Scotland’s first minister criticises Boris Johnson’s ‘hardline position’ on Brexit
Boris Johnson has been accused by Nicola Sturgeon of intentionally pushing the UK towards a no-deal Brexit, despite his “bluff and bluster” about wanting an agreement with EU leaders.
After meeting Johnson face-to-face in Edinburgh, the Scottish first minister said she believed he was pursuing a “dangerous” hardline strategy with EU leaders, with the likely outcome of no-deal Brexit.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Boris Johnson’s first visit to Scotland as prime minister
Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon says that she will press Boris Johnson on the damage that a no deal Brexit will do to the Scottish economy, when she meets the prime minister later this afternoon.
Speaking ahead of the first face-to-face meeting between the first minister and the new prime minister, Sturgeon said:
The people of Scotland did not vote for this Tory government, they didn’t vote for this new prime minister, they didn’t vote for Brexit and they certainly didn’t vote for a catastrophic no-deal Brexit which Boris Johnson is now planning for.
Boris Johnson has formed a hard-line Tory government with one aim – to take Scotland and the UK out of the EU without a deal.
I’m just back from the Number 10 lobby briefing. Mostly it was a routine affair, that did not shed a lot of new light on what the administration is up to, but the prime minister’s spokeswoman did have at least one mini story for the hacks.
Continue reading...Cabinet blitzes media, saying preparations for crashing out are top priority
Boris Johnson is “turbo-charging” preparations to leave the EU without a deal on 31 October as his government’s number one priority, according to several senior cabinet ministers.
The new prime minister sent out cabinet ministers for interviews across newspapers and broadcasters this weekend as part of a publicity blitz about the prospect of a no-deal Brexit.
Continue reading...Meanwhile, poll shows ‘Boris bounce’ with Tories in lead over Labour
The former Tory chancellor Philip Hammond held private talks with Labour’s Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer shortly before Boris Johnson entered Downing Street last Wednesday, to plot cross-party moves aimed at preventing the new prime minister agreeing to a no-deal Brexit.
Related: Opponents of no deal ‘have just weeks’ to plot blocking strategy
Continue reading...Crashing out could make a united Ireland more likely, Irish PM says
Boris Johnson has set the UK on an apparent course towards a no-deal Brexit by playing down the likelihood of any talks with the EU unless Brussels agrees to scrap the existing withdrawal agreement and Irish backstop, both of which it has ruled out.
The seemingly intransigent tone prompted Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, to warn that a no-deal departure could lead more people in Northern Ireland to seek a united Ireland.
Continue reading...Journalist Andrew Gilligan has long argued for a slower, cheaper rail line to be built
The prospects for survival of the high-speed rail line HS2 look slimmer after the prime minister, Boris Johnson, appointed an arch-critic as transport adviser.
The journalist Andrew Gilligan, who was cycling tsar in Johnson’s London mayoralty, has long opposed what he says is a “disastrous scheme”, arguing for a slower, cheaper line to be built instead.
Continue reading...Juncker said to have told new PM current agreement is the best and only one possible
Brussels has roundly rebuffed Boris Johnson after he laid down tough conditions for the new Brexit deal he hopes to strike over the summer.
Speaking to the House of Commons for the first time as prime minister on Thursday, Johnson reiterated his campaign pledge of ditching the Irish backstop and promised to ramp up preparations for a no-deal Brexit immediately.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news as Mario Draghi expected to prepare central bank for interest rate cuts
It will be too late for the ECB’s interest rates decision, but the latest measure of German business confidence from the influential Ifo Institute shows that morale has sagged more than expected in July.
The closely followed measure fell to a reading of 95.7 – well below the consensus expectations of 97.1.
Boris Johnson is planning to set out his “priorities for government” in his first appearance as prime minister in the house of commons – at about 10:30am BST.
Perhaps he can shed some more light on what will be happening by 31 October, the Brexit deadline.
Following Business Qs, there will be one government oral statement in the @HouseofCommons today:
The Prime Minister - Priorities for Government
New PM has pledged to help EU citizens in the UK after Brexit – but not the 1.3 million British folk in the EU
Campaigners for British citizens in Europe say they are being treated as nonentities by Boris Johnson in his race to get Brexit over the line.
They say they have been completely forgotten by the new prime minister, who instead went out of his way to pledge that he would look after EU citizens in the UK in his maiden speech in Downing Street.
Continue reading...Hassan Rouhani spoke after Iraqi president’s visit to Iran at request of UK defence ministry
Iran has indicated it wants to de-escalate the British-Iranian crisis, hinting at swapping two captured tankers.
“We do not seek the continuation of tension with some European countries,” Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, said on Wednesday during a weekly cabinet meeting. “If Britain steps away from the wrong actions in Gibraltar, they will receive an appropriate response from Iran.”
