had taken cocaine as a student. Were you telling the truth?
Johnson says he was 19 at the time. The “canonical account” of this has appeared many times. He says he is focusing on his vision for the future.
He says he does not want to be blown off track. Let’s focus on what Conservatism is, and what it can do.
And they also want a leader who can fight off Jeremy Corbyn and the Brexit party.
- Johnson refuses to confirm whether he took cocaine as a student.
Updated
Q: Have you done anything illegal? And do you regret any of the mistakes that you have made? Would you change as PM?
Johnson says he cannot swear that he has always observed the 70mph speed limit.
But is he someone who does what he promises to do as a politician? The answer is yes.
We said we would do X. And we did X plus 10.
He says knife crime was a big problem when he became mayor. He had to take tough decisions. He says Kit Malthouse and James Cleverly, two MPs now backing him who worked for him as mayor, took tough decisions.
He says stop and search was successful. There is nothing kinder you can do than take a knife off a young person, he says.
He says there was a 32% reduction in serious youth violence when he was mayor.
He says politicians should get behind the police and support them properly.
Updated
Q: Many of you colleagues worry about your character ..
My parrot
Q: Your character. Alistair Burt said you brought shame on this country when you described Muslim women as pillar boxes. People who have worked with you do not think you are fit to be PM.
Johnson says some of his colleagues do back him.
But he wants to address the point. Sometimes “plaster comes off the ceiling” when he says things. But people feel alienated from politicians because they think they are “muffling and veiling” their language.
If he causes offence, he is sorry for that. But he will continue to speak as directly as he can.
Johnson's Q&A
Johnson says he will take six questions.
Q: You said Brexit would be easy, and it wasn’t. You have a reputation for making mistakes. You are telling leavers one thing and remainers another. Can the country trust you?
Yes, says Johnson.
He rejects the claim that he is inconsistent on Brexit.
He does not want no-deal, but he wants to prepare for no-deal. The best way to avoid no-deal is to make the preparations now for it, he say.
He says this is the way to get a deal.
He says the team he is building will “hit the ground running”.
They will engage with the EU in the “friendliest possible way”. And he says he thinks they will respond in a symmetric way.
Johnson says he knows the Labour London left.
He knows their obsessions.
Jeremy Corbyn is far to the left of Ken Livingstone (who Johnson beat twice in London mayoral elections), Johnson says.
He says Corbyn is a fundamental threat to our values and our way of life.
Johnson claims he has campaigned in almost every seat in the country.
He will do anything he can to stop the government of the UK passing into the hands of Labour, who have disdain for wealth creation and who would compromise the government’s ability to fund the NHS.
He says he last defeated this sort of leftwinger when the Tories were 17-points behind in London.
This is the opening salvo in a battle to protect the country, he says.
Johnson says he has seen the UK’s partners want it to recover its self-belief.
He says he does not underestimate the challenges lying ahead.
But he has real experience managing short-term difficulties on the road to long-term success.
He took London through riots and strikes, and he oversaw the Olympics.
He shrank the opportunity gap.
And he wants to do for the whole country what he did for London.
In everything he does he will seek to strengthen the union - this “awesome foursome” that makes the UK a “softpower superpower”, Johnson says.
Johnson says he cut crime. That helped the poorest families, because they suffer disproportionately from crime, he says.
And he was able to do this while championing wealth creators. At one point he was the only person in the country speaking up for the financial sector, he says.
He says he wants a “sizzling synergy” that can promote growth.
He says he wants no town, no community, and no person left behind.
Johnson says the economy is achieving Grand Prix speeds without firing on all cylinders.
He says it is important to unite the country. Parts of the UK feel left behind. We need better infrastructure. Spain has must better hi-speed broadband. Leeds has no metro rail. This is madness, he says.
He says the “fundamental moral purpose” of the government should be to bridge not just the wealth gap but the opportunity gap.
He says he can do this because he achieved this in London. When he took office as mayor, London had four of the six poorest areas in the country. By the time he left, it had none in the poorest 20.
