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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Politics
Kate Lyons (now); Kevin Rawlinson , Andrew Sparrow and Matthew Weaver (earlier)

Jacob Rees-Mogg apologises to senior doctor he compared to disgraced anti-vaxxer – as it happened

Jacob Rees-Mogg
Jacob Rees-Mogg had been criticised for his comments. Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

We’re going to wrap up the blog for now. Our main story is here. Thanks for reading.

Closing Summary

  • Boris Johnson was dealt a huge blow after his brother Jo Johnson announced he was quitting the cabinet, citing an “unresolvable tension” between his family loyalty and the national interest.

  • The announcement seemed to rattle the Boris Johnson seriously as he gave a speech at a police training academy in West Yorkshire. His answer to questions on his brother’s resignation were meandering and after thanking his sibling for his work as the universities minister and calling him a “fantastic guy”, he admitted Brexit “divides families”.

  • Johnson pledged he would rather “die in a ditch” than bow to the demands of the no-deal bill passed by the House of Commons and request a Brexit extension.

  • MPs will be asked on Monday to vote for early election said Jacob Rees-Mogg. However, Jeremy Corbyn looks poised to reject Boris Johnson’s demand for a 15 October election for a second time on Monday. Despite being taunted by Johnson as a “chlorinated chicken” who is afraid of facing the public, Corbyn is holding out for an election on Labour’s own terms – most likely at a later date.
  • Jacob Rees-Mogg has apologised after comparing a consultant who helped draw up no-deal medical plans to the disgraced anti-vaxxer Andrew Wakefield.
    Rees-Mogg had told MPs that, in warning about the possible effects of a no-deal Brexit on medical supplies, Nicholl was being as irresponsible as Wakefield, who was struck off the medical register in 2010 after suggesting a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Rees-Mogg apologised after intense pressure from the medical profession, as well as Westminster colleagues.

  • Michael Gove is to meet Ireland’s deputy prime minister, Simon Coveney, at the weekend for talks on Brexit as tensions mount over Brexit and the Irish border. The meeting, in Cambridge, will take place just before Boris Johnson’s visit to Dublin on Monday when he will meet the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, for the first time since becoming prime minister.

Updated

The pound has slipped back a little in early overnight trading. It is buying $1.2322 at the moment after hitting a five-week high of $1.2353 after the chances of a no-deal Brexit receded slightly this week. Against the euro it is €1.1166.

But Neil Wilson, chief analyst at Markets.com in London, cautioned that the Brexit “pantomime” still had some way to run.

“The political situation remains very fluid and uncertain, making this trade very hard to call,” he said. “The only certainty is that the pound is exposed to a significant amount of headline risk and volatility as markets react to the news flow. That said, the trend right now is positive.”

Then of course there was the Evening Standard, which underwent some revisions between editions.

Good evening, this is Kate Lyons taking the blog back from Kevin Rawlinson. I will bring you any late-night developments before we shut the blog down for the day.

And let’s kick things off with a selection of some of the papers.

Shortly after Rees-Mogg apologised, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, intervened to “stick up for doctors”:

A little background on this issue: Rees-Mogg clashed with Nicholl over no-deal Brexit contingency plans the latter helped to draw up. The consultant neurologist spoke out as a whistleblower over the government’s apparent inability to stockpile certain drugs. His comments on a radio phone-in prompted criticism from the ardent Brexiter.

Later – and while sheltered by Parliamentary privilege – Rees-Mogg told MPs that Nicholl’s actions rendered him as irresponsible as Wakefield, who was struck off the medical register in 2010 after suggesting a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. During a Commons business statement, Rees-Mogg said:

Preparations are in place and they are being done with remarkable efficiency. But yes, a lot of Remainers wish to make our skins crawl.

What he had to say, I will repeat it, is as irresponsible as Dr Wakefield in threatening that people will die because we leave the European Union. What level of irresponsibility was that?

And I’m afraid it seems to me that Dr David Nicholl is as irresponsible as Dr Wakefield.

Updated

Rees-Mogg apologises for 'unacceptable' comments

The leader of the Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg, has apologised to Dr David Nicholl for comparing him to Andrew Wakefield, the disgraced anti-vaxxer who was widely blamed for the MMR jab scare. According to the Press Association, Rees-Mogg has said:

I apologise to Dr Nicholl for the comparison with Dr Wakefield. I have the utmost respect for all of the country’s hardworking medical professionals and the work they do in caring for the people of this country.

The government is working closely with the NHS, industry and distributors to help ensure the supply of medicine and medical products remains uninterrupted once we leave the EU on 31 October, whatever the circumstances.

Rees-Mogg had earlier come in for serious criticism from high profile sources, including the chief medical officer for England and the British Medical Association. (See: 7.15pm and 4.35pm)

The Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar, has warned that there is “no such thing as a clean break” – Brexit deal or no Brexit deal – with difficult and complex negotiations on the future relationship with the EU whatever the outcome of talks. In a speech in Dublin to the British and Irish Chambers of Commerce, he has said:

If there is no deal – and I believe we may have to live with no deal for a period – then, at a certain point, we will have to begin negotiations again. The first and only items on the agenda ... will be citizens’ rights, the financial settlement with the EU and a solution to the Irish border.

Varadkar acknowledged for the first time that some checks on goods and live animals entering the Republic or Ireland would take place “near the border”. And he stressed that the Irish government was “open to alternatives” to the backstop – but that they had to be realistic and legally binding. “We have received no such proposals to date,” he said.

In what appeared to be a pre-emptive strike against expected proposals from Boris Johnson that Ireland align itself to the UK to avoid disruption, he said:

Whatever happens, Ireland will not be dragged out of the single European market.

And Varadkar added and update on discussions with the UK prime minister:

Recently, Prime Minister Johnson and I spoke by phone. We spoke of our shared desire to see the Northern Ireland political institutions reinstated. We shared our perspectives on the withdrawal agreement and agreed that our teams would establish one-to-one contact.

We will meet again in Dublin on Monday. Unfortunately, given political developments in the UK, there is a significant and growing risk of no-deal.

We don’t wish to see a no-deal Brexit and we will continue our efforts to avoid one, but not at any cost. Unlike some, I see no upsides to no-deal. I do fear it. But I am prepared for it.

Updated

Here’s some more detail on the criticism of Johnson from the West Yorkshire police and crime commissioner, Labour’s Mark Burns-Williamson:

To use police officers as the backdrop to what became a political speech was inappropriate and they shouldn’t have been put in that position.

It clearly turned into a rant about Brexit, the opposition and a potential general election. There’s no way that police officers should’ve formed the backdrop to a speech of that nature.

Asked if Johnson should apologise, he said:

Yes, because he’s used the pretence of an announcement around police recruitment for mainly a political speech.

Burns-Williamson said he had expressed his concerns to the chief constable of West Yorkshire police and asked for an explanation around what happened.

Among the stranger moments of Johnson’s speech this afternoon was a halting attempt to recite the police caution:

For the record, it’s:

You do not have to say anything. But, it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.

Updated

Plaid Cymru will not back the prime minister’s motion for an early election when the question is asked again on Monday, the party’s Westminster Leader Liz Saville Roberts has confirmed.

We face one of the weakest governments in history. Without a majority and hamstrung by a mess of their own making. Boris Johnson is on the ropes and we must not give him the reprieve of a general election on his terms.

Voting for the government motion will undermine the progress we have made blocking a no-deal Brexit.

If other opposition parties’ priority is stopping this Brexit mess, now is a better time than any to take control and deliver a fresh referendum. We won’t dance to his tune. In this Parliament we can beat both Boris and Brexit.

