Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including the latest from the Tory leadership contest
- Tom Watson joins calls for Chris Williamson suspension
- Verhofstadt rubbishes Johnson’s Brexit deal claims
- Lunchtime summary
- Afternoon summary
- Tory leadership hustings - Summary
That was the third leadership hustings organised by the Conservative party for the two candidates left in the leadership contest, Boris Johnson, the favourite, and Jeremy Hunt. By now many of their lines are well rehearsed. But the right questions can still produce new insights. Here are the main points.
Related: Boris Johnson refuses to rule out forcing through no-deal Brexit
A really good Brexit will help to cement the union because there are all sorts of ways in which post-Brexit we will be able to intensify the union.
I would also point out that the SNP will effectively have their guns spiked because once we make a great success of Brexit they will have to argue to the people of Scotland that they want to rejoin the EU, join the euro, join the Schengen area, submit Scotland to every type of EU regulation and lose control, which they will have just gained, of Scottish fishing.
They are talking about one particular aspect of what will actually be a very, very progressive approach. If you want to look at how I view society and how to tax society, look at what we did in London where we massively expanded the living wage and put millions of pounds in the pockets of the poorest families in society.
We had some very tough arguments. But the way I think I was able to prevail and to make the reforms - and it was basically closing a load of ticket offices and radically changing the way the Tube works - I was able to do it because as chairman of Transport for London I put my arms around everyone in that organisation and I championed them. And you’ve got to love up the people that you lead, if you see what I mean. It’s very important. I mean it. If you are a leader in a great mixed economy like ours, you can’t just be the chief consumer. You are the chief producer. You are the person who leads that public service, you are the person who champions those people. You’ve got extol what they’re doing as well as reforming them.
Margaret Thatcher got 1.5m council tenants onto the housing ladder through her right to buy scheme. I have an equally ambitious scheme called right to own which will help 1.5m young people get on the housing ladder, people who can’t afford a mortgage or a deposit.
And the way we will do that is by gifting people land that already has planning permission so that the increase in the value of the land is not something that goes to developers but goes to the young person who can’t afford to get onto the housing ladder. We will be publishing details of those plans in the next few days. But that is a central part of my mission to get more young people to support our party, because that is so important for our future.
All my commitments are funded through a pledge that I will keep reducing debt as a proportion of GDP over the economic cycle so we won’t be building up debt for future generations,” he said
We actually have now about £26bn of headroom a year, which is why we can afford some of these commitments.
Last night Liz Truss, the chief secretary to the Treasury and probably the most senior of the many proxies that Boris Johnson’s campaign team has been sending out to do interviews on his behalf, told Newsnight that Johnson was definitely ruling out proroguing parliament to facilitate a no-deal Brexit
Emily: He’s [Mr Johnson] definitely ruling out proroguing or suspending parliament?
Liz Truss: “That’s right”
Tory MP Liz Truss says Boris Johnson does not want to use “archaic manoeuvres” and has been “extremely clear” that the UK will leave the EU on 31 October#newsnight pic.twitter.com/qy63AIWATr
I’m not attracted to the idea of a no-deal exit from the EU but, you know, I think it would be absolutely folly to rule it out. I think it’s an essential tool of our negotiation.
I don’t envisage the circumstances in which it will be necessary to prorogue parliament, nor am I attracted to that expedient.
Q: What do you think the impact of the green economy on the economy?
Hunt says he is about to say something unpopular; he thinks we need to dig up the roads, so that we can install ultra-fast broadband.
Q: What would you do to encourage more diversity in higher education?
Hunt says some degrees are good, some aren’t. There are degrees that cost £50,000, but that don’t give young people back the earning power they need.
Q: How would you improve intra and intercity travel?
Hunt says he will say something unpopular with some Tories:
I will deliver HS2.
Q: The NHS has taken on the status of a national religion, and is often said to be beyond sensible management. Do you agree? And do you agree that people should take more responsibility for their health?
Hunt says the NHS cannot do everything. But he is proud of it, and he wants it to go on doing everything it currently does. He says it is very important to know that, if people need healthcare, they can get it for free.