Johnson says the EU do not want no-deal “any more than I do”.
Delay means defeat, delay means Corbyn.
Kick the can again and we kick the bucket.
The Tories’s natural supporters would go to other parties if Brexit were delayed. And all voters would despair at Wesminster being able to deliver anything.
Johnson says there would be an overwhelming sense of relief if Brexit were to happen by the end of October. People would start to focus on other things.
Johnson says the leave vote was not just about democracy or immigration.
People wanted to be heard, he says. They wanted to feel they too could be part of this country.
They wanted to know that their concerns were as important to the country’s leaders as those of any “metropolitan tech guru”.
After three years and two missed deadlines, we must leave the EU on October 31.
- Johnson reaffirms his commitment to take the UK out of the EU by 31 October.
- He stresses he is not aiming for no-deal. But he says it would be irresponsible to rule it out.
Boris Johnson is speaking now.
He says the economy has grown since the Brexit vote. The “commercial dynamism” of the British people has insulated them from the crisis of our politics.
But around the country there is a mood of disillusion, or even despair, about our ability to get things done.
He says people want clarity and a resolution. That is our mission today.
Geoffrey Cox says he is backing Johnson because he can unite Tories
Geoffrey Cox, the Brexiter attorney general, is introducing Boris Johnson at his launch.
He says, when choosing the next leader, he has had to consider some ‘indispensable requirements”.
First, these are “extraordinary times, and we need a personality big enough, strong enough to rise to the political challenge” the country faces.
Second, we need someone who can provide leadership. A “managerial approach” will not suffice.
(That amounts to saying Jeremy Hunt would be too dull.)
Cox says the new leader must want the UK to be independent of the EU.
Third, the new leader must be able to pull together a brilliant team.
And, finally, the new leader must be able to unite the Conservative party and outfight Jeremy Corbyn and Nigel Farage in any corner of the country.
That is why he is proud to back Boris Johnson, Cox says.
This story, by the Financial Times’ George Parker, may come up at the Johnson launch.
Breaking:
— Jim Pickard (@PickardJE) June 12, 2019
Cabinet note (from late May) shared with the FT reveals that Whitehall is not ready for No Deal in Octoberhttps://t.co/cO32ZZpBti pic.twitter.com/qfPBQj3tNl
The story starts:
Boris Johnson’s promise to take Britain out of the EU with or without a deal on the scheduled Brexit date of October 31 has been undermined by a confidential cabinet note warning that the country is still far from prepared for the disruption of a disorderly exit.
The note, seen by the Financial Times, says the government needs six to eight months of engagement with the pharmaceutical industry “to ensure adequate arrangements are in place to build stockpiles of medicines by October 31”.
It also says that it would take “at least 4-5 months” to improve trader readiness for the new border checks that might be required, including the provision of financial incentives to encourage exporters and importers to register for new schemes.
From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg
Boris Johnson launch about to start - live on @BBCnews - whatever happens next his team has done quite some job getting all shades of tory party in the room - from Mogg and Francois to Brokenshire and rising ministers like Dowden and Frazer - it’s some coalition
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) June 12, 2019
Hammond says Johnson will find it 'impossible' to deliver Brexit by 31 October as he promises
Philip Hammond, the chancellor, has said that he does not think Boris Johnson would be able to deliver on his promise to take the UK out of the EU by 31 October, MLex’s Matthew Holehouse reports.
Hammond says Boris plan for Oct 31 won't happen. "I dont think so. I think it's not sensible for candidates to box themselves in. Parliament won't allow a no-deal exit and it may not be that easy to agree a deal in parliament."
— Matthew Holehouse (@mattholehouse) June 12, 2019
Adds: "very difficult or impossible."
Candidates like Boris can "test this for themselves" but the EU won't reopen the deal. Hammond has told Japanese business no-deal is no more likely. "Parliament isn't going to change its position that it wont licence no-deal."
— Matthew Holehouse (@mattholehouse) June 12, 2019
Hammond also said that taking the UK out of the EU by 31 October would be “impossible” and that trying to implement this policy would not be in the national interest.