More from Sir John Major, who has urged Boris Johnson to ditch his “overmighty advisers” before politics is poisoned; thought to be a reference to Dominic Cummings. Calling for the 21 rebel Tory MPs who voted against the government on Tuesday night to be reinstated, Major told an audience at the CBI annual dinner:

The government must change its tone. Ministers routinely insult half the electorate as “Remoaners”. The surgeon who drew up the Yellowhammer risk register of epilepsy and neurology drugs is told he is a “fear-mongering Remainer”.

Businessmen are warned that a negative attitude on Brexit will lead to their companies being frozen out of any future government consultation. This is behaviour I never thought to see from any British government, and it must stop.

The abuse comes from Cabinet ministers; and the threats from No 10 special advisers. I repeat: it must stop.

Ahead lie many challenges. If we are to meet them we need government of the highest quality, not government by bluster and threat in a climate of aggressive bullying.

While the former Tory leader made no explicit reference to Cummings, he said politicians had “seen overmighty advisers before”.

It is a familiar script. It always ends badly. I offer the Prime Minister some friendly advice: get rid of these advisers before they poison the political atmosphere beyond repair. And do it quickly.

And, referring to Brexit generally, he added:

Anti-Europeans may cheer, but a weaker Europe leaves the UK more at the mercy of decisions taken by a – I hope temporarily – dysfunctional United States, and a long-term autocratic China.

It also leaves the UK more vulnerable to Putin’s aggressive and assertive Russia. None of that will be welcome, but it is the inevitable legacy of Brexit.

Our new UK government knows this to be true. Yet they ignore it – and pursue our exit from Europe on an artificial date, without a deal. Some do so for ideological reasons. Others for political and personal advantage. Neither the ideologue nor the self-interested Brexiteer appears to put our national wellbeing first.

Our new Cabinet has no majority and no mandate ... It is not a Cabinet of all available talents. It is a faction of a faction, with no counter-balance of opinion to hold it back. Upon Brexit, the Cabinet non–believers are mere window dressing. They will not be listened to, and will always be out-voted.

Earlier, we reported that Jacob Rees-Mogg had been heavily criticised for using parliamentary privilege to attack the reputation of a doctor who has warned about the dangers of a no-deal Brexit (see: 4.35pm).

Now, No 10 are distancing themselves from his comments:

And the chief medical officer for England, Prof Sally Davies, has written to Rees-Mogg, calling his actions “unacceptable”:

Updated

Judges are expected to announce their decision on Friday on the latest legal challenge to Boris Johnson over his decision to suspend Parliament for five weeks.

Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett and two other judges at the high court in London have been urged to find that Johnson’s 28 August advice to the Queen to prorogue Parliament for an “exceptional” length of time was an “unlawful abuse of power”.

After hearing submissions on Thursday on an urgent judicial review application brought by Gina Miller, Lord Burnett announced that the hearing would be adjourned until 10am on Friday.

In a witness statement released after the hearing, Sir John Major said it was “utterly unacceptable” for the government to “seek to bypass” Parliament because it does not agree with the proposed course of action on a certain policy.

The former prime minister, who joined the Conservative party on his 16th birthday, said:

I served in Parliament for over 20 years both as a backbench MP and as a government minister at cabinet and more junior levels. I was, of course, prime minister for nearly seven years and am very proud to have been in the Commons and a minister.

I have huge admiration for our Parliament and am a keen supporter of its rights and duties. I cannot stand idly by and watch them set aside in this fashion.

I appreciate that this is not the government’s stated intention for proroguing Parliament, but for the reasons set out in this statement, the inescapable inference to be drawn is that the prorogation is to prevent Parliament from exercising its right to disagree with the government and to legislate as it sees fit.

He said the government had not adequately explained why it needed to suspend Parliament for as long as five weeks.

Essentially, the protection of individual rights afforded by Parliament is being compromised.

In order to allegedly protect the democratic outcome of the referendum, the government believes it is justified in suspending the UK’s democratic processes to achieve its desired ends.

This is unacceptable and is the reason I was determined to assist in these proceedings.

Updated

Here’s more from Yvette Cooper, who has said she will be taking the matter further:

For Boris Johnson to make so many police stop their training and work to be part of his political stunt is an abuse of power.

Police officers and trainees are overstretched and need to be able to get on with their job, not have to waste time listening to Boris Johnson’s political press conference.

For Boris Johnson to draw so many of them into a long, election-driven event like this is completely inappropriate and it is unfair on the people of West Yorkshire who are entitled to expect that their police are allowed to get on with the job of working and training to keep them safe.

I am writing to the Cabinet Secretary as well as the West Yorkshire Chief Constable, John Robins, to ask how this has happened and what guidelines were followed.

Johnson’s use of police officers as a backdrop to his speech has been criticised by opponents, including the shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott:

Yvette Cooper, the chair of the Commons Home Affairs committee, has said:

And then there’s this from the Labour MP, David Lammy:

And the BBC’s Danny Shaw reports that the local police and crime commissioner, Labour’s Mark Burns-Williamson, is less than happy:

Minister announces intention to stand down

The Northern Ireland minister, Nick Hurd, has become the latest Tory MP to announce he will not stand at the next general election as he cited the “ongoing division” over Brexit. The Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner MP said:

Fourteen years ago, my intention was to serve in Parliament for as long as my constituents continued to elect me.

However, much has changed since then. Politics is now dominated by the ongoing division over Brexit. More happily, my private life has been changed profoundly by the birth of my two youngest children.

I now feel that it is time for me to make a change and embrace a new challenge. After a very great deal of thought, I have decided not to stand again as a candidate at the next general election.

Boris Johnson's speech - Verdict from Twitter commentariat

And this is what some other journalists and commentators are saying about the Johnson speech.

From the Daily Mail’s Jason Groves

From LBC’s Theo Usherwood

From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg

From the Daily Mirror’s Pippa Crerar

From my colleague Patrick Wintour

From Politico Europe’s Jack Blanchard

From the Daily Mail’s Peter Oborne

That’s all from me for today.

My colleague Kevin Rawlinson is taking over now.

Boris Johnson's speech and Q&A - Snap verdict

That was the most extraordinary prime ministerial press conference we’ve seen for years - perhaps not quite as dramatic as Theresa May’s “nothing has changed” meltdown, but certainly more peculiar. Even by Johnson’s standards, it was rambling and shambolic. The only rational explanation I can think for what happened is that it is all part of some ultra-cunning plan to convince Jeremy Corbyn that he can vote for an election because Johnson will be such a hopeless campaigner, but life normally doesn’t work like that. If it looks like a cock-up, it probably is a cock-up.

First, the backdrop was pure Donald Trump. Although ostensibly an event to promote the government’s police recruitment plans, this was obviously a party political event - No 10 described it this morning as day one of the election campaign - and so there was something clearly improper about getting the police to act as extras on set. And if you do want to present yourself as a politician committed to supporting the police, it is best not to force them to stand in the sun for so long (Johnson started about an hour late) that they start dropping like flies.

If you do invite people to listen to a speech and then force them to wait, you should at least prepare something of merit to say. But Johnson wasn’t speaking from a script, and he appeared to have given very little thought to what he wanted to say about policing (beyond a threadbare argument about policing being at the heart of a successful economy). At one point he launched into a very bizarre routine about the police caution; quite what that was all about remains a mystery. Of course, sounding improvised is part of the Johnson schtick - in his Churchill biography he quotes approvingly the FE Smith line that Churchill “spent the best years of his life preparing his impromptu remarks”; Johnson has mastered the same trick himself - but today this did not sound like artful spontaneity. To be honest, it sounded like he had had a glass too many at lunchtime.