Q: Would you use our nuclear deterrent in extreme circumstances?
Hunt says his father, in his last job, was responsible for the nuclear deterrent. They thought about this a lot in his family. If you have a deterrent that you are not willing to use, it is not a deterrent. The lesson from this is that you have to be strong to be safe.
Q: [From a police and crime commissioner candidate] Will you increase police funding?
Hunt says the government had to cut spending to get the budget under control. It was right to do that. But in two areas the cuts went too far - in social care, and in policing, where there has been a delayed impact. Crime falls for a while when you cut police numbers, but then goes up.
Q: You need all available talen in your Brexit negotiating team. Would you include Nigel Farage?
No, says Hunt - to applause.
There is only one way to deal with the Brexit party. And that is to Brexit.
Q: What would you do about student debt? The interest rates bear no relationship to what the government pays?
Hunt says the system feels unfair. The government ends up paying a large sum.
Q: Will you have a policy equivalent to Thatcher’s right to buy scheme. How about exempting homes worth less than £1m from stamp duty?
Hunt says he has a plan called right to own. It would help 1.5m young people buy homes.
Hunt is now taking questions from the audience.
Q: What would your first three piece of legislation be?
Q: How do you respond to the IFS critique of your tax and spending policies?
Hunt says he disputes some of their figures. But he says cutting corporation tax makes sense. About half the spend will be recuperated, through more tax. But it would also increase economic growth, he says.
Q: What is your plan to encourage entrepreneurs?
Hunt says he thinks tuition fee interest rates are too high. When he set his first business, he did not have student debt. That is what he wants to get rid of tuition fees for people who set up small businesses. Only a relatively small number of people would benefit.
Q: What relationship do you have with your foreign counterparts?
Hunt says he has good relationships with his counterparts. But they are direct relationships. A friend tells you how things are.
Hunt says he would do everything possible to ensure Nicola Sturgeon could not exploit Brexit.
But he says more than 1m people in Scotland voted for Brexit. Their wishes have to be honoured.
Q: Why do you want to be prime minister?
Hunt says he wants to change the country.
He says, as an entrepreneur, he wants to kick start the economy.
He says, as foreign secretary, he also wants Britain to walk tall in the world.
We can’t be the party of aspiration unless the most aspirational people are voting for us.
Jeremy Hunt is speaking now.
He says it has been an amazing campaign. And he suggests it is time to bring the Tory conference back to Bournemouth.
A Jeremy Hunt campaign video is now being shown.
Q: I’ve been thinking about the collective noun for Conservative members. A division, I think. What will you do to unite the party?
Johnson says sadly this is true.
Q: What can you do to help schools?
Johnson says the number one thing he will do when he gets into Number 10 will be to increase schools funding.
Q: I have been waiting 40 years for Brexit. Would you be willing to prorogue parliaement to get Brexit through?
Johnson says he would rather trust the common sense of MPs.
Q: [From a councillor who lost her seat at the election] What will you do to give the country a good transport system?
Johnson apologises to the woman for her losing her seat. He says it was the fault of MPs for not delivering Brexit.
You have got to love up the people you lead.
Q: How would you fix the care crisis?
Johnson says this is probably the biggest challenge facing the country (which is what he said about housing a moment ago).
Q: What will you do to all more people to own their own homes?
Johnson says this is the great challenge of the age.
Q: Where will the money come from?
Johnson says there is ample headroom.
Q: What will you do for special educational needs?
Johnson says every kid should have the best education.
Johnson is now taking questions from the audience.
Q: I will have to decide who is best for the country and who is best for the party. Who should be it?
Q: Are you in contact with EU negotiators?
Johnson says he is in contact with people around the world who are wishing him well. But he is not in contact with Michel Barnier. That would be “presumptious”.
Q: Yesterday you said the chances of a no-deal Brexit were a million to one. Do you stand by that?
Yes, says Johnson.
Hannah Vaughan Jones, a journalist, is chairing. She is asking the first questions.
