Boris Johnson news: PM faces new grilling on groping claim, as talks on toppling him stall and senior MP expelled from Tory conference
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Your support makes all the difference.Boris Johnson has admitted he cannot remember the lunch at which he is alleged to have groped a female journalist – despite repeatedly denying the incident took place.
It comes as opposition talks to oust the PM if he tries to force through a no-deal Brexit have been plunged into fresh turmoil amid splits over who should lead a temporary government.
And Conservative MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown has been sent home from the party's annual conference in Manchester after what a Tory spokesperson described as a "totally unacceptable" clash with security staff.
Late in the evening details emerged of Mr Johnson's planned offer to Brussels. In a speech tomorrow he is to say that the EU must "engage" with his proposals or see the UK walk away without a deal.
The plans, reportedly including the offer of a four-year period inside the EU's regulatory framework for Northern Ireland following the end of the transition period in 2021, represent a "reasonable compromise" on his part, the PM is to say.
Mr Johnson's ultimatum will be delivered despite the passing of the Benn Act, which is designed to prevent a no-deal Brexit.
His opponents accused him of being determined to “force an undemocratic and destructive vision of Brexit on the country”.
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Asked about reports of customs checks close to the Northern Ireland border, the prime minister’s spokeswoman said:
“What he was setting out is [that] nothing we are proposing involves checks and controls at the border, and that’s an absolute commitment.
“He also set out that we will be giving proposals to the EU in the coming days and we will have to wait until then to see what we are putting forward.”
Chancellor Sajid Javid has been speaking in the Commons at Treasury questions.
Labour’s Helen Hayes has asked him about financial speculators – related to claims made by former chancellor Philip Hammond at the weekend that Boris Johnson was backed by people who have “bet billions on a hard Brexit”.
She said there is “evidence of a rise in short positions being taken out against the pound” before adding: “Is the minister confident that the hedge funds taking those short positions, some of which have donated to the prime minister’s leadership campaign and to the Conservative Party, have no inside information about the planning or timing of a no-deal Brexit?”
Javid replied: “That really is such a ridiculous suggestion and it doesn't deserve an answer.”
Conservative Philip Hollobone asked if the UK would keep the £39bn, outlined in a financial settlement with the EU, if we left without an agreement.
Javid said: “The £39 billion is based on a deal. If there is no-deal and we end up leaving with no-deal that £39 billion number is no longer relevant.”
Metropolitan Police has confirmed that a man has been arrested after appearing to throw petrol over himself outside the gates of parliament.
All the details here.
Our correspondent Lizzy Buchan has more on the Boris Johnson’s remarks about his friends and family as he claimed the “old generous-hearted, loving mayor of London” not disappeared.
Speaking at a fringe event at the Conservatives' annual conference, Kwasi Kwarteng, the energy minister, claims that people have "used the climate change issue to resurrect a range of left-wing ideals", including those that are "anti-capitalist" and "anti-Western".
He claims that there is a need to divorce the move away from carbon fuels from other issues pushed by "a ragbag of left-wing groups".
The number of homeless people dying in England and Wales has hit a record high, with two losing their lives every day, new official figures have revealed...
Kwasi Kwarteng, the energy minister, says it is wrong to suggest that the risk of a no-deal Brexit has only emerged since Boris Johnson became prime minister.
The former Brexit minister says that, "for a whole year" under Theresa May, the Brexit department's job "as defined by the person who set it up - the prime minister - was to prepare for no deal".
He adds: "We had a whole government department whose entire job was to prepare for it."
Asked to predict what will happens next, he says"
"I think there will be some sort of deal. Whether the House of Commons votes for it, I don't know. I hope it does and I think we will be deliver Brexit on 31 October."
Brexit minister James Duddridge, responding to an urgent question about Irish border customs arrangements, told the Commons: “There is no intention to have physical checks at the border.
“I’m not choosing my words carefully there - there are no plans to do that, I can reassure him. I do know he was perhaps thinking about the reports in the Northern Ireland press that were suggesting there might be checks near the border? That is not the intention, those reports simply are incorrect.”
Duddridge was replying to questions from Hilary Benn, Labour chairman of the Exiting the European Union Committee.
Benn had asked if the government is proposing “customs clearance sites or zones anywhere in Northern Ireland” and warned such sites would create risks for the peace brought by the Good Friday Agreement.
He also asked if the government is planning to “track lorries cleared at any such sites using GPS”, to which Duddridge said he “can’t get into the detail of the proposals at that level now because they’re subject to ongoing negotiations and discussions at the commission”.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has confirmed opposition parties are now “unlikely” to table a motion of no-confidence in the government until after the EU summit on October 17 and 18.
But they obviously haven’t stopped thinking about it. McDonnell said Labour was seeking a meeting with cabinet secretary Sir Mark Sedwill to try to establish what would happen if the government was defeated but Boris Johnson still tried to “squat” in No 10 until after Britain was out of the EU.
“We are suggesting that we meet with the cabinet secretary to just at least get the ground rules sorted,” he told reporters at Westminster.
McDonnell was adamant that any interim administration following the ousting of Johnson would have to be led by Jeremy Corbyn – despite the opposition of the Lib Dems and the rebel Tory MPs who had the party whip withdrawn.
He rejected the idea of a government of national unity led by a senior figure such as Ken Clarke or Dame Margaret Beckett. “The rules are the rules. We are not into a government of national unity,” he said.
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