On Monday Johnson stood outside Number 10 and said he did not want an election. Today’s message was all about taunting/shaming Corbyn into agreeing one. Even someone as practiced at inconsistency as Johnson would find this hard to pull off, and in the office where I was watching his insincerity seemed obvious - although perhaps outside the “bubble” people may be willing to credit his claim that he doesn’t really want an election at all.

To his credit, Johnson did take a large number of questions. His most interesting line was his assertion that he would rather “die in a ditch” than request an article 50 extension in October, as he might be obliged to by a bill becoming law on Monday. That did not sound literally true either, but at least that was a hyperbole untruth, not a statement of bad faith. Perhaps leave voters, and the wider group of voters who just want the Brexit crisis saga to end, will cheer this message. But whether that compensates for the overall impression of omnishambles is another matter.

Q: Corbyn says he cannot trust you to have an election before the EU summit in October?

Johnson claims this is a new charge.

He says he wants an election on 15 October. “Earlier if he wants ... let’s crack on with it.” He says he does not see how the UK’s negotiating position can be torpedoed.

One of the police officers standing behind Johnson has just stood down. She seems to be feeling faint or ill. Johnson expresses some concern, and then winds up his remarks.

As Johnson is winding up, the officer stands up again.

And that’s it.

I will post a verdict and summary shortly.

Q: Are you planning an all-Ireland regime for agri-foods?

Johnson says there is the germ of a solution to the backstop problem in the late Ian Paisley comment about the Northern Irish being British, but their cattle being Irish.

But he says what is crucial is the idea of democratic control by the people of the UK.

Q: When are you going to have an inquiry into Islamophobia in the Conservative party, as you promised in the BBC TV debate?

Johnson says he will have an inquiry into all kinds of racism in the party. He does not say when it will start.

Q: Do you regret the purge of MPs?

Johnson says the bill passed yesterday will make it harder for him to get a Brexit deal.

Under this plan, Brussels would decide how long the UK stayed in the EU. He says he cannot see how that is democratic.

(Actually, the bill does not say that. The UK would get the final say. More details here.)

Discipline is sometimes tough, he says.

Q: Can you promise not to go back to Brussels and ask for an extension?

Yes, says Johnson.

I would rather be dead in a ditch.

He says an extension would cost £1bn a month and be “totally pointless”.

Q: You said you would unite the country when you became leader. But you are now splitting your own party, and your own brother won’t even support you.

Johnson says people disagree about Brexit. But the way to unite this country is to get this done, he says.

Q: Shouldn’t you be next to resign?

Johnson says MPs said they would respect the referendum.

He says there is a stark contrast between his approach and Jeremy Corbyn’s. He says they are making it impossible for the country to leave the EU, and for the country to have an election. He says Corbyn must be the first opposition lead to oppose an election. That goes against his job description, he says.

Johnson's Q&A

Q: Aren’t people entitled to ask, if your own brother can’t back you, why should anyone else?

Johnson says his brother Jo is fantastic guy and was a fantastic minister for science. (His most recent job was universitiies minister.)

He says Jo wants the government to sort Brexit out.

And he says Jo has said this afternoon that he supports his domestic policies. (See 3.10pm.)

Johnson is now talking about Brexit.

He says he will take the UK out by 31 October.

Or someone else would have to take over. But that is not the best course, he says.

He says an election should decide.

He says he “hates banging on about Brexit”.

I don’t want an election at all ... But frankly I don’t see any other way.

He says people must choose between sending him or Jeremy Corbyn to the Brussels summit in October.

He apologises for bringing “this painful subject” up.

People do not want to see politicians going on about Brexit, he says.

He says they want to see politicians focusing on people’s concerns, like policing.

But we must, must, must settle this EU debate.

Policing is “the top priority of this government”, he says.

My colleague Jessica Elgot is not impressed.

Johnson asks police what the police caution is.

None of them read it out to him, so he tries to recite it himself. You do not have to say anything, but anything you do say may be taken down as evidence and used in evidence against you.

(Except Johnson does not say it coherently. He stumbles, and gives up half way through. Is he expecting someone to help him out? It is not clear, but it looks as though he has given no thought at all to what he wants to say.)

Boris Johnson's speech

Boris Johnson is speaking now.

He says today is the launch of his programme to recruit a large number of extra police officers.

He wants to deliver on the priorities of the British people.

He says he hopes people saw the spending announcement yesterday.

In his view, policing is the bedrock of society. It is what gives people the confidence to grow the economy.

He says he used to be mayor of London, crime commissioner for London.

The most important thing politicians can do is back the police.

It is up to politicians to provide “top cover” for the police, he says.

More from my colleague Kate Proctor at the Boris Johnson speech

And this is from the New Statesman’s Patrick Maguire.

At the Daily Telegraph Johnson was notorious for always filing his column very, very, very late.

NHS trusts in Kent have block-booked hotel rooms for staff who may not be able to get into work because the country’s roads are gridlocked if there is a no-deal Brexit.

Health service bosses have also discussed with the police using them to get patients through unusually heavy traffic to hospitals in Ashford and Canterbury, which are near the ports of Dover and Folkestone, the Health Service Journal reports today.

East Kent University Hospitals NHS trust, which runs the two hospitals, confirmed to HSJ that it has “booked a small number of hotel rooms close to our emergency hospitals as a precautionary measure, for an initial two-week period [after 31 October]”. The William Harvey hospital near Ashford, which is the area’s main trauma centre - where the most seriously injured patients are treated - “is particularly vulnerable because it is located just off the M20, which is already facing significant delays and disruption due to long-term upgrade work”, HSJ adds.

And here is a clip from Adam Price, the Plaid Cymru leader, speaking in the Welsh assembly debate.

From the Welsh assembly’s twitter feed

From my colleague Kate Proctor, who is in Yorkshire for the Boris Johnson speech

Peers have been debating the Benn bill this afternoon, the one intended to stop a no-deal Brexit on 31 October. The bill is expected to clear the Lords by 5pm tomorrow, but Michael Howard, the former Conservative leader, used his speech to attack it strongly. He said:

This bill represents an attempt by the legislature to assume the mantle of government. That is why it is wrong. That is why it is illegitimate ...

It gets us nowhere. We’ve had one extension. It’s given six months of extra time which resulted in no conclusion.

It’s bad enough that parliament thinks it knows better than the British people on this issue.

It’s even worse that parliament, as things stand at the moment, is denying the British people a general election, in which they would have the right to decide ...

This bill is one of the final acts of a House of Commons which has proved itself manifestly incapable of meeting the challenges in front of it.

Boris Johnson’s speech is about to start. He is speaking at a police training centre in Yorkshire.

There is a live feed at the top of this page.

Updated

And here are images of the key documents.

Confidential No 10 documents about the government’s decision to prorogue parliament have now been published, as my colleague Severin Carrell anticipated earlier. (See 1.11pm.)

The lawyer Jolyon Maugham has tweeted the links.

BMA labels Rees-Mogg 'disgraceful' after he smears doctor who has warned about no-deal Brexit

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, has been strongly criticised for using parliamentary privilege to attack the reputation of a doctor who has warned about the dangers of a no-deal Brexit.

On Monday Rees-Mogg was involved in a row on his LBC phone-in with David Nicholl, a consultant neurologist drew up a risk register of epilepsy and neurology drugs for the government’s Operation Yellowhammer plans for no deal. Rees-Mogg said he did not accept Nicholl’s claim that people could die because of drug shortages in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Nicholl subsequently described the MP as an ignorant “muppet”.

