“Amber Rudd is resigning from the cabinet and quitting the Conservative Party in disgust at Boris Johnson’s “purge” of the party and his “failure” to pursue a deal with the EU. In a bombshell move that will rock the government, the work and pensions secretary says she is quitting because there is “no evidence” Johnson is seeking a deal with the European Union — despite claims that it is his priority. In an explosive interview with The Sunday Times, Rudd also attacked the prime minister’s decision to kick out 21 senior Tories last week — including the former chancellors Ken Clarke and Philip Hammond and Churchill’s grandson Sir Nicholas Soames — as an “assault on decency and democracy”.” – Sunday Times
>Today: ToryDiary: The Village cares about Rudd’s resignation, but the Voters may not
“Boris Johnson has appointed Therese Coffey as Work and Pensions Secretary following the resignation of Amber Rudd. Downing Street confirmed the move today, following Ms Rudd quitting her role and renouncing the Tory party whip on Saturday. Following her departure, Ms Rudd said: “Unfortunately I can no longer continue to serve and I have been surprised by the lack of work and preparation that is going into getting a deal with the European Union. I knew and I accept that the Prime Minister should be able to leave no deal on the table but what I had expected to see was a huge government-centred effort to get a deal and at the moment there is a lot of work going on into no deal and not enough into getting a deal.”” – Evening Standard
“Theresa May has emerged as the leading critic of Boris Johnson’s ‘brutal’ decision to purge 21 Remainer rebels from the Tory benches, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. The Prime Minister stunned Westminster by calling the bluff of those Conservatives who voted with the Opposition to try to force him to delay Brexit – sparking two formal complaints from his predecessor. Mrs May has raised the issue directly with Party chairman James Cleverly and Chief Whip Mark Spencer on behalf of the group that includes former Chancellor Philip Hammond, ex-Justice Secretary David Gauke and Tory grandee Ken Clarke. She approached Mr Cleverly behind the Speaker’s Chair in the House of Commons on Wednesday evening to raise concerns about the legality of blocking any of the rebels from being candidates at the next Election.” – Mail on Sunday
Comment:
>Today: Jonathan Clark in Comment: Brexit. Is democracy at risk?
“Commons Speaker John Bercow has told aides he will quit at the next election as Tories launched a campaign to oust him.Boris Johnson plans to field a candidate against him in his Buckingham seat in revenge for what he sees as anti-Government bias. Traditionally, the main political parties do not stand against the Speaker whose office is meant to be impartial. But the PM and colleagues are furious after Mr Bercow – who admits voting Remain – tore up the Commons rulebook last week to allow fellow Europhiles to seize control of the agenda and pass a law to delay Brexit. In 2009, he said he would only serve nine years as Speaker but has recently refused to step down.” – Sun on Sunday
“Boris Johnson is plotting to paralyse EU decision-making in a bid to break the Brexit deadlock. The PM will turn the tables on stubborn Brussels chiefs to provoke them into kicking Britain out. Bolshy Bojo has sanctioned a brash ruse to tie the EU up in knots – using their own laws. He will refuse to appoint a new European Commissioner is forced to extend our membership beyond October 31. This will mean they are not legally constituted because it must have 28 commissioners, one from each member state. And if they try to reduce the number, Mr Johnson will use his power of veto to block it. That will leave the EU unable to carry out any useful function and stop colluding with Remainer MPs to thwart the referendum result.” – Sun on Sunday
Comment
“Brexiteer Tories in the European Research Group (ERG) have discussed the possibility of an electoral pact with Nigel Farage, The Daily Telegraph has learnt. It is understood “very tentative” discussions have taken place between the Brexit Party leader and so-called “spartans” amid fears the Conservatives will not secure a big enough majority at a snap election to deliver a clean Brexit. However, Tory leavers fear Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s chief strategist, will block any pact because as director of Vote Leave, he refused to join forces with Mr Farage and Arron Banks, his businessman backer and co-founder of Leave.EU, in 2016. It comes after self-styled Brexit “hard man” Steve Baker, the new ERG chairman, warned on Tuesday that Brexit would be “lost” without a pact…” – Sunday Telegraph
Comment:
