Boris Johnson is awaiting another ruling by the Court of Session, as it hears a request by campaigners for judges to empower the Scottish court to sign a Brexit extension letter if the prime minister refuses to do so.
A source at No 10 has claimed there were “all sorts of things” they could do to “scupper” the Brexit delay required by the Benn Act if the government fails to get a deal with the EU. Tory rebel Amber Rudd said Downing Street sounded “angry and desperate”.
It comes as Mr Johnson dismisses Extinction Rebellion activists as a bunch of “un-cooperative crusties”. He also claimed Margaret Thatcher took climate change seriously “long before Greta Thunberg”.
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More on Angela Merkel’s phone call with Boris Johnson this morning.
Asked if the Brexit talks were close to collapse, a No 10 source told The Independent: “That is what the prime minister told Merkel. They aren’t negotiating or engaging in Brussels.”
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, spoke to Boris Johnson this morning and told him a Brexit deal is “overwhelmingly unlikely”, a No 10 source has told the BBC.
The Downing Street source also said that Brexit negotiations in Brussels “are close to breaking down”.
“Merkel said that if Germany wanted to leave the EU they could do it no problem, but the UK cannot leave without leaving Northern Ireland behind in a customs union and in full alignment forever,” claimed the No 10 official, in remarks reported by Sky News.
“She said that Ireland is the government’s special problem and Ireland must at least have a veto on Northern Ireland leaving.
“Merkel said that the prime minister should tell Northern Ireland that it must stay in full alignment forever, but that even this would not eliminate customs issues.
“It was a very useful clarifying moment in all sorts of ways.”
ITV’s Robert Peston said: “Johnson will now go full steam ahead to a no-deal Brexit on 31 October. I would expect him to make a statement about all this later today.”
Labour MP Tracy Brabin, a member of Jeremy Corbyn’s front bench, has said there is “an element of misogyny” in efforts by grassroots activists to unseat four of the party’s female MPs.
She called on the party to support MPs facing deselection after speaking out about antisemitism. Emma Lewell-Buck last night became the fourth Labour MP to lose a “trigger ballot” of local party branches.
All the details here.
Michael Gove’s statement relates to a new Brexit readiness document set to be published today: a paper intended to provide more detail on no-deal planning to satisfy an appetite in parliament for more information.
And then, of course, we’re expecting parliament to be prorogued for the second time in a month.
Today’s big hearing at the Court of Session is under way.
Aiden O’Neill – the QC who argued successfully against the government in the propogation case in the Supreme Court – is putting campaigners’ case for a nobile officium or “nob off”, which could see the court sign the Brexit extension letter if the PM refuses to do so.
He is arguing that Downing Street officials continue to suggest they will frustrate the Benn Act – and mentions that bombshell memo sent to The Spectator last night vowing to “scupper” a Brexit delay.
In her interview this morning, Amber Rudd indicated said she was ready to back a second, Final Say referendum on Brexit to end the deepening crisis.
Insisting a deal was still possible, with further compromise, Rudd said: “Yes, [it] may indeed have to have a confirmatory referendum at some stage, on a deal, to get it through.”
Heidi Allen, the former Tory MP who has announced she is joining the Lib Dems, has been talking about how a second referendum may play out.
A reminder that Boris Johnson must respond today to a summons from the Greater London Authority (GLA) and provide all correspondence related to his relationship Jennifer Arcuri – the woman who was allowed to join trade missions and received large grants.
Asked yesterday if he would agree to appear before its elected members in the days ahead, Johnson replied: “I’ve said everything I’m going to say on that particular subject.”
Amber Rudd has called the No 10 memo “angry and desperate”. According to Sky News’ Lewis Goodall, an EU official thinks it’s “desperate” stuff too.
A new Brexit readiness document will be published today subject to the Speaker John Bercow approving a statement by Michael Gove, the prime minister’s official spokesman said.
The no-deal document will look at the preparations which have been made in advance of the 31 October 31 departure date.
The paper is intended to provide more detail on no-deal planning, and to satisfy an appetite in parliament for more information.
The PM’s spokesman said it should not be viewed as a shift towards a no-deal scenario, adding: “The publication is long planned and is the result of extensive work.
“Talks with the EU are ongoing and it remains our strong desire to leave with a deal.”
Amber Rudd also made clear in her Today programme interview that neither she or any other former Tory MPs expelled from the party would support Jeremy Corbyn as the caretaker prime minister.
She said “under no circumstances” would she back Corbyn as PM.
It’s something the Lib Dems have been pointing out for several weeks, arguing that the Labour leader does not have the numbers in the Commons to lead a unity government.
Here’s Rudd attacking No 10 as “angry and desperate”.
Tory rebel Amber Rudd said she believes the No 10 source quoted by The Spectator political editor James Forsyth as saying there were “all sorts of things” they could do to scupper a delay is Boris Johnson’s controversial aide Dominic Cummings.