Today Rees-Mogg resumed the dispute at business questions, comparing Nicholl to Andrew Wakefield, the doctor whose discredited research linking autism to the MMR vaccine has been blamed for vaccination levels falling, putting lives at risk.

Rees-Mogg told MPs:

Preparations are in place and they are being done with remarkable efficiency. But yes, a lot of remainers wish to make our skins crawl.

What [Nicholl] had to say, I will repeat it, is as irresponsible as Dr Wakefield in threatening that people will die because we leave the European Union. What level of irresponsibility was that?

And I’m afraid it seems to me that Dr David Nicholl is as irresponsible as Dr Wakefield.

In response, the SNP MP Carol Monaghan said Rees-Mogg’s comment suggested the government wanted to cause “reputational damage to experts such as Dr David Nicholl who dare to challenge the government or indeed raise legitimate concerns about the impact of no-deal?”

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said Rees-Mogg’s comments were “offensive, irresponsible [and] shameful”.

Alistair Burt, a former health minister who had the Tory whip withdrawn on Tuesday after he voted against the government, described Rees-Mogg’s comment as “sheer irrationality”.

The BMA said Rees-Mogg’s comment was “disgraceful”.

In a tweet Nicholl himself said Rees-Mogg’s comment was defamatory.

Updated

Here is the Guardian’s Politics Weekly podcast. Heather Stewart is joined by Theresa May’s former press secretary Paul Harrison, the psephologist John Curtice and Guardian journalists Jonathan Freedland, Zoe Williams and Larry Elliott to discuss Boris Johnson’s triple Commons defeat, Sajid Javid’s spending review and the likelihood of a snap general election.

Updated

Boris Johnson 'lying' about progress being made in Brexit talks, says senior MEP

These are from the BBC’s Damian Grammaticas. @ph_lamberts is Philippe Lamberts, co-president of the Greens/European Free Alliance group in the European parliament and a member of the parliament’s Brexit steering group.

US-UK free trade deal could quadruple trade between the two countries, Pence claims

Speaking to Boris Johnson earlier, the US vice-president, Mike Pence, claimed that a US-UK trade deal could potentially quadruple the volume of trade between the two countries. Pence said:

I spoke to President Trump this morning, your friend, and he sent his very best greetings and to assure you that the United States supports the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.

But he also wanted me to convey that the United States is ready, willing and able to immediately negotiate a free trade agreement with the UK.

The president often says the US has the biggest economy in the world and we truly believe that a free trade agreement between the United States and the UK could increase trade between our country by three or four times.

Mike Pence
Mike Pence Photograph: Peter Summers/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliament’s lead Brexit spokesman, has strongly condemned the government’s decision to described the Benn bill designed to rule out a no-deal Brexit as a “surrender bill”. His tweet references a comment from Sajid Javid, the chancellor, but it is Boris Johnson who is using the phrase most enthusiastically.

The Welsh assembly is has been holding a debate on the Brexit crisis this afternoon. Earlier the first minister Mark Drakeford spoke in Cardiff about his government and Labour’s approach to the crisis. Here are his main points:

  • Drakeford said no-deal Brexit would be “disastrous” for the economy and rural life in Wales.
  • Asked what citizens would notice in the first week after a no-deal exit, he said travel to Europe would be more difficult, access to some medicines less secure and claimed shoppers would notice goods missing from supermarket shelves. “People will rapidly see impacts.”
  • He said Labour wanted a general election. He said:

Of course we want a general election. What we’re not prepared to do is sign up to a general election until we are as certain as we possibly can be that this prime minister would not subvert any agreement and still try to find a way to take the UK out of the EU without a deal.

  • He dismissed the idea that during the next general election Welsh Labour should forge pacts with other parties to counter a possible Tory/Brexit Party alliance. He said:

I’m instinctively not attracted to them [pacts]. I think it is better than the democratic choices lie in the hands of the voters rather than in deals between parties. I think we have to trust the citizens of Wales to make their decision.

  • He said he would not be releasing the details of Operation Yellowhammer – the civil contingency planning – that it is privy to. He said the Yellowhammer papers have been shared with the Welsh government on a confidential basis.
  • On possible problems at Holyhead port on Anglesey – which links mainland Britain to the Republic of Ireland – if there is a no deal Brexit, Drakeford said the government’s intelligence suggested that there would be delays of hours rather than days. But he said the position was “inherently volatile”. He said the “smallest changes” could lead to traffic jams stretching off the island on to the north Wales mainland.
  • He stressed that Welsh Labour was a party of remain, even though Wales overall voted leave. He said:

We will will continue to argue that Wales’ best interests are best protected by continued membership of the EU. Leaving the EU without a deal will be felt in the lives of every single family and every single community in Wales.

Mark Drakeford speaking in the Welsh assembly.
Mark Drakeford speaking in the Welsh assembly. Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images

Andrea Leadsom, the business secretary, has put a message on Twitter saying it “has” been a pleasure to work with Jo Johnson, the outgoing universities minister. Johnson has now been removed from the official list of ministers on the government’s website. But the business department is still unable to confirm that his ministerial resignation will take effect from today. Asked about this, it is just referring reporters to Leadsom’s tweet. Johnson’s own tweet about the timing of his departure was ambiguous. (See 11.26am.)

Perhaps Boris Johnson hopes his brother will stay on for a bit? According to the Sun, he begged Jo last night not to quit. The Sun also quotes Jo Johnson saying that, apart from on Brexit, his brother’s policies are excellent. He told the paper:

What is so clearly in the national interest is everything the government is doing in its strong, one nation domestic policy agenda: more police on the streets, more doctors and nurses in our hospitals, a welcoming face to scientists and international students.

That’s exactly what a Conservative prime minister should be doing and what Boris does so well.

Updated

Michael Gove is to meet Ireland’s deputy prime minister, Simon Coveney, at the weekend for talks on Brexit as tensions mount over Brexit and the Irish border.

The meeting, in Cambridge, will take place just before Boris Johnson’s visit to Dublin on Monday when he will meet the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, for the first time since becoming prime minister.

Updated

From my colleague Jessica Elgot

Corbyn under increasing pressure from Labour MPs to delay election until November

More Labour MPs have been using Twitter to say that the party should not vote for an early election until after an article 50 extension has been agreed. Here are the latest tweets I’ve seen, echoing views from other Labour MPs covered earlier. (See 11.03am and 11.07am.)

From Anna McMorrin

From Paul Williams

From Paul Sweeney

From Gareth Thomas

From David Lammy

From Owen Smith

From Ben Bradshaw

But Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary and a key ally of Jeremy Corbyn’s, has released a video this afternoon saying that the party would be prepared to vote for a general election after the Benn bill has got royal consent. That is what Corbyn told the Commons last night. (See 10.05am.)

Here is Nigel Farage, the Brexit party leader, on Jo Johnson’s decision to stand down.

Dame Caroline Spelman, the Conservative former environment secretary, has said she is standing down at the next election. Along with Labour’s Jack Dromey (they are both West Midlands MPs with many constituents working in the car industry), she tabled amendments earlier this year that led to the Commons voting against a no-deal Brexit. (The votes were not binding.) She also rebelled yesterday to back the Benn bill designed to rule out a no-deal Brexit.

Downing Street has rejected the claim attributed to Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, that talks with the UK are in “a state of paralysis”. (See 10.33am.) The prime minister’s spokesman said:

I haven’t seen anything from Michel Barnier on the record but in any event I would completely reject that assessment.