Q: Is it a lifelong ambition to be PM or are you doing it out of a sense of ambition?
Boris Johnson is now giving his opening speech.
He says the Conservatives are suffering because they have not delivered Brexit. But the darkest hour is before dawn, he says.
Kick the can again, and we kick the bucket.
I say nonsense. The planes will fly.
Boris Johnson is going to go first.
At the hustings a Johnson campaign video is being shown first.
There is a live feed of the hustings here.
The Tory leadership hustings is starting soon.
According to ITV’s Paul Brand, people were queueing to get into the venue in Bournemouth two hours ago.
Queueing in Bournemouth for the next round of Tory hustings... pic.twitter.com/3VcRp6FoDN
Kezia Dugdale, the former Scottish Labour leader, has said there is a serious prospect that Jeremy Corbyn could agree to stage a second Scottish independence referendum, to win SNP support in a hung parliament.
In a BBC Scotland interview to mark her last full day as an MSP, Dugdale also said she believes Boris Johnson could take a gamble and call a second referendum if he wins the Conservative leadership contest. She said:
I can see a scenario where the SNP go to Jeremy Corbyn and say we will will vote for every one of your budgets in the lifetime of your parliament in return for indyref2 [a second independence referendum].
At that point the Labour party has to decide does it appease the SNP and give them indyref2 in order to be in power - or does it give up the prospect of being in power in order to protect the union?
This is handwringing nonsense. https://t.co/p6qkPw2Xry
At the press gallery lunch Ken Clarke also said that he did not believe Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt would take the UK out of the EU without a deal on 31 October, even though both of the claim they would be willing to do so. He explained:
I don’t think either candidate believes leaving with no-deal makes the slightest sense at all.
Jeremy hedges it, Boris does his usual thing of changing the way he expresses it day by day.
Speaking at a press gallery lunch today, Ken Clarke, the veteran Tory pro-European, said the Brexit crisis was doing “terrible, terrible damage” to the political institutions of the country. He told journalists:
When you think no more ridiculous turn events can take place, another ridiculous turn of events does take place ...
The worrying thing for someone like me is that it is doing terrible, terrible damage to the political institutions of this country.
In an article in this week’s Spectator, James Forsyth says, if Boris Johnson become prime minister, civil servants will advise him to request an emergency EU summit for September. Forsyth says:
I understand that the civil service will immediately urge prime minister Johnson to request a special September meeting of the EU Council. They argue that without such a move, the Commission’s negotiating mandate won’t change. Nothing could happen therefore before the October Council, which would be cutting things too fine.
Even Johnson’s confidants think that the EU will, at least initially, try to call his bluff — and reject the idea of reopening the withdrawal agreement. This is when things will get really interesting. Under Boris Johnson, the UK’s government response to this would be to ramp up no-deal planning.
In an interview with the BBC Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, said he and the other 90 MPs and peers signing the letter about Chris Williamson (see 2.34pm) wanted Jeremy Corbyn to remove the whip from him. He said that, because the party disciplinary process had led to the national executive committee (NEC) panel lifting Williamson’s suspension, a parliamentary disciplinary process was now needed. He explained:
We have never had an MP accused of stirring up so much upset in a particular community in Britain. It required a full inquiry. And that’s why [the NEC] decision is so bewildering ...
Sadly the only route left is for Jeremy to step in, show leadership, remove the whip and allow our chief whip to do a proper inquiry.
What I would say is that Chris Williamson is entitled to a proper investigation. The magnitude of the allegations against him are so great, and the upset and the anger caused obviously required referring to that kind of inquiry.
Earlier today, before the Tom Watson letter about Chris Williamson was released (see 2.34pm), Jeremy Corbyn was asked about the Williamson row by the BBC. He said:
We deal with antisemitism very, very seriously. There is no place of antisemitism in our society and obviously not in our party as well. And anyone that makes antisemitic remarks can expect to be at the very least reprimanded and, if they are very serious, and if they are engaged in antisemitic activity, then they are expelled from the party.
This is from the New Statesman’s Patrick Maguire.
