The Queen would dismiss Boris Johnson if he refused to comply with a law requiring him to seek an extension to Brexit talks, leading Remainer Dominic Grieve has said.
The claim comes amid a storm of outrage over allegations the embattled Prime Minister groped a female journalist when he was editor of The Spectator, with anger threatening to overshadow the Conservative party conference in Manchester.
Meanwhile Opposition parties have agreed to discuss plans for a government of national unity to oust Boris Johnson if he refuses to delay Brexit, according to Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson.
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It comes as chancellor Sajid Javid suggested the government had a plan to get around Benn Act, calling the legislation “silly”. Dominic Grieve said the PM would be “dismissed” by the Queen if he fails to seek a delay.
A government minister has admitted that she “does not know” how Boris Johnson will deliver Brexit by 31 October but hinted that the prime minister has a plan to bypass a law blocking no-deal, Benjamin Kentish reports.
Esther McVey, the housing minister, who attends cabinet, suggested that she was not aware of No10’s plan for bypassing the so-called Benn Act, which is designed to stop the UK leaving the EU without a deal on Halloween, but hinted that the prime minister had something in his “back pocket for when you need to pull it out”.
The Brexiteer became the second minister of the day to suggest that No10 had a secret strategy for getting around the law, after Sajid Javid, the chancellor said he believed he knew what the plan was.
Boris Johnson’s approach to Brexit talks amounts to a “kamikaze” raid on Brussels, EU diplomats believe – as the clock ticks down to a potential no-deal at the end of October.
EU member states, even those traditionally seen as UK allies, believe the British prime minister has not taken a reasonable approach and wants the EU to tear up its rulebook to make special exceptions for it.
“The kamikaze way that this is now being dealt with by the UK government is not something we have chosen,” one senior EU diplomat said.
The Independent’s Jon Stone reports.
MPs have welcomed the decision of BBC director-general Tony Hall after the head of the broadcaster overturned a decision to uphold a complaint against presenter Naga Munchetty following her comments on Donald Trump.
In a message sent to all staff, Lord Hall said he had “personally reviewed” the complaint against the BBC Breakfast host but that “in this instance, I don’t think Naga’s words were sufficient to merit a partial uphold of the complaint around the comments she made”.
David Lammy, who had previously hit out at the decision, wrote on Twitter: “So pleased that finally common sense has prevailed. But why and how did Naga become the sole focus of this complaint in the first place and what wider lessons have the BBC learned?”
Barbara Keeley, the Labour MP for Worsley and Eccles South, added: “Right decision to reverse this after pressure – but it was always the wrong decision and BBC needs a serious review into how this happened”.
Chiara Giordano reports.
Dominic Raab will answer his first Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday when he steps up to the despatch box in the stead of the Prime Minister.
The foreign secretary will assume the position after being named as de facto deputy Prime Minister in Boris Johnson’s first cabinet reshuffle in July.
Mr Johnson meanwhile will remain in Manchester to give his speech on the final day of the Conservative Party Conference.
It is currently unclear who will step forward from the Labour party to hold Mr Raab, and the government, to account. The leader is traditionally replaced by a senior shadow minister when the PM is away from the commons.
Conservative Party chairman James Cleverly has heavily hinted that the Government believes there is a way of breaking free of the Benn Act.
“Legislation passed in a rush tends to be bad legislation”, he told a Politico fringe event in Manchester on Monday evening, adding: “What we’ve seen is parties distorting the parliamentary process, breaking conventions, taking a very creative interpretation of parliamentary procedures to prevent the Government discharging a promise the Prime Minister made and indeed a promise that all parties made at the referendum.
“And I’m not going to help them by showing them our homework.”
It comes after Sajid Javid said the government were “taking a careful look” at the law passed by MPs that would force the Prime Minister to seek an extenction from Brussels if a deal is not struck.
Boris Johnson has not personally contacted the family of Joe Cox despite saying that he had reached out in the wake of his claim that the best way to honour the memory of the murdered MP was to “get Brexit done”, it has been reported.
In an interview with ITV’s Joe Pike, the Prime Minister said he had tried to get in touch with the family of the MP to “clear it up” and that they had been “very understanding”.
However, the broadcaster said: “I’m told Brendan Cox received contact from the PM’s office. No one has spoken to Jo’s sister Kim or her parents Gordon and Jean.”
Commenting on the allegation on Twitter, former Conservative MP and staunch critic of Mr Johnson Nick Boles said: “It’s almost pathological, isn’t it? He just cannot be straightforward. Everything is a duck or dive.”
Away from the bustle of Manchester, a government minister warned the Prime Minister would not be able to leave the EU on 31 October without the approval of MPs has told the commons to “watch this space”.
The comment from Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke came as part of an exchange on the short selling of the pound – amid allegations from the former chancellor Philip Hammond that speculators who support Boris Johnson were looking to profit on the decline of the currency caused by a hard Brexit.
Speaking in the Commons, the SNP’s Patrick Grady said: “The best way to stop the speculation and the uncertainty would be for the Government to accept there’s a majority in this House that will not let a no-deal happen, and therefore if the House does not agree a deal we will not in fact be leaving on October 31”.
Mr Clarke replied: “All I’d say to the honourable gentleman is watch this space.”
Labour’s Stella Creasy has again called for better protections for women in the face of anti-abortion campaigners after activists paid for billboards depicting a 9-week-old foetus as part of targeted action against the MP.
The sign, which referred to a campaign to “stop Stella” was covered with white paint after being highlighted by the MP. The advertising company responsible for hosting the poster has since apologised for the signage, and said it would review its internal processes.