Both sides agree to continue talks tomorrow after constructive discussions yesterday and we have seen from EU leaders that there is a willingness to find and agree solutions to the problems we have with the old deal.

Boris Johnson has told the US vice-president, Mike Pence, that the NHS would not be for sale in any post-Brexit trade deal and that Britain is “not keen on that chlorinated chicken”. At a meeting in Downing Street, Johnson said:

The National Health Service is not on the table as far as our negotiations go. We are not keen on that chlorinated chicken.

Updated

More on Jo Johnson. This is from Robert Hutton’s report for Bloomberg.

When [Jo Johnson’s] older brother ran for the leadership in the summer, he joined the campaign, apparently having accepted that Britain had to leave the European Union. He took the view that own electoral district of Orpington, on the edge of southeast London, would be likely to fall to the Brexit party unless Britain left, according to a person familiar with his thinking.

Privately, he also took the view that Boris Johnson had no interest in a no-deal Brexit, and would seek a deal with the EU and then force hard-line Brexiteers in the party to vote for it. His resignation suggests that view has changed.

Scotland’s most senior judge, Lord Carloway, has said confidential Downing Street memos showing Boris Johnson agreed to prorogue parliament 12 days before he asked the Queen might be published.

The BBC and News UK, the publisher of the Times and Sun, applied to the court of session on Thursday morning to release three papers written by Nikki da Costa and the prime minister where they secretly agreed the prorogation strategy on 15 August.

Three Scottish judges – Lord Carloway, the lord president, and Lord Drummond-Young and Lord Brodie – are hearing an appeal by lawyers for 75 MPs and peers against a decision by Lord Doherty yesterday to reject their claims Johnson has illegally prorogued parliament.

Carloway said on Thursday morning the court could both order them to be published and released in unredacted form, at the end of the hearing, if he felt they were central to the appeal and it was also in the public interest to do so.

The MPs’ lawyer, Aidan O’Neill, revealed earlier this week he had been given three heavily-redacted memos marked “Official sensitive Number 10 only” hours before their court hearing on Tuesday, in breach of a court deadline. All three were circulated inside Number 10, including to Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s chief strategist, and Ed Lister, his chief of staff, but no cabinet minister other than Johnson.

The first on 15 August from Da Costa setting out their prorogation strategy was ticked by Johnson, with his scribbled note “yes”. He replied the next day with a handwritten note which said: “whole September session [at Westminster] is a rigmarole introduced to show the public that MPs are earning their crust. I don’t see anything especially shocking about this prorogation.”

The UK government said they were blacked out because the censored parts were not relevant or protected by “legal professional privilege”. Andrew Webster QC, for the UK government, told the court it was essential to keep them confidential to preserve cabinet confidentiality.

In what O’Neill described as a snub to the Scottish courts, they were not given to the court of session as primary pieces of evidence backed up as affidavits, but were released only because they were being submitted as evidence to the parallel Gina Miller case in London, which started today.

Kenny McBrearty QC, appearing for the BBC and News UK, said it was in the public interest and in the interests of open justice for those memos to be published in full. If Number 10 had decided it was appropriate it was to give them to the court, where they were read out in part by O’Neill on Tuesday, then clearly they were not totally confidential.

O’Neill has made a separate submission to the three judges, arguing the documents could only be redacted by the court. Downing Street could not unilaterally decide which sections to release, without proper scrutiny. Downing Street had also chosen not to apply for a public interest immunity (PII) certificate – an orthodox route to keep key documents secret.

Updated

Asked about Jo Johnson’s resignation at business questions, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, said MPs were used to the idea that people within families might disagree on policy. He pointed out that his own sister, Annunziata, had jointed the Brexit party and got elected as an MEP.

In the Commons the Tory MP Sir David Amess has just asked Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, if he agrees that the party conferences could be shortened, to allow the Commons to sit for longer in the autumn. Rees-Mogg did not agree, but John Bercow, the Speaker, enthusiastically backed the idea, saying that it was “bizarre” that so much time was set aside for the meeting of private organisations.

MPs to be asked again on Monday to vote for early election, Rees-Mogg says

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, has just told MPs that on Monday the government will hold a second vote on having an early general election.

There was a vote last night that was passed, but without the two-thirds majority needed for the vote to lead to an early general election (two thirds of all MPs would have to vote for one, not just two thirds of MPs participating in the division).

Under Commons rules the government is not meant to put motions to a vote if they have already been defeated. But government sources say that this would not apply next week because Labour abstained last night on the grounds that the Benn bill, designed to stop a no-deal Brexit on 31 October, was not yet law. But by Monday next week that bill should be law, so the circumstances will have changed, justifying a second vote.

Before MPs debate an early election on Monday, Rees-Mogg said they would also consider the remaining stages of the Benn bill, following its return from the Lords, as well as hold a debate required under the Northern Ireland (executive formation) bill.

Updated

Jo Swinson, the Lib Dem leader, issued this statement welcoming Luciana Berger to her party. (See 11.14am.) Swinson said:

Luciana is a passionate advocate for women’s and LGBT+ rights, and she’s at the forefront of efforts to counter antisemitism and prevent discrimination. I’m delighted to welcome her to the Liberal Democrats, where we can work together to stop Brexit and build a fairer, more equal society for all.

Luciana becomes the fourth MP in three months to cross the floor and join the Liberal Democrats. We’re thrilled to add her perspective, expertise and skills to our ever-growing parliamentary team.

The Liberal Democrats are growing in strength as we lead the fight to stop Brexit altogether. We are fully behind a people’s vote, and we are the rallying point for remainers and the liberal centre ground.

The other MPs who have joined the Lib Dems recently are Chuka Umunna, Sarah Wollaston and Phillip Lee.

And this is what Berger said in a statement about her move.

This is a moment of national crisis. The Liberal Democrats are unequivocal in wanting to stop Brexit and are committed to securing Britain’s future as a tolerant, open and inclusive society.

I am joining Jo Swinson and the Liberal Democrats today, in the national interest, to offer a vital, positive alternative to Johnson and Corbyn and help build a future that our country deserves.

Jo Swinson and Luciana Berger (right)
Jo Swinson and Luciana Berger (right) Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Updated

Rachel Johnson, sister of Boris and Jo, claims the family avoids discussing Brexit, especially over meals.

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, also raised Jo Johnson at first minister’s questions, the Sun’s Chris Musson reports.

Even Boris Johnson's own brother does not trust him, says Labour

Here is Angela Rayner, the shadow education secretary, on Jo Johnson’s resignation.

Boris Johnson poses such a threat that even his own brother doesn’t trust him.

We have now had four higher education ministers in two years - just the latest sign of the chaos that the Tories have caused to education and the threat that a disastrous no-deal Brexit poses to our colleges and universities.

We need a general election as soon as no-deal is off the table, so that a Labour government can transform our education system and society so they work for the many, not just a privileged few.

In the Brexit committee Michael Gove has just finished answering a series of questions about how Dover would cope with lorry arrivals in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Hilary Benn, the committee chair, did not sound hugely reassured, and he concluded by asking Gove to admit that no one actually knows what will happen in the event of no deal. Gove did not contest this, but replied:

The future is known only to the Almighty.

Benn said unfortunately the Almighty would not be appearing as a witness.

Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay has declined to give assurances to Labour that the government is not “rowing back” on commitments on Ireland enshrined in the joint report signed by the EU and the UK in December 2017 that bookmarked the end of the first phase of Brexit talks.