NEW: 68 Labour staff have put their names to this letter to Jennie Formby. They say that Chris Williamson’s presence in the party makes them feel “unwelcome” at work pic.twitter.com/854kwa5Dww
The top government official in charge of no-deal Brexit planning has quit just as the chances of crashing out of the EU appear to have increased. As my colleague Lisa O’Carroll reports, Tom Shinner, 33, director of policy and delivery coordination at the Department for Exiting the EU, was in charge of coordinating the domestic policy implications of Brexit across government departments to ensure a smooth exit from the EU.
Related: Brexit civil servant in charge of no-deal planning quits
This is from ITV’s Paul Brand, who was covering the Boris Johnson visit to Portsmouth.
Asked a few Conservative members in Portsmouth what they made of Boris Johnson after his visit. 3/4 I spoke to will be voting for him.
Asked one “what about his personal life?”
“I don’t give a damn!” pic.twitter.com/jM9iJvMHYt
Peugeot said it will build its new Vauxhall Astra car at its Ellesmere Port plant but only on the condition the government secures a good Brexit deal.
The decision is a major boost for the embattled British car industry and the 1,100 employees at the plant, whose future had been thought to be dependent on winning the Astra contract.
The decision on the allocation to the Ellesmere Port plant will be conditional on the final terms of the UK’s exit from the European Union and the acceptance of the New Vehicle Agreement, which has been negotiated with the Unite trade union.
Theresa May is expected to have meetings with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday in the margins of the G20 summit, the Press Association reports. The meetings will follow Friday’s face-to-face talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Other meetings have been lined up on Saturday with Australian counterpart Scott Morrison and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
Jeremy Hunt has been visiting the Isle of Wight too.
Great to be back in the place where my parents got married, the Isle of Wight. I met with a fantastic group of Conservative members and talked about how important it is to back businesses. They are the life blood of places like the Isle of Wight. #HastobeHunt pic.twitter.com/skJixu8PXK
Here is some expert comment on the attempt by Margaret Beckett and Dominic Grieve to use amendments to the estimates next week to prevent a no-deal Brexit. (See 2.06pm.)
From the Hansard Society’s Brigid Fowler
If people are just seeing news re: Beckett/Grieve ams tabled to so-called '#estimates', we flagged this summer's estimates process in a recent piece - see below. (Short thread) 1/ pic.twitter.com/l9zZ01dhiP
The Beckett/Grieve ams are tabled to the motions to authorise the 2019-20 spending of depts whose estimates have been chosen by the Backbench Business C'tee for separate debate & vote (this yr, 4 depts - DFID, DoE, DWP, HCLG). Motions & ams are here: 2/ https://t.co/uYTWTeaoxf
The Beckett/Grieve ams seek to make parliamentary authorisation for these 4 depts' 2019-20 spending conditional on either the UK leaving the EU only with a Withdrawal Agreement, or approval by the Commons of a motion giving explicit approval for a #nodeal Brexit. 3/
I'm not surprised someone's giving the estimates process a go as an anti-#nodeal move, since estimates are one of few things gov *has* to put before HoC before summer & where it can't get round needing HoC approval. We (& others) have been speculating about this possibility. 4/
But trying to amend an estimates motion is rare (the last time such an amendment was moved was 2002). And, even if the move proves not to go very far, bringing 'the power of the purse' into play represents an escalation in the Commons-government tussle. /ends
In my view this is the most promising procedural route available to MPs seeking to prevent a new Prime Minister pursuing a no deal exit...https://t.co/H5uClBMYPX
... as @pseaward1 has been arguing for some time. But whether it will succeed will depend on whether enough MPs opposed to no deal realise this is may be the only effective opportunity to prevent it and are prepared to vote for the motion before no deal seems imminent.
