Johnson Sets Stall as Gove Faces Cocaine Backlash: Brexit Update
Johnson Sets Stall as Gove Faces Cocaine Backlash: Brexit Update
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Boris Johnson, the frontrunner to succeed Theresa May as Conservative party leader and prime minister, vowed to take the U.K. out of the European Union with or without a deal on Oct. 31 and promised to hold onto money owed to the bloc until the terms of the divorce become more favorable. Michael Gove is battling revelations about his cocaine use, as candidates set out their stalls before the list of applicants is finalized on Monday.
Key Developments:
- Johnson uses Sunday Times interview to promise hardline approach to Brexit negotiations, including withholding 39 billion pounds ($50 billion) of agreed payments.
- Michael Gove admits taking cocaine in the past, says he regrets it.
- Sajid Javid calls for a slowing of debt reduction to pay for education investment.
- Jeremy Hunt says German Chancellor Angela Merkel hinted to him that the EU is open to more talks.
Gove Regrets Cocaine Use (10:55 a.m.)
Michael Gove said taking cocaine was “a mistake I deeply regret” in an interview with BBC TV following revelations in Saturday’s newspapers that have overshadowed the environment secretary’s attempt to succeed May as Conservative Party leader and prime minister.
“I’ve seen the damage that drugs do,” Gove said of the fact that he took the drug “on several occasions” in the past. “Yes it was a crime, it was a mistake, I deeply regret it.”
Gove dodged a question about comments from Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, who said that middle-class drug users have “blood on their hands.” When asked about it he repeated his regret and that he had made a mistake.
A New PM ‘Changes Everything,’ Gove Says (10:50 a.m.)
Michael Gove insisted he had the experience to deliver Brexit “at the earliest possible opportunity” with a Canada-style free trade agreement. He said he would be willing to delay the divorce to ensure the U.K. leaves with a good deal.
“We should leave before Oct. 31, but if we need a few extra days or weeks to dot the I’s and cross the T’s to get us out of the European Union, that is the right thing,” he said in an interview with BBC TV. “We must deliver Brexit before the next general election because we must stop Jeremy Corbyn.”
Gove said it would be wrong to suspend Parliament to push Brexit through, as some of the other contenders, including Dominic Raab and Esther McVey have suggested. A new leader - and a negotiating team led by politicians instead of officials - would change the dynamic in Brussels, he said.
“Changing the prime minister changes everything, we can get a better deal,” Gove said. “The European Union is clear they don’t want no deal either. They know it would be in everyone’s benefit to have a deal that can pass parliament. I also know from talking to people across Europe that they recognize change may be required to get a good deal.”
McVey Willing to Suspend Parliament (10:30 a.m.)
Esther McVey, the most hardline no-deal Brexit advocate in the race to succeed Theresa May, said she would use “every tool at my disposal” -- including suspending Parliament -- to make sure the U.K. leaves the EU on Oct. 31.
McVey reiterated her view that there would be no remainers in her cabinet if she becomes prime minister. “We’ve got to make sure the cabinet believes in leaving on Oct. 31; I can’t have people saying this isn’t what we want to do,” McVey said in an interview with BBC TV. “No deal is back on the table. We need to be out.”
‘Unwise’ to Force Brexit Election, Hunt Says (9:50 a.m.)
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, another contender for the premiership, said it would be “unwise” for the new prime minister to force the U.K. out of the EU on Oct. 31 because it would be impossible without a general election – which the Conservatives would lose.
“If you can get a deal, that’s the only way you can avoid a general election,’’ Hunt told Sky News. “If you repeat going to the country on a national scale we will see what happened in Peterborough happening on a national scale –- the center-right vote split and Labour coming through the middle and that would be an absolute catastrophe.”
Hunt didn’t rule out a delay beyond Oct. 31 and said his conversation with Merkel at the D-Day commemorations suggested the EU was ready to negotiate “if we take the right approach,’’ he said. The chancellor said “Germany doesn’t have that border with the Republic of Ireland, you do, so it’s up to you to come up with a solution,’ Hunt said.
Javid: Pay Irish to Solve Border Impasse (9:10 a.m.)
Home Secretary Sajid Javid, who won the support of Scottish Conservative Party leader Ruth Davidson, said if he succeeds May as prime minister he will provide funding to the Irish government to pay for solutions to the issue of the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.
“If I have to choose between no deal and no Brexit I will choose no deal,” said Javid, adding that the border impasse can be solved but “you need co-operation on both sides of the border to make it happen.” It is “morally right” that the U.K. should pay for the alternative arrangements, he said.
The home secretary also pledged to slow the pace of U.K. debt reduction to allow for more investment in education.
Johnson Vows to Withhold Cash from EU (Earlier)
Boris Johnson vowed to take the country out of the EU, with or without a deal, on Oct. 31 and promised to retain money owed to the bloc until terms of the divorce become more favorable to the U.K.
He said he would scrap the Irish border backstop and only settle the issue once the EU has agreed to a future relationship.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Johnson promised a “One Nation Tory agenda” that he hopes would encourage voters to reject Jeremy Corbyn’s opposition Labour Party and Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party -- both of which savaged the Conservatives in last month’s European parliamentary elections.
Self-styled “Brexit Hardman” Steve Baker, who led the Tory party’s pro-Brexit caucus during and after the 2016 referendum, announced that he will be backing Johnson.
Gove Pledges to Scrap VAT Amid Cocaine Spat (Earlier)
Michael Gove, battered by revelations in Saturday’s newspapers that he has taken cocaine, tried to switch attention to policy with a pledge to scrap VAT, a sales tax. Gove would also cut business levies and halt the 56 billion-pound High Speed 2 rail line linking London with northern England, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
Earlier:
To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Penny in London at tpenny@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, James Amott, Jon Menon
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