Category Archives: Brexit

Tory leadership: Boris Johnson leads with 114 votes as Leadsom, McVey and Harper knocked out – live

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including the first round of voting in the Tory leadership contest

Here is my colleague Rafael Behr on Boris Johnson.

Related: Boris Johnson has an unfair advantage in the leadership race … there’s two of him | Rafael Behr

One of the two Johnsons served as mayor of London from 2008-2016. He has liberal, metropolitan instincts – broadly pro-immigration, old-fashioned in his use of idiom, but a moderniser at heart. Then there is 2016-2019 Johnson, figurehead of the Vote Leave campaign, the ultimate Brexit-booster. He is a more aggressive, divisive figure – a partisan of nationalistic culture wars who has consorted with Steve Bannon. Both Johnsons are dispensing wild promises to Tory MPs behind closed doors. The self-styled “One Nation” Conservatives and rightwing ultras each seem to think the other side is being taken for a ride, which suggests they all are.

Matt Hancock surpassed expectations, a spokesman for his campaign said. The spokesman went on:

MPs have responded well to Matt’s energetic and positive campaign. His pro-business message, his focus on taking the fight to Corbyn and the Lib Dems not just the Brexit party, and his argument that the Tory party “need a leader for the future, not just for now” has gone down well with colleagues.

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Oil price jumps after Gulf of Oman tanker ‘attacks’ – business live

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Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as tanker fires send crude prices soaring

Iran hasn’t said who it thinks is responsible for today’s attacks off its coastline.

But on Twitter, foreign minister Javad Zarif has described the attacks as beyond suspicious:

Reported attacks on Japan-related tankers occurred while PM @AbeShinzo was meeting with Ayatollah @khamenei_ir for extensive and friendly talks.

Suspicious doesn't begin to describe what likely transpired this morning.

Iran's proposed Regional Dialogue Forum is imperative.

Here’s the key line from president Rouhani’s speech on Iranian TV:

“Security is of high importance to Iran in the sensitive region of the Persian Gulf, in the Middle East, in Asia and in the whole world. We have always tried to secure peace and stability in the region.”

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MPs’ no-deal vote – what does this mean for Brexit?

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An attempt to block the UK leaving without a deal was defeated on Wednesday, so can no deal still be stopped?

Have MPs missed their last chance to block a no-deal Brexit?

Not quite. Labour seized the opportunity for action on Wednesday because they had been allotted an opposition day debate – an opportunity to decide what MPs discuss and vote on.

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‘No deal’ Tory leadership hopefuls boosted by MPs’ Brexit vote

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Labour-led attempt to stop the UK leaving without a deal is defeated, in move that could help Boris Johnson

Conservative leadership candidates including Boris Johnson hoping to force a “deal or no deal” Brexit in October have been handed a boost after MPs defeated a Labour-led attempt to tie the next prime minister’s hands.

Labour vowed it would not end efforts to stop no deal but the defeat bolstered Johnson’s claim at his leadership launch that MPs would not be prepared “reap the whirlwind” of halting Brexit entirely as Tory MPs prepared for the first round on votingto choose the next prime minister on Thursday.

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Third of Britons say they avoid news out of Brexit frustration

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Claims in YouGov poll come as news websites report record numbers of visitors

A growing number of Britons claim they are actively avoiding the news out of frustration at coverage of Brexit, research has found, even as news websites report record numbers of visitors wanting to read about major developments.

The discrepancy suggests that while many people publicly insist they are avoiding news about the UK’s ongoing political crisis, some may be unable to stop themselves secretly gorging themselves on updates about Britain leaving the EU.

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Boris Johnson accused of cowardice as he dodges public scrutiny

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Tory leadership frontrunner avoids interviews and refuses to commit to TV hustings

Boris Johnson has been accused of “not having the guts to face the people” in the Conservative leadership race, coming under fire for dodging interviews and refusing to confirm his participation in a BBC debate with other candidates.

Johnson, the clear frontrunner with MPs and the Tory membership, was implicitly criticised by several of his rivals who said the race must put all the candidates under proper scrutiny.

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Jeremy Corbyn lambasted by Labour MPs in ‘worst meeting as leader’

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MPs criticise Labour’s handling of Brexit and complaints of harassment and antisemitism

Labour MPs tore into Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit strategy at a party meeting on Monday night, with several MPs loyal to the leadership saying they felt ashamed to vote for the party at the European elections and urging a change of direction.

