Johnson Says He Doesn't Expect No-Deal Departure: Brexit Update
As Johnson Eyes No-Deal, MPs Vow to Fight Him: Brexit Update
(Bloomberg) --
Boris Johnson softened his Brexit rhetoric once again, saying the chances are “a million to one against” the U.K. leaving without a deal.
Key Developments:
- Rory Stewart, a former leadership candidate, joins growing list of MPs who would vote against government to block a chaotic exit
- Carney says BOE will alter Brexit view if new PM pursues no-deal
- Carney challenges Johnson’s description of no-deal options
- Arlene Foster, leader of the Northern Irish party that props up the government, said Brexit shouldn’t be delayed again
- Johnson had breakfast meeting with business leaders
- A poll of Tory members shows overwhelming majority back no-deal
‘Crazy’ to Have Election Before Brexit, Says Johnson (7:49 p.m.)
Agreeing with Hunt, Boris Johnson says “it would be absolutely crazy for any of us to think of going to the country and calling a general election before we get Brexit done.”
He said the politics of the country have changed since March 29, when the U.K. was due to leave the EU, and there’s been an outbreak of "common sense" in Parliament -- a suggestion he thinks he can get a deal through.
Johnson also said he wasn’t “attracted to archaic devices” such as proroguing, or suspending, parliament in order to ensure the U.K. leaves on time.
Johnson Says ‘Million to One’ Chance of No-Deal (7.41 p.m.)
Boris Johnson says the U.K. needs to prepare for a no-deal Brexit outcome, even though he said there was a tiny chance of it actually happening. In his speech to a campaign event, Johnson said it’s “a million to one against” the U.K. ending up without a deal.
Hunt Says Tories Would be ‘Thrashed’ Before Brexit (7.25 p.m)
Leadership candidate Jeremy Hunt predicted the Tories would be “thrashed” if they held a general election before leaving the EU, putting Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street.
Speaking at a leadership race event, the foreign secretary said he’d be prepared to walk away and leave the EU without a deal even though that wasn’t his preferred option. Unlike his opponent Boris Johnson, Hunt said he’d be prepared to delay the Oct. 31 Brexit deadline if a deal was near to being completed.
“I won’t fight an election until we’ve left the European Union because to do so would be absolutely fatal for our party,” he said.
Davidson Backs Hunt for Leadership (5 p.m.)
Ruth Davidson, leader of the Conservative Party in Scotland, said she’s backing Jeremy Hunt to be the next prime minister.
“Any Conservative leadership candidate must put the Union first. Jeremy has done so and will get my vote,” Davidson said on Twitter.
Davidson is an influential Tory, though she hasn’t had much success picking the winner so far. She first backed Home Secretary Sajid Javid, then shifted to Environment Secretary Michael Gove once Javid was eliminated. Third time lucky, perhaps?
U.K. Steps Up No-Deal Planning for Drugs (4:25 p.m.)
The government is continuing its planning for a no-deal Brexit, and has stepped up preparations to ensure medical supplies, it said on Wednesday.
It’s setting up an express freight arrangement for medicines that need to be delivered within a 24 or 48-hour timeframe, and arranging for extra freight capacity to be available for critical supply chains.
Johnson Meets Business Leaders (3:35 p.m.)
Johnson continued his campaign to try to win over the support of business with a private breakfast on Tuesday.
According to two people familiar with the situation, he met about 20 business people at a private members club in the heart of Mayfair. ITV Chief Executive Carolyn McCall attended along with John van Kuffeler, the CEO of Non-Standard Finance, and hotelier Rocco Forte.
The event follows a similar meeting with about 40 business people last week, that was organised by public relations company Brunswick.
Labour Still Working on Brexit Position (2 p.m.)
A spokesman for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the party is still working on finding its Brexit position. He said the party wants to stop a no-deal Brexit, and see any deal passed by parliament put to a public vote.
But he also said that the party is committed to respecting the result of the 2016 referendum.
Foster: Brexit Separate to United Ireland Issue (1:25 p.m.)
Arlene Foster was asked why it is important for Northern Ireland to be treated the same as the rest of the U.K. -- a question that goes to the heart of the DUP’s objection to the backstop.
On issues like customs and international treaties, “of course we want to remain the same as our sovereign parliament because that’s where the power resides in relation to those matters,” she said. “That’s why we don’t want to be treated differently to the rest of the United Kingdom.”
She also warned against conflating the idea of different rules for Northern Ireland with the broader issue of whether the province remains within the U.K.
“Very strong Unionists voted to remain, very strong Unionists voted to leave, and again on the Republican side you will find that as well,” Foster said. “So we shouldn’t mix up the Remain-Leave argument with whether we want to be in the United Kingdom or we don’t want to be in the United Kingdom. The two are completely separate.”
Foster: Important for U.K. to Leave on Oct. 31 (12:50 p.m.)
Arlene Foster, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party which props up the U.K. government, said she’s “heartened” by the approaches taken by Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt on Brexit and the controversial Irish backstop. Foster said she talks to both rivals to be the next prime minister “all the time.”
“Now I think there is an opportunity for our new prime minister to deal pro-actively with the issue,” Foster said at a Policy Exchange event in London on Wednesday. She has long argued for the backstop to be removed from the deal that Prime Minister Theresa May negotiated with the EU. The government made “fundamental mistakes” in the Brexit talks, she said.