The latest move by MPs seeking to stop no deal: cut off the Government’s provision to spend money unless:
1️⃣ The Commons passes a Withdrawal Agreement
2️⃣ The Commons agrees to leave the EU without a Withdrawal Agreement. https://t.co/lXPyIiTNq6
Why is this important? Annual expenditure control remains a constitutional requirement, and the Commons must approve the Estimates each year. Estimates scrutiny has historically been very poor, and the @CommonsProcCom produced a report on this in 2017 https://t.co/wUbaUzTwak
Tabling amendments to the Estimates that places conditions on the Government’s expenditure is a new tactic - until now MPs opposed to no-deal have tried to capture days to legislate to compel the Government to seek an extension. However chances to do this before 31.10 are scarce.
This stops short of a vote of no confidence, but ups the stakes on the Government. The Estimates process needs to be completed before the House rises before the summer recess. It’s early to assess chances of success, but the Govt will be taking this very seriously.
For clarity, the Govt could delay to the Autumn sittings but not to 31.10, so they could pull the debate next week, but not indefinitely.
Boris Johnson has been posing for photographs on the ferry to the Isle of Wight.
Here is the statement on Chris Williamson organised by Tom Watson in full.
Statement on Chris Williamson pic.twitter.com/WGYx9os2A0
Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson and 90 of the party’s MPs and peers have issued a statement demanding Jeremy Corbyn withdraw the whip from Chris Williamson. The statement said they cannot overstate the “depth and breadth of hurt and anger” at the readmission of the Derby North MP to the party following his suspension over allegations of antisemitism. The statement says:
We cannot overstate the depth and breadth of hurt and anger felt about the readmission of Chris Williamson into the Labour party and the questions that arise about the fairness of the process.
The officer recommendation - that Chris Williamson should be referred to the national constitutional committee for action - was ignored by the members of the NEC panel. That the composition of that panel was changed at short notice seems highly irregular.
We don’t know if that amendment is going to be selected at this point. Any attempt to deny vital funding to Whitehall departments would be grossly irresponsible. This is government spending for this financial year and funds crucial areas like schools, housing and welfare.
At end, add “provided that the authorisation for the use of resources under this resolution does not apply to such use if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union unless (a) a withdrawal agreement has been ratified or (b) the House of Commons has, prior to the United Kingdom leaving the European Union, agreed a resolution to the effect that it approves the United Kingdom leaving the European Union without a withdrawal agreement.”
What is grossly irresponsible is leadership candidates who intend to be prime minister in four weeks time saying they are prepared to contemplate taking the UK out of the EU without the approval of the House of Commons.
That is incredibly irresponsible constitutionally. The House of Commons has very limited ability to stand up to behaviour of this kind.
David Lidington, Theresa May’s de facto deputy, who is backing Jeremy Hunt for next Tory leader, said the new prime minister should make the northern powerhouse his priority. Speaking to reporters during a visit to the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre at The University of Manchester where he took part in a roundtable with the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, he said the north should be “a priority that is owned by every department”. He went on:
The key thing is that every government department should feel that this is a priority for them. What won’t work is if other ministers and other departments think that Northern Powerhouse is all down to one man or woman. This has got to be a priority that is owned by every department.
What is key is that whether it is Jeremy Hunt or Boris Johnson is that the prime minister personally takes the lead and makes it very clear for them that northern powerhouse remains a cross government priority.
There is a lot to be done still but we shouldn’t underrate the successes we have seen already and that has been in part down to consistent government support - £13bn investment in rail. And we have also transformed regional and local government in England. You now have most people living in the north living in an area which is managed by a metro mayor. That is something that has changed the opportunities for the region in a way that we haven’t seen for decades.
I’m not in the business of wanting to put Jeremy Corbyn into government because I think that would be disastrous for the country on both economic and security grounds but I am very opposed to no-deal. I think it would cause significant harm to the manufacturing industry throughout the United Kingdom and agriculture throughout the United Kingdom and put further strain on the union of the United Kingdom.
Jeremy Corbyn is visiting Hartlepool’s Heugh Battery Museum to meet military personnel during armed forces week, the Press Association reports. He is pledging a series of measures to boost military conditions, including giving “fair pay” to the military in the light of figures indicating that the salary of an army private has effectively dropped by nearly 1,200 between 2010 and 2018.
This is from the Press Association’s Ian Jones.
