(Bloomberg) -- Today in Brexit: Boris Johnson extends his lead, and drops a hint about an early election.
What’s Happening?
Boris Johnson has extended his lead as the front-runner in the Conservative Party leadership race, softened his Brexit rhetoric, and raised suspicions that a general election could be sooner than you think.
Johnson has been gathering support from members of Parliament across the party’s Brexit spectrum — prompting questions about what negotiating strategy he would eventually pursue if he comes to power. At a BBC debate last night, he appeared to dial down his previous hardline rhetoric about walking away without a deal — the scenario businesses and markets fear most.
“None of us wants a no-deal outcome,” he told a viewer who said she was worried about such an outcome. “We are going to make sure we come out on terms that protect the U.K. and protect the EU as well.” Johnson, in a rare public appearance, declined to guarantee he would take Britain out of the bloc on Oct. 31, saying instead that the latest deadline was “eminently feasible.”
With his most hardline rival, Dominic Raab, eliminated from the race, Johnson can probably afford to take the support of the Brexit purists for granted — at least at this stage of the race — and work instead on his appeal to moderates.
Tories are choosing a leader as much for his ability to win the next election as his ability to renegotiate Brexit, and Johnson dropped a hint last night that he could be considering a national vote before too long. No one “sensible” wants to go to the country “immediately,” he said, leaving lots of scope for interpretation. With polls showing Johnson the best placed to win any national vote, it’s one more reason for Tories to vote for him, whatever he’s saying about Brexit.
Today’s Must-Reads
- The BBC has fact-checked the candidates’ promises and proposals from the debate.
- Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will move toward backing a second referendum today, the Times reports.
- Brexit makes the EU harden its stance on Switzerland in a row over stock exchange trading.
Brexit in Brief
Crosby’s Vision | Lynton Crosby, the Conservative election strategist and friend of Boris Johnson, said the next Tory leader must offer a sense of hope, as well as authenticity and character. Crosby said Britain “seems to have had a crisis of confidence and self-belief in recent times. You cannot underestimate the impact of changing those dynamics” on voters. Crosby wouldn’t say which candidate he favors, though he appeared to be describing Johnson.
Deception and No-Deal | Ivan Rogers, the U.K.’s former ambassador to the EU, yesterday blasted the “denial, delusion-mongering and deception” in British politics, which he predicted will lead the country to a no-deal Brexit. “There is simply no political upside whatever for the 27 to offer a new PM, particularly an avid Brexit campaigner and a populist with Trumpite attributes, the basis on which to say that he had delivered some fundamentally different and better deal.”
Asking Again | Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay yesterday repeated a request to the EU to come to an agreement to safeguard the rights of citizens on both sides of the Channel, whatever the outcome of Brexit talks. The bloc’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, rejected the plea for a separate agreement on citizens’ rights in March.
Working Poor | Almost one in five Britons living in wage-earning households was in relative poverty in 2017, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
At Any Price | Sixty-three percent of Conservative party members would be willing to countenance Scotland leaving the U.K. in order to deliver Brexit, according to a YouGov poll. Sixty-one percent would be willing to suffer significant damage to the economy. The 160,000 Tory grassroots members will pick the next prime minister once MPs have produced a shortlist of two.
On the Markets | The pound edged higher late on Tuesday as investors digested the results of the ballot and the debate, and traded unchanged at $1.2559 early this morning.
Coming Up | Another round of voting today, with the results at 6 p.m. Prime Minister’s Questions at noon. Today is Boris Johnson’s birthday.
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