Foster said a better deal with the EU is “achievable” without the backstop. Both Johnson and Hunt have said the withdrawal agreement should be renegotiated -- something the EU has repeatedly said it won’t do.
Foster declined to comment on who she would prefer to become prime minister. But in a comment that may serve as a warning to Hunt, Foster said it was important for the U.K. to leave the EU on Oct. 31. Hunt has said he would accept a delay if he thought a deal was in reach.
Carney Disputes Johnson View on No-Deal Tariffs (11:30 a.m.)
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has again taken issue with a central pillar of Tory leadership front-runner Boris Johnson’s Brexit strategy.
Johnson has argued that the U.K. should try to strike an agreement with the European Union to continue tariff-free trade to smooth a no-deal Brexit. It’s a strategy that would rely on article 24 of the GATT, which Johnson has said allows two countries working toward a free-trade deal to maintain existing arrangements as they do so. His supporter, Dominic Raab, told BBC Radio Wednesday he thought the EU would agree to it.
But the idea has been repeatedly dismissed, including by pro-Brexit International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and World Trade Organization Director-General Roberto Azevedo, because article 24 would require a bilateral agreement between the U.K. and EU to apply. The bloc has said it won’t contemplate such mini agreements.
“There needs to be some form of an agreement and a credible intention to move towards free trade or customs,” Carney told lawmakers on Parliament’s Treasury Committee.
Davey Sets Out Plan to Force Second Referendum (11 a.m.)
Ed Davey, the other candidate to lead the Liberal Democrats (see 10:25 a.m.), has set out a plan to force a second referendum on Brexit. It goes like this: after defeating the Conservative government in a confidence vote, a cross-party coalition would choose a Labour member of Parliament -- Davey suggested Yvette Cooper or Hilary Benn -- to be prime minister in a government of national unity tasked with legislating for a Brexit referendum.
It’s a solution that gets around one of the big problems of bringing down a Conservative government -- concern among MPs in other parties, as well as some in the Labour Party itself, about Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. “I don’t want to see Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister in any circumstances,” Davey told reporters.
But Davey’s idea would still require large numbers of MPs to break party allegiances in a way they could never go back from.
Lib Dem Swinson Hints at More Defections (10:25 a.m.)
Jo Swinson, one of the two candidates running to lead the Liberal Democrats, said that she’d had discussions in the last fortnight with MPs in other parties who were considering defecting to her side. “I’m optimistic that we will be growing our parliamentary party,” she said, refusing to give more details.
Speaking to journalists, Swinson said that if Johnson became prime minister, “it would be pretty disastrous for our country, but clearly the silver lining is it’s good for the Lib Dems. There’s millions of people in the country who are similarly filled with dread at the prospect of Boris Johnson in Number 10.”
Chuka Umunna, who was elected as a Labour representative two years ago, quit the party to become independent in February and joined the Lib Dems earlier this month.
Labour Won’t Fight Tories Over Next Bank Chief (9:30 a.m.)
The opposition Labour party’s finance spokesman John McDonnell will respect the process for appointing a new governor of the Bank of England, according to a person familiar with his thinking. U.K. Chancellor Philip Hammond has started the process to replace Mark Carney, with plans for a decision in the fall.
Labour’s support for the selection process would offer some stability at a time of political and economic volatility, with the U.K. currently due to leave the European Union at the end of October.
‘Significant Split’ Between Corbyn, McDonnell: ITV (9 a.m.)
According to ITV’s Robert Peston, the debate within the opposition Labour Party on shifting to a full pro-Remain Brexit policy has caused a “significant split” between leader Jeremy Corbyn and his shadow chancellor John McDonnell.
The report follows a meeting of Labour’s shadow cabinet on Tuesday to discuss the party’s evolving stance on a second referendum. Corbyn has long tried to strike a balance between Labour members, the majority of whom want to stay in the EU, while keeping hold of voters in pro-Leave constituencies.
Remain-supporting Labour MPs will meet on Wednesday to discuss Corbyn’s failure to shift toward “unambiguous” support for staying in the EU, Peston said on Twitter.
Raab: Hard Deadline Is ‘Best Shot’ at Getting Deal (8:45 a.m.)
Dominic Raab, who is supporting Boris Johnson after being knocked out of the leadership contest, said the pledge to leave on Oct. 31 would help concentrate minds in the EU and give the U.K. “the best shot” of getting a deal.
“He is giving the finality, the certainty that, come October, this pantomime of Brexit will be over,’’ Raab told BBC Radio 4. “The greatest risk we face right now is to continue this uncertainty.”
Raab, the former Brexit secretary, said that if the U.K. leaves on WTO terms, it would be the EU’s choice and would cause damage to the continental economy. “There are all sorts of downsides for the EU.”
Stewart Would Rebel to Stop No-Deal (7:30 a.m.)
International Development Secretary Rory Stewart, a former leadership candidate, said he would vote against his own Conservative government if it pursued a no-deal Brexit strategy.
He joins a growing list of Conservatives who are trying to figure out how to stop a future prime minister crashing out without a deal.
“I would definitely vote against a Conservative government to prevent a no-deal Brexit,” he told the BBC. But he would “work with colleagues” to ensure the government didn’t collapse.
Earlier:
--With assistance from Kitty Donaldson, Thomas Penny and David Hellier.
To contact the reporters on this story: Jessica Shankleman in London at jshankleman@bloomberg.net;Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Emma Ross-Thomas at erossthomas@bloomberg.net
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