MPs inside the private gathering said there were surprise interventions from colleagues who had never before spoken out against Corbyn, including Lloyd Russell-Moyle and Marie Rimmer.

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Boris Johnson threatens to hold back Brexit ‘divorce’ payment to force a deal

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Pledge comes as James Brokenshire backs former foreign secretary, while Ruth Davidson endorses Sajid Javid

Boris Johnson has vowed to withhold Britain’s £39bn Brexit “divorce” payment until the EU agrees better terms for the UK to leave.

Withholding the cash, scrapping the Northern Ireland backstop, guaranteeing the rights of all EU citizens in Britain while stepping up preparations for a No Deal “disruption” in the wake of no deal are among measures the government would carry out if he was elected leader of the Conservative party, he said.

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‘Prejudiced’ Home Office refusing visas to African researchers

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Academics invited to the UK are refused entry on arbitrary and ‘insulting’ grounds

The Home Office is being accused of institutional racism and damaging British research projects through increasingly arbitrary and “insulting” visa refusals for academics.

In April, a team of six Ebola researchers from Sierra Leone were unable to attend vital training in the UK, funded by the Wellcome Trust as part of a £1.5m flagship pandemic preparedness programme. At the LSE Africa summit, also in April, 24 out of 25 researchers were missing from a single workshop. Shortly afterwards, the Save the Children centenary events were marred by multiple visa refusals of key guests.

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Jeremy Corbyn shrugs off referendum calls after byelection win

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Labour leader says ‘not yet’ to calls for people’s vote, urging Tories to call general election

Jeremy Corbyn has indicated he will not bow to party pressure and move immediately towards demanding a second referendum, after Labour narrowly beat the fledgling Brexit party in the Peterborough byelection.

Corbyn – arriving in the Cambridgeshire city after the party’s candidate Lisa Forbes won by 683 votes, leaving the Tories trailing in third position – called for the “squabbling contenders” within the Conservative party to give the public a general election.

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Trump compares post-Brexit Irish border issue to plans for US-Mexico wall – video

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Donald Trump has started his visit to Ireland by comparing the country's post-Brexit border with Northern Ireland to the US border with Mexico, along which the US president wants to build a permanent wall. The Irish taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, who looked visibly uncomfortable at the joint press conference, responded by saying that 'the main thing we want to avoid, of course, is a wall or a border' 

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UK politics has changed for ever. The main parties must adapt or die | Letters

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Party loyalty is a thing of the past, writes Alan Taylor, while Peter Muchlinski says that the political future requires replacing the residual elements of the ‘growth society’, with the ‘sustainable society’. Plus letters from Andrew Graystone and William Wallace

So, Boris Johnson fears that the Conservatives may face extinction if they delay Brexit (Report, 5 June). He may be right, on this at least, but for the wrong reasons. The fact is that the decline of the Conservatives, and of Labour, is a long-term process which began 60 years ago and may only now have reached its culmination. Both main parties have underestimated the consequences of this decline. The result is that the transformation in party voting seen in the Euro elections and since may be permanent.

British politics has long been seen as dominated by two big parties, each with a block of loyal supporters, and a small number of “floating” voters between them. This was an accurate picture of elections in the early 1950s, when over 80% of the electorate voted Labour or Tory. But this two-party domination began to weaken from the late 50s, a trend that has continued ever since. Turnout fell as fewer people were enthused by the main parties. The growth of this pool of unattached electors gave space for Liberal and Liberal/SDP “revivals”, the growth of nationalist parties in Scotland and Wales, and now the rise of the Green party and the Ukip/Farage phenomenon.

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Trump urges May to ‘stick around’ to finalise ‘very, very substantial’ US-UK trade deal – live news

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including the second day of President Trump’s state visit to Britain and his press conference with Theresa May

Judging by the interview that President Trump gave to the Sun and the Sunday Times before he came to the UK, his view of people tends to be shaped to a considerable extent by whether or not they have praised him. (“I think [Boris Johnson would be excellent. I like him. I have always liked him ... He has been very positive about me and our country.”)

On that basis, Trump’s meeting with Michael Gove later (see 10.55am and 12.07pm) is likely to go well. I have been rereading Gove’s write-up of his interview with Trump in January 2017 (paywall) and it’s not exactly a hatchet job. Here’s an extract.