From the Tory MP Zac Goldsmith
The audience here for Boris’s launch demonstrates beyond doubt that his is the only campaign that has drawn support from every part of the Conservative Party. He will unite the party and the country.
— Zac Goldsmith (@ZacGoldsmith) June 12, 2019
The leading French newspaper Le Monde has an editorial saying it does not want to see Boris Johnson as prime minister, Le Monde’s Philippe Bernard reports.
Boris Johnson à la tête du Royaume-Uni ? Non merci ! L’éditorial du Monde. https://t.co/p3LfifEYof via @lemondefr
— Philippe Bernard (@canalbernard) June 12, 2019
From my colleague John Crace
Just arrived at Boris Johnson launch. AKA the jobs fair for Tory MPs
— John Crace (@JohnJCrace) June 12, 2019
From the Mail’s Jason Groves
Jo Johnson spotted walking slowly through the park to his brother's campaign launch - gives a hollow laugh when asked if he feels like a condemned man approaching the gallows
— Jason Groves (@JasonGroves1) June 12, 2019
From Steve Baker, the Brexiter Tory backing Boris Johnson
The #BackBoris launch is somewhat oversubscribed. pic.twitter.com/FByYyaiaiu
— Steve Baker MP (@SteveBakerHW) June 12, 2019
From the Mail on Sunday’s Harry Cole
half the cabinet and rising stars here. “An air of unstoppable inevitably” says one.
— Harry Cole (@MrHarryCole) June 12, 2019
From the Telegraph’s Gordon Rayner
Even Bernard Hogan Howe, former Met Commissioner, is at the Boris launch. It is now standing room only.
— Gordon Rayner (@gordonrayner) June 12, 2019
Philip Hammond, the chancellor, is speaking at a Bloomberg event. There is a live feed here.
Hammond has just started, and at the moment he is talking about the tech sector,
Journalists arriving for the Boris Johnson launch are being offered “Boris bacon butties” and “Boris eggs Benedict” inside the venue, the Press Association reports. They are also being invited to wear “Back Boris” badges.
Sarah Vine, Michael Gove’s wife, has used her column in the Daily Mail today to write about her husband having to admit to having taken cocaine before he became an MP. The article does not contain any new information, but, in a reference to the unnamed source thought to have leaked the cocaine story to a journalist, she writes about what it feels like to have trust betrayed.
As traumatic as the past few days have been for us and our family, I actually think it has been all to the good ...
It has taught me some useful lessons about trust, friendship and the nature of both, which — whatever the outcome of the current race — are universally valid.
Specifically, friendships are judged by actions, not words. Trust may be freely given, but you should not always expect it in return, and certainly not when the intoxicating scent of power is in the air.
It would be fascinating to see David Cameron’s reaction when he reads this. Given what happened during the 2016 referendum campaign, Cameron does not feel Michael Gove is well placed to lecture anyone on trust.
The Daily Telegraph has today written up some polling it has commissioned from ComRes that appears to be hugely favourable to Boris Johnson, the paper’s star columnist and its favoured candidate for the Tory leadership. ComRes asked how people would vote with alternative candidates as leader and the results suggest they would do best under Johnson.
ComRes has also tried to estimate what a general election result might look like on the basis of these figures. It claims that polling suggests Johnson could produce a Commons majority of 140 for the Tories, while under all his rivals there would be a hung parliament.
The Telegraph has not put these figures on the front, but they are featured very prominently on a huge double-page spread on the inside.
But do these figures have any merit? In a lengthy Twitter thread, the politics professor Rob Ford explains why there are so many questionable assumptions in this research as to make these results highly suspect. His thread starts here.
For those confused about what this thread is discussing, its the "Boris would get a landslide" poll/reporting from yesterday evening: https://t.co/VbVnLsO9YZ
— Rob Ford (@robfordmancs) June 12, 2019
And here is one of his key points.