He was challenged by the shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, during Brexit questions in the Commons this morning to deny reports that it was “rowing back” on the commitments. Barclay replied:

There is no rowing back from the Belfast/Good Friday agreement. That’s an area of common accord between us.

Starmer reminded him he was asking him about the 2017 joint report, not the peace deal. “I asked a careful question and I got a careful answer and it [the answer] wasn’t to confirm full commitment,” said Starmer.

According to reports by RTE’s Tony Connelly, officials in the EU were told that London was trying to reduce its commitments made in the report, which nearly torpedoed talks after the DUP objected to guarantees on north-south trade on the island of Ireland.

RTE said officials were told that Boris Johnson was moving from its commitment to “frictionless trade” to “as frictionless as possible” on the island of Ireland and resisting the agreed ambition for a “legally operable” solution for the island of Ireland and replacing it with “aspirational measures”.

Updated

From Sky’s Adam Parsons

This is from the Press Association.

A Number 10 spokesman said Jo Johnson had been “a brilliant, talented minister and a fantastic MP”, and the prime minister “as both a politician and brother understands this will not have been an easy matter for Jo”.

But No 10 still has not yet clarified whether Jo Johnson is leaving the government today, or at the election.

Here is a live feed of Michael Gove giving evidence to the Brexit committee.

Michael Gove giving evidence to Brexit committee

Gove says the Operation Yellowhammer document, about the government’s assumption for a no-deal Brexit, was presented to a cabinet committee in the first week of August, and discussed on 2 August.

But he says that it was produced over a series of months.

Q: Why did you describe it as old?

Gove says many of the assumptions in the report were old. They had to be tested.

Q: You described it as absolutely the worst case scenario. Was that correct?

Gove says it was a reasonable worst case scenario.

Michael Gove gives evidence to Brexit committee

Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister in charge of no-deal planning, has just started giving evidence to the Commons Brexit committee.

There is a live feed here.

Hilary Benn, the chair, is asking the questions.

Q: On The Andrew Marr Show you could not say you would comply with the bill designed to stop a no-deal Brexit because you had not seen it. Now you have seen it, will you comply with it?

Yes, says Gove.

  • Gove says government will comply with the Benn bill if it becomes law.

Updated

Jo Johnson has achieved a unique distinction; he is the only minister to have resigned twice over Brexit.

In November last year he resigned as a transport minister in Theresa May’s government because he could not support the withdrawal agreement. Other ministers who resigned at the time, like Dominic Raab, did so because they thought the agreement did not amount to a pure enough form of Brexit. Johnson agreed with them that it was an unsatisfactory compromise, but in a long statement explaining his resignation he said there should be a second referendum. He said:

Given that the reality of Brexit has turned out to be so far from what was once promised, the democratic thing to do is to give the public the final say. This would not be about re-running the 2016 referendum, but about asking people whether they want to go ahead with Brexit now that we know the deal that is actually available to us, whether we should leave without any deal at all or whether people on balance would rather stick with the deal we already have inside the European Union.

To those who say that is an affront to democracy given the 2016 result, I ask this. Is it more democratic to rely on a three-year-old vote based on what an idealised Brexit might offer, or to have a vote based on what we know it does actually entail?

A majority of Orpington voters chose to leave the EU in 2016 and many of the close friends I have there, among them hard-working local Conservative party members, are passionately pro-Brexit. I respect their position. But I know from meetings I have had with local members that many are as dismayed as me by the course of negotiations and about the actual choice now on offer. Two-and-a-half years on, the practical Brexit options are now clear and the public should be asked to choose between the different paths facing our country: we will all have different positions on that choice, but I think many in my local party, in the Orpington constituency and around the country would welcome having the last word on the government’s Brexit proposals.

Updated

This is from Robin Niblett, director of the Chatham House thinktank

More on Jo Johnson’s resignation. (Or pending resignation - we’re still not clear when he is actually clearing his ministerial desk.)

From ITV’s Robert Peston

From the BBC’s Laura Kuennsberg

From the Labour MEP Theresa Griffin

Jo Johnson’s resignation comes as the pound hits a five-week high, on hopes that a no-deal Brexit can be avoided.

Sterling has rallied to $1.2345 this morning, its highest level since late July.

It has now gained almost four cents since Tuesday, it’s best two-day run in 10 months, as investors welcome efforts to prevent Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal.

The pound vs the US dollar
The pound vs the US dollar this week Photograph: Refinitiv

Our Business Live blog has more details.

From the Sun’s Steve Hawkes

Jo Johnson, like his brother Boris, was a journalist before he became MP. Journalists are supposed to express ideas clearly.

But his tweet today is loaded with ambiguity.

It is not just that it is unclear from what he is saying whether he is resigning as a minister today, or whether he is just saying he will no longer serve in government because within the next few weeks he will no longer by an MP.

But he also says he has been “torn between family loyalty and the national interest”.

MPs often decide to leave politics so that can spend more time with their children. Johnson and his wife have two.

But in this sentence “family loyalty” seems to be a reference to his brother instead. And “national interest” seems to be an admission that he can no longer support the government’s policies (although, if Johnson were going to take a stand against his brother’s strategy, the obvious time to do it would have been on Tuesday or Wednesday, when MPs were voting on no deal).

And No 10 can’t clarify yet whether or not Jo Johnson is leaving the government today, or at the election.

The business department won’t say if Jo Johnson is still a minister in their department or not.

Jo Johnson to stand down as MP

Johnson is standing down at the next election.

But not Boris. It’s Jo, his brother. He has just tweeted this.

Johnson has been MP for Orpington since 2010. He also attends cabinet as universities minister. He got promoted even though he voted remain in 2010 and he is much more pro-European than his brother. It is hard to believe that he is comfortable about the idea of a no-deal Brexit, although he has not questioned his brother’s strategy in public.

This tweet implies that he is standing down as an MP at the forthcoming election, and leaving the government then, rather than that he is resigning as a minister today, but it is not entirely clear. I will clarify that as soon as I can.

Former Labour MP Luciana Berger joins Lib Dems

Luciana Berger, the former Labour MP who left to join what became Change UK, has joined the Liberal Democrats.

She is the second MP to join the Lib Dems this week. On Tuesday the Conservative former minister Phillip Lee crossed the floor to join Jo Swinson’s party.

And here is another Labour MP, Ian Murray, saying the party should “go long” in relation to an early general election (as John McDonnell put it - see 10.05am).

Labour MPs say party should not vote for election to take place before 31 October

Here are three Labour MP saying this morning that the party should not vote for an early general election to take place unless it is taking place after 31 October.

From Tonia Antoniazzi

From Anna Turley

From Catherine McKinnell

The Conservative MP Simon Hoare has suggested there was something Stalinist about the purge of 21 Tories who had the whip removed on Tuesday for voting against the government in favour of the move to allow MPs to debate the Benn bill.

If you are interested in minute by minute coverage of the high court legal challenge against the government’s decision to prorogue parliament for five weeks, here are some journalists providing good Twitter updates.

Joshua Rozenberg

Dominic Casciani

Matthew Holehouse

Brexit talks 'in a state of paralysis', Michel Barnier reportedly told EU diplomats

Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, has told EU diplomats that the Brexit talks are stuck in “paralysis”, the Financial Times is reporting (paywall). It says:

The EU’s chief negotiator told envoys from member states that Britain was determined to diverge from EU standards as part of a future trade deal, adding further tension between Mr Johnson’s government and the bloc.

According to a leaked diplomatic note seen by the Financial Times, Mr Barnier said: “we are currently in a state of paralysis”.