Speaking about the response The Spectator received from a Downing Street contact when asked about the progress of the Brexit talks, Rudd told the Today programme: “It sounds angry and desperate.”
Asked if she thinks it was written by Cummings, she said: “I think Dominic Cummings, yes, because otherwise it would have been heavily denied and heads would have rolled. So clearly it’s come from them, it’s in their style.
“It reveals that there doesn’t appear to be an actual plan at all. Instead, what they’re doing is angrily, apparently, begging the EU not to support a delay which will be required because of the position that parliament has taken.
“And I urgently would ask the prime minister to take control of this and give us some clarity and some dignity and diplomacy on what is taking place.”
Rudd added: “First of all, government has consistently been saying since the Benn Act was passed that they have a cunning plan.
“And many of us have been confused by the idea of saying that they will obey the law but we are definitely leaving on October 31. And I don’t think that this memo suggests that there is any plan.”
She added: “What they’re doing in fact is going down on one knee and begging EU members not to participate in this.”
The Court of Session’s Inner House is set to hear a request by campaigners that Scottish judges use the unique power of “nobile officium” – known as a “nob off” – to empower a court official to sign the extension letter if Boris Johnson refuses to do so.
Documents submitted to the court on behalf of the prime minister on Friday revealed he accepted he must send the letter requesting an extension to the Brexit deadline under the terms set out in the Benn Act legislation.
Campaigner and barrister Jo Maugham QC said: “On Tuesday the Inner House will consider whether or not, if the Prime Minister refuses to do what he has told the court that he will do, the court can sign the letter for the Prime Minister, the letter mandated by the Benn Act.”
Boris Johnson called Extinction Rebellion protesters a bunch of “nose-ringed, hemp-smelling” activists and “uncooperative crusties” at a book launch for Charles Moore’s latest Margaret Thatcher biography last night.
He also claimed Thatcher took climate change seriously “long before Greta Thunberg”.
Johnson reportedly also said his advisors warned him against attending in case he was egged by protesters, but he asked them “what would Maggie do?” before deciding to turn up.
All the details here.
David Cameron has warned Boris Johnson that he will have to make further compromises if he wants the UK to leave the EU with a Brexit deal.
“The answer I suspect is now compromise on both sides,” he told the audience at the Barbican centre in London on Monday night.
“Boris is compromising and I suspect may have to move a bit more. And the EU should compromise too.”
The former premier also said Johnson could not ignore the Benn Act which requires him to ask the EU for a further delay to Brexit if he cannot get a deal by October 19.
“You can’t disobey the law as prime minister,” he said.
Some reaction to that remarkable No 10 briefing. Robert Peston said it was “the most explosive Downing St briefing in modern times”
The ITV presenter added: “Trolling from inside the Johnson bunker of this ambition and magnitude will have repercussions. It’s basic Newtonian physics.”
A source at No 10 has claimed there were “all sorts of things” they could do to “scupper” the Brexit delay required by the Benn Act if the government fails to get a deal with the EU.
In a lengthy message sent to The Spectator’s political editor James Forsyth, the source was also quoted as blaming Irish premier Leo Varadkar for refusing to negotiate, and warning that if Johnson’s plan “dies” in the next few days it would not be revived.
“To marginalise the Brexit Party, we will have to fight the election on the basis of ‘No more delays, get Brexit done immediately’,” the source is quoted as saying.
The source is also quoted as saying: “Those who pushed the Benn Act intended to sabotage a deal and they’ve probably succeeded.
“So the main effect of it will probably be to help us win an election by uniting the leave vote and then a no-deal Brexit. History is full of such ironies and tragedies.”
The source is quoted as saying that it will be made clear that countries which oppose delay will “go the front of the queue for future co-operation – co-operation on things both within and outside EU competences”.
The person added: “Those who support delay will go to the bottom of the queue.”
Boris Johnson’s attempts to secure a deal with Brussels continue to be met with frostiness by EU leaders, whose objections are beginning to become clearer.
EU leaders are still refusing to enter into detailed discussions on the plan, saying it does not represent the basis for a new Brexit settlement.
Brussels’ main concern is an aspect of the Ireland protocol which commits both sides to never introducing checks on the Irish border, according to the BBC.
And according to The Guardian, the EU negotiators have given their British counterparts a “point-by-point” rejection of the proposals put forward by the PM last week.
The EU would see it as an unacceptable loss of control if Stormont is given a veto every four years, and there were no guarantees over what checks the UK would carry out on goods going to Ireland.
The BBC reported that the EU Commission even asked if this was a mistake in the text.
Former Conservative MP Heidi Allen has been unveiled as the latest recruit to the Liberal Democrats.
Allen told The Independent at least 20 more “One Nation” Tories would like to follow suit, though she admitted she did not know if any would have the “bravery” to jump ship.
Read our political editor Andrew Woodcock’s exclusive here.
