As justice minister, László Trócsányi oversaw laws that put Hungary and EU in conflict
Viktor Orbán’s choice for Hungary’s EU commissioner faces “a very rough ride” in the European parliament, as MEPs warned that the Hungarian government’s record on the rule of law could not be ignored.
The nominee, László Trócsányi, described as an executor of Orbán’s will, was Hungary’s justice minister from 2014 until elected to the European parliament in May.
Continue reading...The prime minister takes his game of Brexit bluff to Dublin tomorrow, seemingly unconcerned that his mendacity is now visible to all
The self-image of the public-school ethos from which Boris Johnson springs is best expressed in Thomas Hughes’s high-Victorian novel, Tom Brown’s School Days. But Johnson’s own model is surely not the honourable Tom but the contemptible cad Harry Flashman, as he is so hilariously reimagined in George MacDonald Fraser’s The Flashman Papers. The arch-bounder was sometimes suggested as an avatar for David Cameron but he is surely a better match for Johnson. He rises inexorably to become Sir Harry Flashman VC and brazenly informs us that “all my fame and glory has been earned by accident, false pretence, cowardice, doing the dirty, and blind luck”. Flashman makes his career in the military and explains: “Some human faults are military virtues, like stupidity, and arrogance, and narrow-mindedness.”
We may take assurance from the very fact that Johnson is prime minister that the same goes for politics. Some human faults – mendacity, cynicism, opportunism, bluster, recklessness – are political virtues. But only up to a point. Those qualities have taken Johnson to the pinnacle of power. Shamelessness is practically a requirement for high office. But as we have seen in a dramatic week, the vices that allow you to take power are not much use when you have to wield it – at least not yet and not in a country whose battered democracy retains some life.
Continue reading...PM suggests he will break the law to avoid asking for extension of article 50 as his hopes of election by end of October recede
Boris Johnson’s shrinking options have narrowed further on Friday, after opposition leaders agreed to reject his demand for a snap general election, until a Brexit delay has been secured.
The prime minister reportedly wrote to Tory members on Friday evening pledging to break the law that will require him to seek an extension of article 50. “They just passed a law that would force me to beg Brussels for an extension to the Brexit deadline. This is something I will never do.”
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of business, economics and markets as factories in Europe’s largest economy stutter
Eurozone growth came in unchanged on its third estimate: 0.2% growth in the second quarter of the year.
A minor beat on the headline year-on-year growth rate, remaining at 1.2% against 1.1% expectations, but otherwise no shocks.
Labour has confirmed that it will not vote for an election on Monday even if a bill intended to stop a no-deal Brexit passes before then.
If we vote to have a general election, then no matter what it is that Boris Johnson promises, it is up to him to advise the Queen when the general election should be. And given that he has shown himself to be a manifest liar, and someone who has said that he will die in a ditch rather than stop no deal, and indeed his adviser, [Dominic] Cummings, has been swearing and shouting at MPs saying they are leaving on 31 [October] no matter what, our first priority has to be that we must stop no deal and we must make sure that that is going to happen.
Related: Brexit: Labour confirms it will not vote on Monday for early election - live news
Continue reading...PM found to have acted lawfully in advice he gave to Queen to suspend parliament
Boris Johnson’s decision to prorogue parliament for five weeks is legal, the high court in London has ruled.
In a judgment handed down by three of the most senior judges in England and Wales, the prime minister was found to have acted lawfully in the advice he gave to the Queen to suspend parliament from next week.
The ruling will be go to appeal at the supreme court, which has already announced it is prepared to hear any appeals on 17 September.
Earlier this week, a Scottish court turned down a similar legal challenge. A third claim seeking to overturn the prime minister’s decision to prorogue parliament until 14 October is being heard in Belfast.
Prorogation has never lasted longer than three weeks in the past 40 years and in most cases was only for a week or less, the London court was told.
During Thursday’s hearing, Lord Pannick QC, representing the legal campaigner Gina Miller, described the prime minister’s decision as an “unlawful abuse of power”.