Continue reading...Boris Johnson is taking the helm with an urgent crisis brewing in the Gulf, where Iran’s seizure of a British oil tanker threatens to pull the UK and the international community into the escalating friction between Washington and Tehran. But in crisis there is opportunity, and the new prime minister should use his affinity with Donald Trump to de-escalate responsibly while reinforcing the battered transatlantic relationship around Iran.
Tehran has accused the tanker, the Stena Impero, of colliding with a fishing boat and violating international regulations. However, the seizure came shortly after Iranian leaders threatened to retaliate for the British seizure of an Iranian-flagged vessel in Gibraltar over suspicions that the ship had violated European Union sanctions on Syria.
Continue reading...Donald Trump praises Britain's incoming prime minister on Tuesday, saying that he is a 'good man' who 'will get [Brexit] done'. The US president also says Johnson is known as 'Britain Trump': 'They like me over there. That's what they wanted. That's what they need.'
Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said the UK's incoming prime minister, Boris Johnson, should understand that his country ‘does not seek confrontation’. ‘Iran wants to have normal relations based on mutual respect,’ Zarif said, speaking during a visit to Nicaragua. His comments came amid growing tension between Iran and the UK after Iran seized a British-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday
FCO minister critical of Johnson in Darroch affair joins Hammond and Gauke in resigning in protest
Alan Duncan has resigned as a Foreign Office minister ahead of the expected arrival of Boris Johnson at Downing Street, the latest in a string of ministers to pre-emptively quit their jobs in protest at his likely direction as prime minister.
The departure of Duncan followed the announcements on Sunday by Philip Hammond, the chancellor, and David Gauke, the justice secretary, that they will quit on Wednesday, just before Johnson formally becomes prime minister.
Continue reading...Likely new PM could find no-deal option thwarted by senior Tories such as Philip Hammond
Boris Johnson’s hoped-for triumphant march into Downing Street this week is set to be dampened by a carefully timed series of resignations by senior ministers, who will retreat to the backbenches with a vow to thwart any moves towards a no-deal Brexit.
The announcements by Philip Hammond and David Gauke that they will step down on Wednesday, immediately before Johnson is likely to head to Buckingham Palace, highlight the perilous political climate for Theresa May’s expected successor.
Continue reading...Tory leadership rivals kept informed about spiralling crisis in the Gulf as ex-naval chief blasts government
Admiral Lord West: ‘our political establishment have been focused on the election of a new prime minister’
Boris Johnson will be tested by a major international crisis in his first days as prime minister, senior military figures and politicians have warned, after Iran seized a British-flagged tanker in a move that raised tensions in the Gulf to new heights.
Johnson, who is expected to win the race to succeed Theresa May as Tory leader and be installed as the new prime minister on Wednesday, was kept informed about the spiralling crisis on Saturday by his rival for the top job, Jeremy Hunt, whom he is expected to reappoint as foreign secretary.
Continue reading...Pro-Europe grassroots groups to voice opposition to a Johnson premiership
Protesters will take to London’s streets on Saturday for a “No to Boris. Yes to Europe” march days ahead of Boris Johnson’s widely anticipated move into No 10.
A Boris toddler blimp was launched in Parliament Square at 10am, featuring salmon-pink skin, the politician’s trademark “faux-dishevelled hairstyle”, mismatched running gear and a Brexit-bus T-shirt, according to March for Change.
Continue reading...Exclusive: extra time could be used for renegotiation but will be billed as chance for no-deal planning
Brussels is preparing to offer Boris Johnson a no-deal Brexit extension beyond 31 October in an attempt to help him keep the Conservative party together and provide one more chance to strike an agreement deal.
The extra period of EU membership would be used for renegotiation but could be billed to Conservative Brexiters as an opportunity to prepare further for leaving without a deal.
Continue reading...Potential PM will not say whether he had police protection during weekend in Italy while foreign secretary
Boris Johnson is refusing to give details of a trip he made to Italy when he was foreign secretary for a weekend-long party held at a restored castle owned by the media billionaire and socialite Evgeny Lebedev.
The Guardian has learned that the likely next prime minister went to Palazzo Terranova in Perugia in April 2018 at the invitation of Lebedev, the owner of the London Evening Standard and the Independent who is renowned for hosting glamorous events for the world’s rich and famous.
Continue reading...Michel Barnier says the UK will ‘have to face the consequences’ of crashing out
Boris Johnson’s suggestion he could use the threat of no deal to win an improved Brexit deal for the UK risks falling on deaf ears in Brussels, the EU’s top negotiator has suggested.
Michel Barnier suggested, in an interview carried out in May for the BBC Panorama programme, that Theresa May’s negotiating team never tried to use the spectre of a no-deal Brexit despite calls from Tory hardliners to do so.
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