Boris Johnson news: Tories on brink of losing majority as top Brexiteer attacks Farage for splitting by-election vote
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Your support makes all the difference.Boris Johnson has suffered a blow to his authority after the Liberal Democrats overturned the Tory majority in Brecon and Radnorshire by-election, powered by a "Remain alliance".
Jo Swinson, the new Lib Dem leader, suggested future electoral pacts between pro-EU parties after Plaid Cymru and the Greens threw their weight behind her party for the ballot, which reduced the Tory majority to only one.
"It is still eminently possible to stop Brexit," she said, at an event at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
"Delivering a People's Vote is still an option - the way in which in March we took control of the order paper - that is something which could be done again.
"We are going to explore different strategies."
She added: "What happened in March was that a motion was used to take control of the order paper, so that it was not only the Prime Minister or the leader of the House on a given day that was able to initiate what the business would be.
"So there are ways around it. And then you get into - is that better achieved by a vote of no confidence to bring the government down, or is it about bringing forward a Bill to secure a People's Vote."
Ms Swinson's comments come as a leaked Whitehall document laid bare widespread fears of consumer panic, rising crime and economic chaos in the aftermath a no-deal Brexit.
Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, said the party's fourth place position in the by-election was "disappointing".
If you would like to see how events in Westminster unfolded, please see what was our live coverage below:
Jeremy Corbyn has accused Boris Johnson of "gambling with people's lives."
The Labour leader visited Scarborough earlier today.
"I'm in Scarborough talking with people about how a No Deal Brexit will increase food bills by £220," he said.
"In threatening the country with a totally avoidable no deal Brexit, Boris Johnson is gambling with people's lives."
"[The Arab world is] profoundly bored by Brexit because many of them – like an ever fewer number of Brits – don’t believe it will happen.
"But the Arabs also know that the present prime minister – forget his preposterous electoral mandate from the Tory party – doesn’t say what he means and doesn’t mean what he says," argues our columnist Robert Fisk.
"Retrospectively, that’s pretty much how they have regarded British Middle East policy for the past century."
Read his piece here:
"The Official Monster Raving Loony Party beat Ukip at the by-election in Brecon and Radnorshire yesterday, pushing the ardent Eurosceptics into last place," writes Adam Forrest.
"The satirical group known for its nonsensical policies proved more popular than the Brexiteers in the crucial vote which saw the Lib Dems take the seat from the Tories.
"The Loonies’ candidate, Lady Lily the Pink, finished fifth with 334 votes, ahead of Ukip hopeful Liz Phillips on just 242 votes."
Read more here:
Boris Johnson is currently in Whaley Bridge, where fears are growing over the structural integrity of a reservoir wall.
The prime minister arrived in the town on Friday evening to meet with emergency services in the area.
Derbyshire Police have evacuated thousands from the town. If the dam wall collapses, there is significant risk of loss of life.
The RAF are currently trying to reinforce the wall with around 400 tonnes of sandbags.
Read more here:
Steve Baker, a Brexit hardliner, is hoping to replace Jacob Rees-Mogg as chairman of the European Research Group.
Mr Rees-Mogg has been appointed Commons Leader by the prime minister.
Mr Baker, the Tory MP for Wycombe, turned down a job in the government because he feared being sidelined over Brexit policy.
He has previously chaired the ERG band of Brexiteers and is currently Mr Rees-Mogg's deputy.
Mr Baker told The Daily Telegraph: "I can confirm that in September Jacob will resign and we will elect a new chair and I will seek to be the chair.
"The backstop is often discussed in Britain as if it was an issue primarily to do with trade which has been given exaggerated significance by Ireland and the EU in order to sabotage Brexit. Boris Johnson denounces it as being unacceptably “anti-democratic”," writes our columnist Patrick Cockburn.
"In all cases, there is blindness towards the true reason for the toxicity of the dispute over the 310-mile border which stems from it being the physical embodiment of relations between nationalists and unionists, Catholics and Protestants not just in the border region but in the north as a whole.
"That is why it has been one of the most fought-over and blood-soaked frontiers in Europe over the last 400 years."
Read his piece here:
"A Brexiteer has been jailed for threatening to kill MPs because he felt they were trying to 'delay or stop the UK’s exit from the European Union'".
"Less than three years after Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered by a white supremacist shouting “Britain first”, Robert Vidler targeted six MPs with a barrage of 19 voicemails and abusive calls," writes Lizzie Dearden.
"City of London Magistrates' Court heard that one message, left in January for then-Conservative MP Nick Boles, said: 'If you f*** up Brexit we will cut your f***** throat. We know where you live and we know your f***ing timetable and we ain't joking.'"
Read more here:
Boris Johnson has met a number of families affected by the evacuation in Whaley Bridge
The prime minister told them he had flown over the dam twice and it was "dodgy but stable".
"I flew over the dam and it looks pretty scary. I can see the problem," he said.
He assured residents "you will all be properly housed" if the dam burst.
"Let's hope it doesn't happen," he said to a group of police officers.
Delivering a People's Vote and stopping Brexit is still "eminently" possible, Jo Swinson said on the day of her party's by-election victory over the Tories.
The Liberal Democrat leader spoke at an Edinburgh Fringe event fresh from celebrating Jane Dodds's win in the mid-Wales constituency of Brecon and Radnorshire.
"It is still eminently possible to stop Brexit," she said.
"Delivering a People's Vote is still an option - the way in which in March we took control of the order paper - that is something which could be done again.
"We are going to explore different strategies."
She added: "What happened in March was that a motion was used to take control of the order paper, so that it was not only the Prime Minister or the leader of the House on a given day that was able to initiate what the business would be.
"So there are ways around it. And then you get into - is that better achieved by a vote of no confidence to bring the government down, or is it about bringing forward a Bill to secure a People's Vote."
Asked if she would whip her 13 MPs to support any vote of no confidence led by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, she said: "I don't see how we could possibly vote to have confidence in this government.
"Boris Johnson has already proved he's not fit to be Prime Minister, so we are getting ready for a general election."
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