10/? There's nowt wrong with the fieldwork or representativeness of this poll. Its just badly designed, pretending to give info that its simply not possible for a poll to give. And neither our media, nor our politicians, seem capable on the whole of recognising this shortcoming
— Rob Ford (@robfordmancs) June 12, 2019
Ford’s analysis is very sound, although there is probably a kernel of truth in the ComRes research - that Johnson is the currently the Tory candidate with most appeal to former Tories who are currently supporting the Brexit party.
But this ignores another point - which is that the Conservatives probably cannot win a general election with this group alone. As my colleague Heather Stewart said in a recent story, this is an argument made recently by Robert Hayward, a Tory peer and respected psephologist. Here is an extract from her story.
[Hayward] said it would be impossible for the Tories to win an election with a leader who was not “transfer friendly”, and able to attract swing voters who were neither committed leavers nor remainers.
“A Tory prime minister or leader can’t win without Brexiteers; but you actually can’t win without the people who don’t strongly identify with one side or the other, and are looking for good government,” he said.
And he said Johnson may not be the right person to do that because many voters have a “distinct antipathy” towards him.
He said that while Johnson was very popular with a section of the electorate, he was also the leadership frontrunner who voters were most likely to say would make a bad prime minister.
Hayward pointed to a recent YouGov poll that suggested as many as 23% of respondents who had voted Conservative in 2017 thought Johnson would be a “very bad” prime minister.
Boris Johnson facing criticism because of his 'huge appeal', says leading supporter Liz Truss
Boris Johnson, the favourite in the Tory leadership contest, will break cover today and face the media for the first time in weeks, following complaints that such aversion to scrutiny is a travesty for someone likely to be the next prime minister. His team reject this claim, and say it is just that he has been focusing his efforts on talking to individual MPs, who at this stage are the electorate in the contest. He will be speaking this morning at his campaign launch.
As a warm-up, Liz Truss, the chief secretary to the Treasury and one of his most prominent backers, has been giving interviews on his behalf this morning. On the Today programme she did not have an easy time.
- Truss said that Johnson had “nothing to hide” when challenged about his character, including past lies and gaffes.
- She claimed the fact that he was being attacked so ferociously by his opponents was a response to his “huge public appeal”. When the accusation that Johnson was “the worst foreign secretary in living memory” was put to her by the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, she replied:
I think it’s a sign - that he is being attacked shows the huge public appeal he has, the huge power he has to communicate.
His record is of being the most successful mayor of London we have had, of being an excellent foreign secretary who got countries around the world to take action against Russia by expelling their diplomats.
- She said that anyone who blamed him for contributing to the ongoing imprisonment of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in Iran was an apologist for the Iranian regime. In 2017 Johnson wrongly said that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was in the country teaching journalism when she was jailed. He subsequently retracted this, but his comment was cited by the Iranian authorities to help justify her ongoing detention. But Truss said it was wrong to blame Johnson for Zaghari-Ratcliffe being in jail. She said:
I think this is a complete misplacement of blame.
The people who are keeping Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in jail are the Iranians.
This is an oppressive Iranian regime - I think it’s apologists for that regime who are putting the blame on Boris Johnson...
The fact is he did a brilliant job in my opinion as foreign secretary... and in the case that you’ve just mentioned, it’s the Iranian regime who have held this innocent women in jail - let’s put the blame where it is really deserved.
Here is the agenda for the day.
10.40am: Philip Hammond, the chanellor, speaks at a Bloomberg conference.
11am: Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary, launches his campaign for the Tory leadership.
12pm: Theresa May faces Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs.
Around 1pm: MPs started debating the cross-party motion intended to allow the Commons to vote on legislation to block a no-deal Brexit. The vote is expected mid afternoon.
3.30pm: Sajid Javid, the home secretary, launches his campaign for the Tory leadership.
4pm: The Conservative backbench 1922 Committee holds a private hustings. The candidates speaking are, in order: Johnson, Esther McVey, Rory Stewart and Matt Hancock.
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, although I will be focusing mostly on the Tory leadership contest and the Commons debate. I plan to post a summary when I wrap up at the end of the day.
You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads.
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