“Member states have told me they want to look at new solutions. Brussels, however, is setting a test that is impossible to meet. It continues to say it is defending three key objectives – avoiding a hard border, protecting the Single Market and preserving the all-island of Ireland economy. But continuing to insist on the inclusion of the backstop means the EU is also insisting on a commitment for the UK to remain in the customs union and parts of the single market. For a country that has voted to leave the European Union, that is a demand that simply cannot be met.” – Sunday Telegraph
“Andrew Leadsom has called for an immediate halt to works clearing the way for High Speed 2, until Boris Johnson decides whether to push ahead with the scheme. The MP and Business Secretary has written to the government-owned firm behind the scheme setting out concerns raised by local residents about the impact of preparation works being carried out on the countryside through which the line is due to run. Mrs Leadsom, the MP for South Northamptonshire, said many constituents had asked for the so-called “enabling works” to be paused amid concerns about “possibly unnecessary disruption to the surrounding countryside”, given that the line could be scrapped following a review commissioned by Mr Johnson. She wrote to Mark Thurston, the chief executive of HS2, last week, to make the request “on their behalf”.” – Sunday Telegraph
“But now a group of business execs, faith leaders and charities have met to discuss a new grassroots campaign to help bring communities back together. Organisers have deliberately kept it free of politicians to help reunite the nation — whatever the outcome of the ongoing Brexit talks. They hope the initiative will resonate with a public desperate to move on by focusing on the values that we all have in common. The group includes the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, TUC head Francis O’Grady and Carolyn Fairbairn, the boss of the CBI, and prominent Brexiters. They held open talks at Lambeth Palace in central London and their goal is to celebrate all that is great about Britain.” – Sun on Sunday
“The Labour Party was plunged into civil war again last night as a veteran MP revealed he was quitting the Commons to take up a full-time role as the government’s anti-semitism tsar. John Mann told The Sunday Times he was standing down after 18 years as a Labour MP and said Jeremy Corbyn was unfit to be prime minister for his mishandling of the anti-semitism crisis that had engulfed the party. His decision came as Diana Johnson became the first victim of Labour’s new trigger ballot process. After 14 years’ service as MP for Hull North, she will now face a battle to be reselected. With Labour and the Scottish National Party (SNP) expected to block a general election tomorrow, Mann’s decision to quit raises the prospect of an early by-election in his marginal seat of Bassetlaw, in Nottinghamshire.” – Sunday Times
“Labour’s Diana Johnson is considering a legal challenge after becoming the first MP to face a deselection battle under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. The Kingston upon Hull North MP, who was voted “backbencher of the year” by the Political Studies Association last year, lost her campaign to be automatically reselected as a parliamentary candidate after her opponents persuaded a third of local party wards to back a full contest. She must now face other candidates in a contest for the Labour safe seat, which she has represented since 2005 and which has a majority of just over 14,000… Johnson was voted backbencher of the year for her part in the campaign to win compensation for those affected by the contaminated blood scandal.” – Sunday Times
“The Labour chairman is urging party members and unions to support plans to abolish all private schools. Ian Lavery, a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, has endorsed a campaign declaring that fee-paying schools are “incompatible” with Labour’s pledge to promote “social justice” in the education system. The MP, who is responsible for organising the party’s general election campaign, describes private schools as the “origin” of “injustices” in society and says he is “proud” to be supporting plans to “remove these pillars of elitism from our society”. His intervention comes ahead of Labour’s annual conference, in a fortnight, at which delegates will be asked to adopt a motion committing the party to “integrat[ing] all private schools into the state sector.”” – Sunday Telegraph
“The former Labour MP Angela Smith will today reveal that she is joining the Liberal Democrats because the country’s two main political parties are “in the grip of extremists”. Smith is the third MP to join the Lib Dems in a week, bringing the number sitting in the House of Commons to 17. She follows the former Labour MP Luciana Berger and former Tory MP Phillip Lee, who crossed the floor on Tuesday, depriving Boris Johnson of his majority.Smith, 58, was one of 11 MPs who left Labour and the Tories in February to form the Change UK group… Smith said she had become “disenchanted with the tribalism of British politics”, adding: “The events of the last few years have finally convinced me that our politics is entirely broken.”” – Sunday Times