The warning came on the same day that David Frost, the UK’s chief negotiator, met for more than six hours with his EU counterpart. EU officials said Mr Frost provided no suggestions for how the UK could replace the Irish backstop from the Brexit divorce deal while maintaining an open border in Ireland ...

Along with demands on the backstop, Mr Frost has also called for a trade agreement that would allow the UK to break free of EU regulations in areas such as social and environmental standards. The demand reneges on promises made by Theresa May’s government and has emerged as another stumbling bloc in the talks over the past week.

Mr Barnier warned EU envoys that any free-trade deal where Britain could undercut Brussels standards would face ratification problems in EU capitals. Some, such as Paris and The Hague, are determined not to allow Britain gain a competitive edge over the EU by undermining the single market after Brexit.

Michel Barnier
Michel Barnier. Photograph: François Lenoir/Reuters

Updated

One of the UK’s most experienced senior judges, Lord Hope, has predicted that Scottish appeal judges will uphold a ruling that Boris Johnson is legally able to prorogue parliament.

Aidan O’Neill QC, acting for 75 MPs and peers and the anti-Brexit Good Law Project, appears before three appeal judges in Edinburgh this morning to urge them to overturn a ruling yesterday by Lord Doherty that Johnson was able under the constitution to suspend parliament.

In London lawyers for Gina Miller, the legal campaigner, are appearing at the high court this morning and are also arguing the prime minister acted illegally in a parallel case under English law.

Hope, previously a UK supreme court judge and head of the Scottish judiciary, told BBC Radio Scotland he believed both those cases and a similar action in Belfast really belonged at the supreme court.

The supreme court is due to hear all three cases on 17 September – after Johnson is expected to suspend parliament.

Hope said the court “had to recover their people, many of whom are abroad, but they will be there in mid-September and the intention is to hear all three jurisdictions together.

And I think the judges below [sitting in Edinburgh, London and Belfast] will be quite cautious and I suspect that the decision in Scotland won’t be changed by the [appeal court]. But everything is open in the supreme court, which is where it really belongs.

Lord Falconer, the former Labour cabinet minister and lord chancellor, agreed with Hope but said the senior judges hearing today’s case in London may feel bold enough to strike prorogation down.

Updated

Pro-Brexit supporters outside the Houses of Parliament.
Pro-Brexit supporters outside the Houses of Parliament. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

John McDonnell confirms Labour may delay voting for early election

On the Today programme this morning John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, confirmed that Labour has still not settled on when it wants an early election to happen. The easiest way for the PM to hold an early election would be for two-thirds of MPs to vote for one (the threshold set out in the Fixed-term Parliaments Act), but this would require opposition support. An alternative approach would be to legislate to amend the FTPA, but even though this would require just a simple majority, Boris Johnson does not have one at the moment, meaning this route would also require opposition cooperation.

At the start of this week Labour faced at least four possible options.

1) Agree an election immediately.

2) Agree an election once the Benn bill designed to stop a no-deal Brexit on 31 October becomes law, which is now due to happen next Monday.

3) Agree an election once the Benn bill has become law, and Johnson has provided some cast-iron assurance as to when the date will be.

4) Agree an election only after the EU has agreed to extend article 50 beyond the end of October. Assuming the PM did not agree a Brexit deal beforehand (which currently seems unlikely), this means that Labour would not vote for an early election until after 19 October, the deadline in the Benn bill for an article 50 request. The election would then take place in November at the earliest.

Labour ruled out 1). But, in the debate last night, Jeremy Corbyn implied that 2) was his position. He told Johnson: “Let [the Benn bill] pass and gain royal assent, and then we will back an election.”

But many in the Labour party want the party to wait much longer. And in his interview McDonnell confirmed that the party was considering a delay. He said the party was worried about Johnson trying to change the date.

The problem that we had is that we couldn’t determine the date of the election. Of course, Boris Johnson might come along say” ‘I promise you it will be such and such a date.’ But he’s not renowned ... for delivering on what he says ... We can’t trust him. It’s not just me; it’s his own side.

McDonnell said Labour was consulting on how a bill to amend the FTPA could be used to fix the date of a general election. A bill could set 15 October as the date for the election. But McDonnell also said there was a case for holding it later, after the EU summit in October. He said:

The problem that we’ve got is that we cannot at the moment have any confidence in Boris Johnson abiding by any commitment or deal that we could construct. That’s the truth of it. So we’re now consulting about whether it’s better to go long, therefore, rather than to go short. And that decision will be taken.

Although McDonnell did not acknowledge it, another advantage for Labour in delaying the election until November is that, if Brexit had to be delayed, the Conservatives would get hammered by the Brexit party.

Despite what Corbyn said in the debate last night, the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg says Corbyn is saying in private that he is going to wait.

John McDonnell
John McDonnell. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

Updated

Shami Chakrabarti (centre), the shadow attorney general, arriving at the Royal Courts of Justice this morning for the high court legal challenge to the PM’s decision to prorogue parliament for five weeks.
Shami Chakrabarti (centre), the shadow attorney general, arriving at the Royal Courts of Justice this morning for the high court legal challenge to the PM’s decision to prorogue parliament for five weeks. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

No 10 sets outs Boris Johnson's election message to voters

General elections are all about choices and what Boris Johnson has been been doing this week has been trying to frame the forthcoming election as a choice between someone who will deliver Brexit by 31 October and someone who won’t. CCHQ could not be clearer about this.

This message is also set out in the statement issued by Number 10 this morning. (See 7.48am.) But Johnson is also saying that he wants to get Brexit over so that he can go on to focus on issues like health and education. Here is another extract from the statement Number 10 released to journalists this morning.

Since becoming prime minister, Boris has promised more investment for our NHS, more police on our streets to tackle violent crime and more funding for our schools to ensure every child has an excellent education, regardless of where they live. He has already delivered on his promises to level up the country and he wants to continue this agenda.

But to do this we must deliver Brexit.

There is an irony in this. As one of the leaders of the Vote Leave campaign, you would have thought that Johnson might be proud of Brexit. But now it is as if he is very keen to change the subject.

The argument is also flawed, in at least two respects. First, the government does not need to leave the EU to spend more money on public services etc. In fact, all mainstream economic analysis says Brexit will leave less money for these services. And second, even after the UK has left the EU, the argument about Britain’s future relationship with the EU will continue for years. Brexit is not going to vanish as a story anytime soon.

So why is No 10 pushing this argument? Because voters like to hear it, according to Politico’s Jack Blanchard. Here is an extract from his London Playbook briefing yesterday.

[A senior government minister] also predicted the opposition parties are playing straight into [Dominic] Cummings’ hands — and that the Tories are now on course to win a snap election. “I’ve seen the numbers from CCHQ, it really is black and white,” they said. “People want it done. They love it when we talk about schools, hospitals and police; they love it when we talk about broadband; they hate it when we talk about Brexit — and these people have just voted to talk more about Brexit. Nobody wants to spend three, six months rowing about Brexit.” To repeat, this may well prove to be the case.

Updated

Agenda for the day

Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Matthew Weaver.

Last night Boris Johnson lost the vote on calling an early election. Rather, he won the vote – MPs voted in favour by 298 to 56 – but effectively he lost, because under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, he needed a two-thirds majority, not a simple one. Nothing is straightforward any more.

Nevertheless Downing Street is briefing this morning that it considers today to be the first day of the general election campaign. Boris Johnson is making a regional visit, and this afternoon he will be making a speech, and taking questions from journalists.

There is plenty more on the agenda. Here is the diary for the day.

9.30am: Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary, takes questions in the Commons.