She initially brought attention to the group on Saturday, when campaigners protesting the MP’s stance on abortion took to Walthamstow high street with pictures of Ms Creasy alongside a graphic image of what they claim was an aborted 24-week-old foetus and the phrase “your MP is working hard…to make this a human right”.
The wife of Downing Street adviser Dominic Cummings has denied she was the second woman allegedly groped by Boris Johnson at a 1999 lunch while he was editor of The Spectator.
Journalist Charlotte Edwardes has said that the prime minister squeezed her thigh and that of another unnamed woman without their permission at the meal at the magazine’s offices in London.
Mr Johnson was confronted with the allegation during a TV interview at the Conservative annual conference in Manchester and responded simply: “No.”
The Chancellor says no-one “really knows” how much crashing out of the EU will cost the country – undermining repeated ministerial claims that the damage will be minimal and short-term.
Sajid Javid did not dispute his own watchdog’s warning of a £30bn a year hit, saying: “I’ve never pretended that if you leave without a deal it won’t be challenging.”
And he acknowledged the severe impact on businesses, “especially if you a trader with the EU”.
Gina Miller, the anti-Brexit activist who challenged Boris Johnson‘s prorogation of parliament, has spoken out about being subjected to “disturbing” verbal abuse while out in public with her young daughter.
Ms Miller, a businesswoman who led one of two cases against the government, said she was recognised in the street on the day after the Supreme Court ruled the prime minister’s decision was unlawful.
“People were stopping in their cars and rolling their windows down, calling me ‘traitor’ and saying: ‘There’s a lamppost over there’,” she told The Times.
Hike to bring hourly rate up to 66 per cent of median average and could be worth an extra £4,000 to 4m workers by 2024, says the Treasury
Greater Manchester Police have confirmed their Cyber Crime Unit are investigating two instances “where a limited number of IT systems at Manchester Central [the location of the Conservative conference] became temporarily inoperative”.
They added: “In both cases, systems were quickly returned to normal”.
LBC’s political editor, Theo Usherwood, tweeted this yesterday.
Former PM Theresa May has been speaking at the Henley Literature Festival today, and has said she has no regrets from her political career and is thinking of writing her own book.
Speaking at the Henley Literature Festival on Monday, May revealed various details about her life, including that she was thinking about writing her own book.
Ms May, who was interviewed on stage by Olympic rower Katherine Grainger, was also asked if she had read David Cameron’s new book, to which she replied: “I genuinely don’t read political books.
“I probably shouldn’t admit to this, but I would rather sit down with a good thriller or a detective book rather than read a political memoir.”
Asked if she had considered writing a book about her own career, Ms May, 62, said it was not something she was “rushing” to do, but added: “I am thinking about whether to do it.
“It has been suggested to me that people involved in significant events should write about them so historians can look back and see what those who were at the centre of events were thinking, why they took decisions and so forth.”
Asked if she had any regrets in her career, she added: “No I don’t think so. I have had a fantastic time.”
Gina Miller, the anti-Brexit activist who challenged Boris Johnson‘s prorogation of parliament, has spoken out about being subjected to “disturbing” verbal abuse while out in public with her young daughter.
Ms Miller, a businesswoman who led one of two cases against the government, said she was recognised in the street on the day after the Supreme Court ruled the prime minister’s decision was unlawful.
“People were stopping in their cars and rolling their windows down, calling me ‘traitor’ and saying: ‘There’s a lamppost over there’,” she told The Times.
Sajid Javid has announced £29bn of new roads spending.
He said: “Our roads are the arteries of our country. We will soon launch the new roads investment strategy with £29bn committed to strategic and local roads over the next five years.
“And today we are getting the shovels out early on several important road projects.”
These projects include the M60 Simister Island, dualling the A66 Transpennine and starting work on the A428 between Cambridge and Milton Keynes.
Javid said at the Spending Round the Treasury has also allocated £220m to buses.
The political editor of the Daily Mirror Pippa Crerar was jeered by the crowd at a Bruges Group fringe for asking about Boris Johnson’s suggestion that the best way to honour murdered Labour MP Jo Cox would be to get Brexit done.
The PM’s comments came during last week’s heated Commons exchanges after the suspension of Parliament was ruled unlawful.
DUP leader Arlene Foster responded by saying: “Tempers were very raised in the House of Commons and when that happens things are said – from both sides, I have to say – is my reflection on it.
“Nobody has the authority to say that they have been entirely clean on this, because when I reflect on some of the things that have been said about our prime minister, I am appalled.”
Sajid Javid has had digs at both the Lib Dems and Labour.
“[Lib Dems] want to pretend the whole thing never happened. Going back on your promises to the
British people isn’t liberal and it certainly isn’t democratic.
He said Labour was a “split down the middle” on Brexit and called leader Jeremy Corbyn: “A man for the many Brexit positions, not the few.”
Chancellor Sajid Javid is now delivering his speech at the Conservative party conference in Manchester.
“We are leaving the European Union, it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of days … deal or no-deal,” he says.
Javid said a no-deal Brexit would not be without “significant challenges”.
He said: “I know that some businesses and households are concerned about what a no-deal outcome might mean for them. I recognise that. And I understand that the uncertainty around Brexit is challenging.
But our step-change in preparations has made a deal outcome more likely and a no-deal outcome more manageable. Every department now has the resources available to prepare for no-deal.”
“Deal or no deal – we will be ready.”
Caroline Lucas and other senior opposition MPs are meeting in Westminster today.
The Green MP said: “He can goad us as much as he likes … but we are not going to give him the general election he wants until we are absolutely secure in the knowledge we have locked down any possibility of him pulling us out on 31 October.”