Continue reading...In his first statement as prime minister, Boris Johnson gave “unequivocally our guarantee to the 3.2 million EU nationals now living and working among us … that, under this government, they will have the absolute certainty for the right to live and remain”. In less than a day, the prime minister’s spokesperson rushed to clarify that this did not mean new legislation would be proposed. Instead Johnson would maintain the EU Settlement Scheme.
As campaigners have pointed out, the current scheme implies that migrants who fail to apply will lose their legal status and residency rights. Figures suggest at least 2 million EU nationals have not applied for settled status yet. In order to be given settled status, migrants have to prove they have lived in the UK for at least five years.
Continue reading...Turkish president threatens to ‘open the gates’ in face of footdragging from US and EU
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is threatening to “open the gates” to allow Syrian refugees to leave Turkey for western countries unless a controversial “safe zone” inside Syria is established soon.
Erdoğan’s comments come amid growing tension with Washington over delays in establishing the safe zone – first proposed by Donald Trump – not least over the fate of a key US-allied Kurdish militia, the YPG, which Ankara regards as a terrorist organisation.
Continue reading...PM addresses police in Wakefield after brother Jo Johnson quits citing ‘unresolvable tension’ between ‘family loyalty and the national interest’
The Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar, has warned that there is “no such thing as a clean break” – Brexit deal or no Brexit deal – with difficult and complex negotiations on the future relationship with the EU whatever the outcome of talks. In a speech in Dublin to the British and Irish Chambers of Commerce, he has said:
If there is no deal – and I believe we may have to live with no deal for a period – then, at a certain point, we will have to begin negotiations again. The first and only items on the agenda ... will be citizens’ rights, the financial settlement with the EU and a solution to the Irish border.
Whatever happens, Ireland will not be dragged out of the single European market.
Recently, Prime Minister Johnson and I spoke by phone. We spoke of our shared desire to see the Northern Ireland political institutions reinstated. We shared our perspectives on the withdrawal agreement and agreed that our teams would establish one-to-one contact.
We will meet again in Dublin on Monday. Unfortunately, given political developments in the UK, there is a significant and growing risk of no-deal.
Here’s some more detail on the criticism of Johnson from the West Yorkshire police and crime commissioner, Labour’s Mark Burns-Williamson:
To use police officers as the backdrop to what became a political speech was inappropriate and they shouldn’t have been put in that position.
It clearly turned into a rant about Brexit, the opposition and a potential general election. There’s no way that police officers should’ve formed the backdrop to a speech of that nature.
Yes, because he’s used the pretence of an announcement around police recruitment for mainly a political speech.
Continue reading...More than a dozen Tories defy leader by voting in favour of seizing control of Commons timetable
Still scratching your head about what happened today? Or arriving at this blog from a non-UK timezone and need some catching up?
I’ve written a very basic explainer of what happened today, addressing questions like:
Related: Whips and votes and early polls: what is going on in UK politics?
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including reaction to PM’s threat to remove whip from Tory MPs who vote against him on Brexit
Rumours of a snap general election have sent the pound tumbling on the international currency markets, as investors brace for further political turmoil as the Brexit deadline edges closer.
Sterling has slumped by almost a cent against the US dollar and sold-off sharply against the euro, sliding below $1.21 and €1.10 as election speculation spreads through the City.
Anyone who thinks that an election will solve the UK’s political crisis has not been paying attention over the past three years.
The pound today. pic.twitter.com/Kdw2MwSTtK
Continue reading...
Rebel Tories face deselection over Brexit, as PM abruptly cancels meeting with group including ex-ministers
Boris Johnson is prepared to blow up his own parliamentary majority and withdraw the whip from dozens of Conservative MPs if they back plans to stop no-deal Brexit, Tory whips have warned potential rebels, in an extreme move by Downing Street that would pave the way for an imminent general election.
As hostilities escalated, Johnson also signalled how serious his intention is to follow through the threat of deselection by abruptly ripping up plans for a meeting with rebellious former ministers, including Philip Hammond and David Gauke, that had been billed as a last-ditch effort to limit support for the action in parliament.