Ever since a Virginia farmer called George Washington launched his bid for glory, the British have had a tendency to underestimate American presidents. Especially Republicans. When Abraham Lincoln was in the White House, our government sympathised with the Confederacy. When Ronald Reagan was commander-in-chief, the British foreign policy establishment derided him as a trigger-happy cowboy who was in danger of pitching us into a third world war.

But no Republican, indeed no president, has come to office facing anything like the level of scorn and condescension from British politicians and commentators as Mr Trump. When we talked last Friday, however, he had nothing but kind words and generous sentiments for a nation he believes will be his strongest ally ...

More from my colleague Damien Gayle on why people are protesting against Trump.

"Today I am a [chlorinated] chicken."@GlobalJusticeUK activist Jelly Cleaver, from Brixton, on why protesters against the #TrumpUKVisit don't want US trade deals after #Brexit pic.twitter.com/rAmx3lhRZr

"Trump is a beacon for neoliberalism and racist policies. He's not standing up for the interests of working people."@RMTunion activist John Reid, 65, right, on why he's protesting the #TrumpUKVisit #TrumpProtest #Trump pic.twitter.com/FqjnmWkpvf

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Royals to serve as extras in Donald Trump’s victory lap of UK

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US president to use state visit to promote House of Trump as he doubles down on Brexit bet

Donald Trump’s state visit this week to the UK is being promoted as a celebration of a close alliance tempered through war.

It could be more accurately described as a personal lap of victory for the US president, performed largely at the expense of his hosts.

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Donald Trump: send in Nigel Farage to negotiate with the EU

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US president makes second intervention in British politics, saying UK should ‘walk away’

Donald Trump has called on Britain to leave the European Union without a deal if Brussels refuses to meet its demands, as he urged the government to send Nigel Farage into the negotiations.

In his second extraordinary intervention into British politics ahead of this week’s state visit, the US president suggested the UK should “walk away” from talks and refuse to pay the £39bn divorce bill if its requests were not met.

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The Guardian Opinion desk: ‘Disturbingly, Brexit is the gift that keeps on giving’

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The comment team reflects on three extraordinary years of helping readers navigate the biggest political crisis for a generation

Seven million people turned to the wisdom of the Guardian’s comment writers in the 24 hours after the EU referendum result in June 2016. Three years on, it feels disturbing to admit that Brexit, for our small team of opinion editors, is the gift that keeps on giving.

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Labour under pressure to ballot members on second EU referendum

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Campaigners say thousands of signatures have come in from members on the issue

Labour’s ruling body is facing demands to ballot all party members about whether to start campaigning immediately for a second EU referendum, as thousands sign petitions asking for the party’s policy to change in the wake of the European elections.

Campaigners in the Labour party wanting a “people’s vote” wrote to the national executive committee on Tuesday requesting a members’ ballot or special conference. Each of these options has been endorsed by Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson.

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John Bercow defies Eurosceptics with vow to stay on as Speaker

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Exclusive: move likely to anger hardliners who fear Bercow wants to stop no-deal Brexit

John Bercow has said he plans to stay in his post as Speaker of the House of Commons despite previous expectations he was about to leave, risking the fury of hardline Eurosceptics who believe he wants to thwart a no-deal Brexit.

The Speaker told the Guardian it was not “sensible to vacate the chair” while there were major issues before parliament. And, amid growing indications that frontrunners for the Conservative leadership are willing to depart the EU without a deal, he warned candidates not to try to force such an outcome without the permission of MPs.

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Labour expels Alastair Campbell from party

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Former communications chief for Tony Blair voted for Lib Dems in European elections

Guardian Opinion cartoon – Martin Rowson on the expulsion

Alastair Campbell, the former communications chief to Tony Blair, has been expelled from the Labour party for saying he voted for the Liberal Democrats in the European elections because of their support for a second Brexit referendum.

The People’s Vote campaigner said he was “sad and disappointed” at his expulsion, especially as he felt it had happened on the day the Labour leadership appeared to be moving in the direction of supporting another Brexit poll because of the exodus of remainers from the party.

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Corbyn backs referendum on Brexit deal after EU election exodus

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To break parliamentary deadlock, deal has to be put to public vote, Labour leader says

Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to support a second referendum on any Brexit deal after the Labour leadership came under overwhelming pressure to halt the exodus of its remain voters who backed pro-EU parties at the European elections.

The Labour leader said he was “listening very carefully” to both sides of the debate after the party fell behind the Liberal Democrats and also lost ground to the Greens.

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