Theresa May today overtakes Neville Chamberlain - another PM who returned from negotiations in Europe confidently brandishing an agreement. pic.twitter.com/PAIBkkc4YZ
Although Boris Johnson is well ahead of Jeremy Hunt amongst Conservative party members, surveys suggest (see 12.24pm), amongst the public at large they are much more neck and neck. Ipsos MORI has published some detailed polling, and it says there is “little to choose” between them, although both men enjoy large leads over Jeremy Corbyn in terms of who is seen to be “the most capable PM”. In his story on the figures for the Evening Standard, Joe Murphy says Johnson is just ahead of Hunt on having what it takes to be a good PM, although he says the gap has narrowed in recent weeks.
Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of the ALDE liberal group in the European parliament who has been the parliament’s lead Brexit spokesman, has published an article for Project Syndicate saying Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have “learned nothing whatsoever from the past two years of negotiations with the EU”. Here is an extract:
Though Johnson will most likely soon find himself in a position where he must make good on his promises, he continues to spread untruths. Chief among them is the myth that Britain can tear up the withdrawal agreement that May negotiated with the EU, withhold its financial commitments to the bloc, and simultaneously start negotiating free-trade deals. To Johnson’s followers, however, he is more prophet than politician: only he can deliver a mythical “true Brexit” that will deliver the prosperity promised during the referendum campaign.
As is often the case with populists, reality does not square with Johnson’s ensorcelling combination of false promises, pseudo-patriotism, and foreigner bashing. He and his fellow Brexiteers speak of a “Global Britain” that will trade freely with the rest of the world, even as they drag their country down a path strewn with uprooted trade ties and substantial new barriers to commerce.
ConservativeHome has published one of its regular surveys of Tory party members. It suggests Boris Johnson is on course to win the leadership by a margin of two to one.
Theresa May has warned the two men vying to replace her against trying to bypass parliament, insisting they must find a solution to the Brexit deadlock that can win the support of a majority of MPs, my colleague Heather Stewart reports from Japan, where May is attending the G20 summit.
Related: Theresa May: next PM must not try to bypass parliament on Brexit
The Conservative party is due to announce the winner of the leadership contest on Tuesday 23 July. Theresa May is then expected to resign the following day, after her final PMQs, with the new prime minister taking office on the Wednesday night.
But the Commons has also agreed to start the summer recess at the end of business on Thursday 24 July, suggesting that the new prime minister will not face the Commons before September.
The government is very clear that there should be an opportunity for the new prime minister to appear before this house before recess and that, in the event that there is any doubt in that matter, I have no doubt that parliament’s will will be expressed on that particular matter.
It is usual for there to be time to be set aside for conference recesses and one might reasonably expect that to be made available in the usual way.
Class sizes in England’s secondary schools are increasing, the Press Association reports. Data from the Department for Education indicates that there is the equivalent of one extra pupil in each secondary school class compared with two years ago. New statistics (pdf) reveal that, as of January, the average class size in state secondary schools was 21.7 pupils, up from 21.2 last year. In 2017, the average secondary class size was 20.8 pupils, suggesting there is now almost the equivalent of one extra pupil in every class.
Boris Johnson, the favourite in the Tory leadership contest, has given an interview to ConservativeHome which is well worth reading.
By my count, the interview includes one quasi U-turn (on Islamaphobia) and at least four claims that are either extremely dubious (on MPs and no-deal, and two on Scotland) or potentially misleading (on tax).
Well I took it up with Saj afterwards, and he said that actually, if I understand it correctly, what we’ve committed to is a general investigation into all types of prejudice and discrimination including antisemitism ... So yes, we’ll have to study exactly what Saj has in mind, but it sounded like a sensible idea when he mentioned it.
Do you all agree, guys? Shall we have an external investigation into the Conservative party on Islamophobia?
Well the great lesson of politics is that when you’re unpopular, it’s not something you should take personally, because what they’re taking against is what they think you stand for.
The flip side of it of course is that when you’re loved, and when you’re popular, that is equally transitory and I’m afraid probably equally superficial.
