Boris Johnson news – live: PM refuses to resign and says he’d rather be ‘dead in a ditch’ than seek Brexit delay
All the latest developments as they happened
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Your support makes all the difference.Boris Johnson refused to resign in the wake of his own brother’s decision to quit the government over an “unresolvable tension” between the national interest and family ties. Jo Johnson also announced his intention to stand down at the next election.
After a meandering speech in West Yorkshire, the prime minister was asked if he would follow his younger sibling out of the doors of parliament but said: “My job is to get us out on 31 October and that is what we’re going to do.”
And things went from bad to worse for the prime minister, as one man politely asked him to “please leave my town”, while another heckled him in front of TV cameras in Morley.
It all comes after the PM suffered a crushing double defeat in the Commons as MPs pushed through a bill to block a no-deal Brexit and voted down his plan to hold a snap general election.
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It’s a sign of what a fun country we are, that not only can we create Jacob Rees-Mogg, but we allow him to become a senior member of the government, writes Mark Steel.
If he discovered how appalled some people were that he had lounged across the front bench in parliament during a crucial session, he’d say: “Indeed it was appalling, for I lay there some 13 minutes, and no one enquired as to whether I wished a backbencher to peel a kiwi fruit for me, naked on a rug of panda fur.”
During the next critical vote he’ll express his boredom by releasing a flock of pheasants and firing at them, and ordering Philip Hammond to pluck them while reciting the Latin names for species of worms.
During meetings with Dominic Cummings, in which they discussed what to do with Kenneth Clarke, he’ll have grumbled: “It’s imperative that I spank him. On the bare arse with a Bible. With two-inch nails protruding from the Book of Leviticus. For his own good”.
Luckily our system treats everyone the same, so if Diane Abbott had sprawled across the front bench like that, texting her mates, it would have been dismissed as irrelevant by the same newspapers that ignored it when it was Rees-Mogg.
Irish premier Leo Varadkar has warned a no-deal Brexit would slow the Irish economy.
Mr Varadkar vowed there will be no return to the austerity measures which the country faced following the 2008 recession.
Speaking to British and Irish business leaders in Dublin, the Taoiseach said recent chaos in UK politics had led him to fear a “significant and growing risk of no-deal”.
(Getty)
He added: "We don’t wish to see a no-deal Brexit and we will continue our efforts to avoid one, but not at any cost. Unlike some, I see no upsides to no-deal. I do fear it. But I am prepared for it.”
A man politely asked Boris Johnson to "please leave my town" as the prime minister visited Morley, in West Yorkshire today.
Footage of the exchange, captured by BBC cameras, shows the man walking up to Mr Johnson and shaking his hand, before asking him to “please leave my town” and slapping him on the back.
The prime minister agrees and simply replies: "I will, very soon."
Watch a video of the exchange:
Jacob Rees-Mogg has apologised to a doctor after likening him to a disgraced anti-vaxxer who was widely blamed for the scare over the MMR jab.
The Commons leader was forced to apologise after he was criticised by England’s chief medical officer for comparing Dr David Nicholl to Andrew Wakefield on Thursday.
He said in a statement: “I apologise to Dr Nicholl for the comparison with Dr Wakefield.
“I have the utmost respect for all of the country’s hardworking medical professionals and the work they do in caring for the people of this country.
“The government is working closely with the NHS, industry and distributors to help ensure the supply of medicine and medical products remains uninterrupted once we leave the EU on 31 October, whatever the circumstances.”
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