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Johnson Plans to Show Tory Rebels Some Love: Brexit Update

Tory Rivals Face Grilling on Irish Border Plans: Brexit Update

(Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt both vowed to rip up the controversial Irish backstop and make sure no new borders emerge between Northern Ireland and Britain as a result of Brexit. Meanwhile members of Parliament continue to plot to try to block a no-deal exit.

Key Developments:

  • Johnson and Hunt both reiterate willingness to leave without a deal
  • Johnson blames U.K. negotiators for Irish backstop
  • Johnson’s plan to get rebels onside: "Love them up."
  • Hammond hints he would join rebels to block no-deal Brexit; McDonnell says there’s a small window in September and October
  • Pound falls

Hunt: No-Deal ‘Very Serious’ If It Goes Wrong (5:10 p.m.)

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who on Monday set out his plan to prepare for a no-deal Brexit, has conceded that it’s a risky strategy. Speaking to ITV News, he cited a Bank of England analysis that said a no-deal departure could be almost as bad as the 2008 financial crisis.

“It could be very serious if we get this wrong,” he said. However, he insisted the referendum result has to be honored. “This is a country where we do what the people tell us, so we have to deliver Brexit,” he said.

Boles Sees No-Deal Brexit as Likeliest Outcome (1:40 p.m.)

Nick Boles, who left the Conservative Party earlier this year in protest at its refusal to work on a Brexit compromise, has told the Institute for Government he thinks efforts to prevent a no-deal Brexit are likely to fail.

“It’s more likely than not that we will leave with a no-deal Brexit on Oct. 31,’’ he said.

On the question of whether Tories would commit career suicide to bring down a government intent on no-deal, he said: “Don’t underestimate how many members of Parliament desperately want to remain members of Parliament.’’

He said Theresa May’s likely successor, Boris Johnson, wouldn’t be able to change the parliamentary arithmetic, adding that the idea Tory Brexiteers hoping for a no-deal outcome would vote for a deal with some changes to the backstop was “ridiculous.’’

“Boris is going to be a prisoner just as much, if not more so, than Theresa May,” he said.

Johnson Plans to Show Tory Rebels Some Love (1:25 p.m.)

At the leadership event in Belfast, Boris Johnson was asked how he could restore party unity and reconcile Tory rebels to the idea of a no-deal Brexit.

“I would love them up,” Johnson replied. “I would give them as much understanding and love as I possibly could and try to bring everybody together, because I really think this is existential. We either do this or we’re doomed.”

Johnson said the alternative to delivering Brexit is likely to be a Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn, and that risk is focusing minds of potential rebels.

Hammond Hints at Role as No-Deal Rebel (1:10 p.m.)

Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond hinted he may join Conservative rebels in voting down a no-deal Brexit if the new prime minister pursues it as a policy.

Hammond, who has consistently opposed leaving the EU without a deal, said he doesn’t expect to remain in post as chancellor under the new Tory leader.

“I believe that it will be for the House of Commons, of which I will continue proudly to be a member, to ensure that doesn’t happen,’’ Hammond told Parliament Tuesday. His Labour opponent, John McDonnell told reporters later that Hammond would be “one of the most influential’’ backbenchers, paying tribute to a “vehemence’’ from Hammond on no-deal that isn’t often seen.

McDonnell said his party would do whatever it could to prevent a messy no-deal exit, and that there’s a small window to block it in September and October.

Johnson Blames U.K. for Irish Backstop (12:50 p.m.)

Johnson said the Irish backstop -- the most contentious part of the Brexit deal -- was included in the agreement partly because of the demands of the U.K. negotiators.

“The backstop represents the incoherence at the heart of the strategy we’ve been pursuing,” he told a leadership contest event in Belfast.

Johnson Plans to Show Tory Rebels Some Love: Brexit Update

The EU demanded that there should be no hard border on the island of Ireland and proposed a backstop that applied only to Northern Ireland. The U.K. side -- in an effort not to cut Northern Ireland off from the rest of the country -- then asked for the backstop to apply to the whole of the U.K. That meant the whole country would be subjected to EU trading rules if the backstop ever came into effect.

Johnson wants the Irish border issue to be solved as part of future trade negotiations after the U.K. has left.

Hunt Promises N. Ireland Will Be Treated Same (12:15 p.m.)

Hunt pledged that Northern Ireland will be treated the same as the rest of the U.K. after Brexit.

That’s an important commitment -- and a difficult one to keep -- because the EU and U.K. have agreed there will be no border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland after Brexit. And if there’s no border on the island, but the U.K. breaks free from the EU’s rules and tariff structure after Brexit, then some kind of border will probably be needed between Northern Ireland and Britain.

Hunt Says Existing Technology Can Fix Border (12 p.m.)

Hunt said he believes the solution to the Irish border issue lies in technology, and existing methods are sufficient.

“I don’t believe it needs new technology, I think we can do it with the technology we have,” he told a leadership contest event in Belfast.

Johnson Plans to Show Tory Rebels Some Love: Brexit Update

He said the Irish border backstop -- the most contentious part of the exit deal Theresa May negotiated -- has to be “changed or it has to go” in order for a divorce accord to get through Parliament.

Johnson’s Team Denies Spending Commitments (9 a.m.)

Boris Johnson’s campaign chairman, Iain Duncan Smith, denied his boss has committed to increasing public spending -- despite apparent pledges by other Johnson backers over the past few days.

Responding to criticism from Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, who has repeatedly said the candidates’ spending plans are incompatible with the no-deal Brexit both have said they would accept, former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith said Tuesday Johnson’s spending plans are more what the government “must aspire to” rather than actual commitments.

“What Boris has said is that these are areas that a Conservative government must aspire to deliver -- when of course the money is there and available,’’ Duncan Smith told LBC radio. “It is not Boris who’s gone around shouting ‘We’ve got plenty of money to spend,’ what he is talking about is the areas that need work.”

DUP’s Wilson Says ‘Ambiguity’ to EU is Over (7:40 a.m)

Sammy Wilson, Brexit spokesman for the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party which props up the government, said the U.K. must send a signal to the European Union that the “days of ambiguity and ambivalence are over” by leaving the bloc no later than Oct. 31.

“I don’t agree that Northern Ireland is likely to suffer disproportionately in the event of no deal,” Wilson told BBC Radio, conceding there may be “some turbulence.”

Earlier:

To contact the reporters on this story: Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net;Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Emma Ross-Thomas at erossthomas@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs

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