10am: The high court hears the legal challenge brought by Gina Miller and others against Johnson’s decision to prorogue parliament for five weeks.

10.30am: Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, makes a Commons statement on next week’s Commons business.

11am: Johnson holds talks with the Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu, in Downing Street.

After 11am: Peers will debate a new business motion, designed to ensure that the Benn bill intended to stop a no-deal Brexit on 31 October passes all its Lords stages by 5pm tomorrow.

12pm: Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister in charge of no-deal planning, gives evidence to the Commons Brexit committee.

12.15pm: Johnson holds talks with the US vice-president, Mike Pence, in Downing Street.

Afternoon: Johnson gives a speech outside London.

Updated

Damian Green says purge of moderate Tories 'terrible practical politics'

Damian Green, the former cabinet minister and leader of the One Nation group of Conservatives, has called for the reinstatement of the 21 rebels kicked out of the party. Speaking to the BBC he said:

I’m afraid it does look as though somebody has decided that the moderate, progressive wing of the Conservative party is not wanted on voyage.

That’s wrong in principle because there are many Conservative traditions, but it is terrible practical politics to narrow your appeal just before a general election.

Updated

The chancellor, Sajid Javid, has refused to deny that he objected to the expulsion of the 21 Tory MPs who voted against the government on bill to block a no deal.

Asked on BBC Breakfast about reports of a row in cabinet over the issue, Javid said:

I’m not going to get into discussions I’ve had with the prime minister, but I am sad to see 21 colleagues no longer carrying the conservative whip.

These are my friends. These are good people. But they also knew that that when the prime minister of the day says a vote is a matter of confidence, what would be the consequences of opposing that. This is not something I wanted to see. But we do need to step back and think about how do we deliver on the central mission to leave the EU by October 31 and continue to govern this country in a way that the people are feeling that their priorities are being met.

Javid, who spoke out against proroguing parliament to force through Brexit during the Tory leadership debate, offered muted backing for the move. He said during the leadership debate he was objecting to suspending parliament “for months”.

He added:

Proroguing parliament for a Queen’s speech is perfectly correct, especially when there’s plenty of time to debate things as we’ve seen this week.

Javid also backed Johnson’s call for an early election:

Since the 2017 election, we’ve had a parliament that keeps saying what it doesn’t want when it comes to Brexit, but it is not deciding on what it wants. We’ve just got to the point now that we need to let the people decide who should govern this country. And the choice is going to be clear: they can choose Jeremy Corbyn, and all his dithering and his desire to ignore the will of the people and stay in the EU. Or they can choose Boris Johnson, who will not only deliver on that central promise to leave the EU, but also on the people’s priorities.

Updated

No 10 accuses Corbyn of 'cowardly insult to democracy' for not backing early election

Boris Johnson appears to be preparing for another lectern moment.

A Number 10 spokesman said the prime minister would today “speak directly to the public, setting out the vital choice that faces our country”.

The spokesman added:

He will argue that Jeremy Corbyn’s ‘surrender bill’ will force the prime minister to go to Brussels and surrender to any demands they make. This would in essence overturn the biggest democratic vote in our history - the 2016 referendum.

The PM will not do this. It is clear the only action is to go back to the people and give them the opportunity to decide what they want: Boris to go to Brussels and get a deal, or leave without one on 31 October or Jeremy Corbyn arriving in Brussels with his surrender bill begging for more delay, more dither and accepting whatever terms Brussels imposes over our nation.

For Jeremy Corbyn to continue to avoid an election would be a cowardly insult to democracy.

Updated

The petition against proroguing parliament, which was signed by more than 1.7m people, will be debated on Monday.

It only needed 100,000 signatures to secure a debate.

The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, has played down Keir Starmer’s suggestion that Labour would only back an early election after the bill to prevent a no-deal Brexit has been implemented.

Speaking to Sky News, McDonnell said:

Keir said that is one of the options, that’s why we are consulting. There’s a range of views in the parliamentary Labour party. But if we are going to have control of the date we’ve got to bring the other opposition parties with us. I think we’ll reach a consensus. But we’ve got to block a no deal.

McDonnell said Labour wanted to back an election once the Benn bill seeking an extension to the 31 October Brexit deadline, had passed into law. He said:

Jeremy has said once the legislation is through we want a general election ourselves. We are consulting now, so it is all about timing. There’s no tug of war within the Labour party. We are consulting now the other opposition parties.

He also accused Boris Johnson of behaving like a toddler in demanding an election now. He said:

If you’ve been a parent, this is like dealing with two- or three-year-old having a tantrum ... So you let them have their tantrum and you you have to be the grown-up in the room. And the grown-up in the room is saying: ‘Fine, have your tantrum, but we are not going to allow you take this country out on a no-deal Brexit, because you will undermine our economy.’

Updated

George Monbiot has pointed out the different ways yesterday’s events were covered in the Sun in England and Scotland.

Among the more baffling things that happened last night was that Jacob Rees-Mogg posted this video, spoofing him lounging in parliament, onto his official Instagram account.

‘You great big girl’s blouse’ – Johnson accused of sexism for remark in debate

You may have missed this moment in parliament yesterday with everything that was going on, but at one point during Boris Johnson’s first Prime Minister’s Questions he appeared to call out to Jeremy Corbyn: “Call an election, you great big girl’s blouse.”

As my colleague Martin Belam writes, the comment was immediately seized upon on social media, with users suggesting the comment was sexist and not a fitting for the prime minister to say in parliament.

Johnson has form for previously using the phrase. In June 2017 he called Labour’s election campaign chief a “big girl’s blouse”. And in 2007, when Gordon Brown was tipped to be on the verge of calling a general election in an era before the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, he reportedly told a fringe meeting at the Conservative party conference in Blackpool that if Brown didn’t act: “We will say he’s wimped out, we will say he’s a big girl’s blouse.”

Johnson also raised eyebrows by swearing during the course of one of his answers in PMQs, quoting shadow education secretary Angela Rayner’s description of Labour’s economic policy as “shit or bust”. Rayner described Johnson’s performance as dreadful.

How the papers covered it

Boris Johnson’s failed bid to trigger a general election next month dominates coverage today, with papers either focusing on the humiliation of his defeat, many of which say the prime minister is a “cornered” man, or on Jeremy Corbyn’s refusal to back Johnson’s calls for a vote.

Lords agree to push through bill preventing no deal by end of Friday – video

Lords pledge to pass bill stopping no deal in late-night vote

Good morning and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of whatever political shenanigans today is going to throw at us.

Welcome especially to any members of the House of Lords who might happen to follow this live blog and who had a late night on Wednesday.

Our honourable friends in the upper house were up debating the Benn bill until the wee hours when the deadlock finally broke and Lords voted in favour of getting the bill, which rules out a no-deal Brexit and was passed by the House of Commons earlier this week, through all stages of parliament by Friday afternoon, before parliament is suspended by Boris Johnson.

That agreement was reached around 1:30am on Thursday when peers passed a business motion that means the Benn bill will be returned to the lower house by 5pm on Friday, ruling out the prospect of attempts at a filibuster.

From there, the bill can be voted on again by MPs on Monday and presented for royal assent. Jeremy Corbyn has said he would support calls for a snap general election if the Benn bill preventing a no-deal Brexit received royal assent, so this is a significant step.

Peers are set to debate the Benn bill itself and amendments today. We’ll be bringing you news of that debate, and everything else that is going on, as it happens. As I have been throughout the week, I’ll be kicking things off before handing over to my colleagues. Please get in touch via the comments, on Twitter or via email (kate.lyons@theguardian.com).

Let’s get cracking.

Updated

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