Not at all. On the contrary. Look at my administration in City Hall, which you may recall, which was basically a feminocracy of one kind or another. We had about half and half ... There are lots of female MPs supporting my campaign. I don’t go to these morning meetings myself, but we have lots of women working [on the campaign].
There will be a package of fiscal measures, most of which will be directed at helping people on low incomes, including lifting thresholds for national insurance and so on.
I want obviously to have a broad range of talent in my Government, the Government that I will lead, but clearly people must be reconciled to the very, very, very small possibility, and I stress it will be a very, very small possibility, that we would have to leave on those terms.
If I were thinking in Scotland about who I want to govern the country, my country, Scotland, and if I were looking at the government of the United Kingdom, and it totally failed to deliver on this essential request from the British people, and it couldn’t even do that, I would think well why am I being governed from London.
This thing, far from damaging the Union, Brexit is going to make life very, very difficult for the SNP indeed. I think it will take away a lot of their arguments, and it will greatly cement and strengthen the union.
I don’t think that showed particular disrespect for the great man. I think I can say that to his face and I think he would be all right.
Boris Johnson has released a video with footage of him campaigning this week. It even includes a dog that looks a bit like Sajid Javid’s one, Bailey (the star of Javid’s own well-received video). Johnson is recorded saying he wants to take on the “gloomadon-poppers, everybody full of negativity about our country”. And, using a line he deploys frequently, he says “the hour is darkest before dawn” (which actually is another untruth, because just before dawn it starts getting light).
We must leave the EU on October 31st, with or without a deal, so we can begin to unite our country, restore trust in our politics, and move beyond Brexit to focus on those issues that make voters’ lives better.
Join the team https://t.co/tGRXu94CmT pic.twitter.com/R184tcLuEf
Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary and one of Jeremy Corbyn’s closest allies, has said she is “beginning to worry” about Labour’s Brexit policy. She was replying to a tweet from a fellow leftwinger.
Like you I have supported Labour’s Brexit strategy so far. But like you I am beginning to worry...
Theresa May has urged the US and Iran to ease tensions in the Gulf. Speaking to journalists en route to Japan for her final global summit as prime minister, May stressed her commitment to the Iran nuclear deal known as the JCPOA [joint comprehensive plan of action]. She said:
I think that what we need to see in relation to Iran at the moment is a de-escalation of the tensions that we have seen in that region and we will continue to work and I will continue to talk with my colleagues, France and Germany, about the importance of us acting to do everything we can to maintain the JCPOA.
In the Commons Julian Smith, the chief whip, has just moved the writ for the Brecon and Radnorshire byelection, triggered by the recall petition against the Conservative Chris Davies.
The byelection will be held on Thursday 1 August.
How does Boris Johnson get away so easily with being untruthful? That is a question that deserves a book-length answer, but one point to make this morning is that he manages it partly because so much of his discourse operates in some ambiguous grey zone between the serious and the absurd. There was a good example last night when he said that the chances of a no-deal Brexit are “a million-to-one against”. That is so ridiculous that it cannot possibly be taken as a literal assessment. (The odds on an asteroid hitting the earth are much lower, many experts believe a no-deal Brexit is actually more likely than not, and if Johnson really thought the chances of no-deal were so small, he could not justify spending money on no-deal planning.) But most Tories watching last night’s hustings will have known perfectly well that Johnson was not being literal; they will have taken him as meaning that the chances of no-deal are lower than is generally assumed, which is probably something Johnson genuinely believes.
Just to remind him how disastrous a no-deal Brexit could be, the Japanese foreign minister, Taro Kono, was on the Today programme today talking about it, and he said it could threaten the future of Japanese car plants in the UK. It is fair to assume he was not exaggerating for comic effect. He said:
There are over 1,000 Japanese companies operating in the United Kingdom, so we are very concerned with this no-deal Brexit. That would have a very negative impact on their operations ...
There are a few Japanese auto manufacturers operating in the United Kingdom, and some parts are coming from continental Europe. Right now they have a very smooth operation; their stock for each part is only for a few hours.
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