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As it happenedended

UK politics - as it happened: Conservatives turn on Boris Johnson over Brexit 'suicide vest' jibe at Theresa May

Live updates from Westminster, as it happened

Lizzy Buchan
Political Correspondent
Monday 10 September 2018 10:50 EDT
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Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, on Boris Johnson's suicide vest comment: 'Well, he has a difference of an opinion with the Prime Minister'

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Boris Johnson has faced a backlash from Tory colleagues after his "disgusting" criticism of Theresa May's Brexit blueprint sparked an explosive public row.

Senior Conservatives denounced the former foreign secretary for comparing the prime minister's Chequers plan to having "wrapped a suicide vest" around Britain and handed the detonator to Brussels.

It also comes as a former Brexit minister warned Ms May that she has until the Conservatives’ annual conference later this month to drop her Chequers plan or face a “catastrophic split” in the party.

Elsewhere, Jeremy Corbyn faced an angry meeting of his parliamentary party, where the Labour leader was expected to endure recriminations over the party's antisemitism row.

See below for live updates

The Tories would have won a majority of 16 if the boundary changes had been in place in the general election, according to analysis by Professors Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher at Plymouth University.

The election experts, who were commissioned by a media consortium including the BBC and the Press Association, found the changes would have left the Tories with a working majority of 23 once Sinn Fein's seats were taken into account.

Lizzy Buchan10 September 2018 16:23

Theresa May, a keen cricket fan, has tweeted her praise of Alastair Cook, who scored a century in his final innings before international retirement.

Lizzy Buchan10 September 2018 16:33

Labour MPs who criticise Jeremy Corbyn should leave the party and "go and do something", Len McCluskey has said.

The staunch Corbyn ally and head of Britain's biggest trade union, Unite, told The Independent that critics of the Labour leader "have no part to play" and should "go elsewhere".

More here from my colleague Ben Kentish, who is at the TUC conference in Manchester: 

Lizzy Buchan10 September 2018 16:58

Lizzy Buchan10 September 2018 17:10

Unions have voted to keep the option of a public vote on the final Brexit deal on the table, but stopped short of calling directly for a second referendum.

Delegates at the TUC voted for a motion that would allow for a say on any deal which affects pay and employment rights.

Union leaders also stepped up calls for an early general election amid warnings that the government is heading for a "cliff edge Brexit" which would damage workers' pay and jobs.

The conference in Manchester heard a defeated Brexit deal would be tantamount to a confidence vote, triggering an immediate election.

Lizzy Buchan10 September 2018 17:17

That's it for the Independent's politics liveblog for the day. Thanks for following!

Lizzy Buchan10 September 2018 17:35

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