Continue reading...Led By Donkeys group reminds minister of his statement that no one voted for no-deal Brexit
A portrait of Michael Gove so large it can “be seen from space” has been drawn on the sand on the North Yorkshire coast to condemn his stance on Brexit.
The anti-Brexit campaign group Led By Donkeys travelled to Redcar to install the drawing measuring 7,500 sq metres, which features a quote from the cabinet minister in which he said the UK “didn’t vote to leave without a deal” in the 2016 EU referendum.
Continue reading...Legal experts warned against Priti Patel’s decision to change law immediately after Brexit deadline
The government has been forced to scrap plans for a law that would end freedom of movement at midnight on 31 October in a no-deal scenario, according to reports.
In a shift of policy, the home secretary, Priti Patel, had planned secondary legislation to stop freedom of movement for EU citizens into the UK, but has been forced to accept that the move could have landed the government in court.
Continue reading...Protesters ranged from students at the prime minister’s old Oxford college to retired teachers, children and activists
In Cambridge’s Market Square, a crowd of families, young people and silver-haired academics listened as Percy Bysshe Shelley’s The Masque of Anarchy was read out. Many joined in, from memory, making a collective appeal for non-violent resistance: “Rise, like lions after slumber... Ye are many – they are few.” There were moments of more garrulous protest too. During a speech criticising Boris Johnson, someone shouted: “Off with his head!”
From Bodmin to Berlin, Bristol to Oxford, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in towns and cities across England, Scotland and Wales on Saturday to vent their fury at Johnson’s plan to suspend parliament. Around 1,200 people attended the rally in Cambridge, where they booed the prime minister and his adviser Dominic Cummings as though they were pantomime villains.
Continue reading...Campaigners point to rise in grants for pre-settled status, which has fewer rights
Sajid Javid has responded to concerns raised over thousands of EU citizens in the UK having no legal rights after 31 October , by saying “there shouldn’t be a single person that should be concerned about their status”.
The settled status scheme has been running since March for EU nationals living in the UK to establish their permanent right to live in Britain.
Continue reading...Crowds march, wave banners and chant ‘stop the coup’ in cities across UK
Tens of thousands of demonstrators are taking to the streets across Britain and outside the gates of Downing Street in protest against Boris Johnson’s move to suspend parliament.
Crowds brandished banners pledging to “defend democracy”, chanted “stop the coup” and waved EU flags in London in a bid to resist the parliament shutdown.
Continue reading...Follow the latest fallout from decision to suspend parliament amid mounting fears about a no-deal Brexit
A hearing at the High Court in London relating to a bid to challenge the suspension of Parliament will take place on Thursday 5 September, a spokesman for the judiciary has confirmed.
The spokesman told PA:
“A hearing into an application for judicial review received from Gina Miller with the Prime Minister as defendant has been fixed for Thursday 5 September 5 2019 at the Divisional Court in Court 4 at the Royal Courts of Justice, with the Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett presiding.
“The court will first consider the request for the case to be heard and, if it agrees, a full hearing will follow the same day. Further information will be given early next week.”
Here’s a summary of what’s happened so far today:
Continue reading...Interior minister calls for ‘day of mobilisation’ in protest at moves to sideline League
Matteo Salvini has called on his supporters to descend on Rome as Italy moves towards ousting his far-right League from power after his attempt to collapse the Italian government and force snap elections.
Salvini earmarked 19 October for a “peaceful day of Italian pride” against a potential government made up of his former ally, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), and the centre-left Democratic party (PD).
Continue reading...If the past few years of Brexit debate have passed you by, here is what you need to know
If you’ve lost track of Brexit’s seemingly endless “cliff edges”, now is the time to pay attention as three years of argument appears set to come to a head.
Continue reading...Decision will cut dramatically the time MPs will have to take action to prevent no-deal Brexit
Boris Johnson has confirmed he has asked the Queen for permission to suspend parliament for five weeks from early September.
The prime minister claimed MPs would have “ample time” to debate Brexit, as he wrote to MPs on Wednesday, saying he had spoken to the Queen and asked her to suspend parliament from “the second sitting week in September”.
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