Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Philip Hammond to spark Cabinet fury tonight by claiming Britain will never be ready for a no-deal Brexit… Philip Hammond will reignite a bitter Cabinet row by saying “all the preparation in the world” won’t ready Britain for a No Deal. And he will warn there is a real risk Theresa May’s successor will “seek a damaging No Deal exit as a matter of policy” if the Commons fails to back the PM’s Brexit deal in two weeks’ time. The Chancellor will issue the blistering broadside in a speech to the CBI business group. He will insist those pushing for a No Deal are “hijacking” the result of the 2016 EU referendum. The incendiary move will spark fury among Eurosceptic Tories – who already blame the Treasury for delaying vital No Deal work. It comes with Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay expected in Cabinet to demand No Deal preparation is ramped up ahead of a potential October 31 cliff edge. But the PM is expected to duck the divisive issue until after the vote on her Brexit deal the beginning of June. – The Sun Philip Hammond steps up no-deal warning as Tory Brexit split deepens – FT (£) Philip Hammond leads attack on Boris Johnson over Brexit – The Times (£) …as Esther McVey kicks off Tory leadership bid with No Deal pledge A Conservative leadership hopeful has declared she would take Britain out of the EU with no deal – despite up to 60 Tory MPs being ready to block any candidate planning to do so. Esther McVey, the former work and pensions secretary, said it was “essential” that Brexit happens by the next deadline of 31 October. She warned there would be “no more backsliding” and confirmed that “if it means without a deal, we’ll be out”. But, earlier, Tory grandee Sir Nicholas Soames announced dozens of Conservative MPs were ready to try and stop a no-deal candidate replacing Theresa May. No formal leadership contest has yet been announced, but a series of MPs have announced their intention to stand as pressure grows on the prime minister to resign sooner than she plans. – Sky News EU says there is ‘nothing we can do’ to the draft Brexit deal, after May claims the agreement will be ‘improved’ before MPs vote on it… The EU Commission has confirmed that it will be making no changes to the Brexit withdrawal agreement following a claim by Theresa May that MPs would be voting on a new, better deal. A spokesperson told reporters in Brussels that collapsed talks between the government and Labour were “a Westminster process” and that there was “nothing that we can do at this stage”. “I think it’s clear that we’re in a situation where London talks to London, so there is nothing that we can do at this stage, as we think we said on many occasions in the past,” the spokesperson said. “When this process in London is over, then of course we are here, within the caveats that you all know, ready to engage, and of course, keeping always the 31 October deadline very present in the picture.” – Independent PM’s vow to get Brexit deal changed rubbished by EU – ‘Nothing we can do’ – Express …as Cabinet ministers urge Remainer MPs to vote for May’s Brexit Bill to get the chance of a second referendum… Cabinet ministers have urged Remainer MPs to vote for Theresa May’s Brexit deal to give them a chance of winning a second referendum. Health Secretary Matt Hancock mounted the controversial new tactic in a desperate new bid to whip up supporting for the new Commons showdown in two weeks time. It came as No10’s hopes of passing the PM’s Withdrawal Agreement Bill continued to fade. Mr Hancock urged all MPs: “You need to vote for this legislation – and then have the debate in the committee stages later on exactly what the details are. No doubt there will be votes on some of the really big issues like whether to have a ‘people’s vote’ and whether to have a customs union. Both of which I am against, but Parliament will have its chance to have its say”. – The Sun Hancock urges MPs to pass Brexit bill – The Times (£) …while they consider the merits of indicative Brexit votes Senior ministers will consider the merits of whether lawmakers should hold indicative votes on Brexit options when Prime Minister Theresa May’s cabinet meets on Tuesday, her spokesman said. May is due to bring a European Union Withdrawal Agreement Bill before parliament in the week beginning June 3, but the spokesman said on Monday he was unable to say when details of this would be published. Officials say the Bill will try to offer “sweeteners” to both Conservative and opposition Labour lawmakers to try to encourage them to vote in favour of it, but after months of deadlock, many positions have hardened and few believe parliament is ready to back it. – Reuters Ex-deputy PM Lord Heseltine has Tory whip suspended over Lib Dem support Former deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine has had the Tory whip suspended after saying he would vote Liberal Democrat at the European elections on Thursday. The long-serving peer should have known that “publicly endorsing the candidates of another party is not compatible” with taking the whip, a Conservative spokesperson said. They confirmed that “this will be reviewed if he is willing to support Conservative candidates at future elections”. Lord Heseltine was also commended for his “half a century of service” by the spokesperson, who noted his “longstanding and sincerely held views on Europe”. Speaking to Sky News just before the decision was made, Lord Heseltine said that if he did lose the whip “the sun will come up tomorrow morning and I will have reserved my personal integrity”. – Sky News > Jonathan Isaby on BrexitCentral: Tory HQ allows members to voice support for other parties on Thursday following Heseltine case Nigel Farage warns Boris Johnson he won’t team up for election pact because he backed May’s Brexit deal… Nigel Farage today ruled out teaming up with Boris Johnson for an election pact – because he backed Theresa May’s deal. The Brexit Party boss claimed he no longer trusts BoJo after the top Tory U-turned and voted for the withdrawal agreement in March. Conservative Brexiteers have called for a pact between the two parties so they don’t run against each other in the next General Election. They are worried about splitting the pro-Brexit vote and letting Jeremy Corbyn in to No10. But today Mr Farage rubbished the claims and hit out at the Tory party for piling in behind Mrs May’s withdrawal agreement. Speaking in Exeter, he blasted: “When this appalling worst deal in history, new European treaty honed into view Boris wrote in the Daily Telegraph, quite rightly in my view, that it would lead to vassalage and we would become a slave state. And then what did he do? Ah, yes, he voted for it. He tells us it is appalling and he votes for it and I worry that Boris puts party loyalty above his own conscience and what is good for the country. And even if Boris says, ‘It’s OK Nigel, I didn’t really mean to vote for it,’ how can I trust what he says, how can I believe anything any of these two mainstream parties tell us after three years of, frankly, open lies and deceit?” – The Sun …as the Brexit Party leader says ‘radicalised Remainers’ are damaging democracy after he has milkshake thrown at him… Nigel Farage has warned that he cannot conduct “normal campaigning activity” due to “radicalised” Remainers after he was hit by a milkshake during a European elections walkabout in Newcastle city centre. The leader of the Brexit Party arrived in the city on Monday lunchtime as part of a whistle stop tour of the country ahead of polling day on May 23, taking in Exeter, Newcastle, Wakefield and Bolton. Video footage of the footage showed a local man, Paul Crowther, dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, waiting for Mr Farage as he crossed a road in the city’s main shopping district, and then throwing the milkshake at him. Mr Farage was then led away as his security team tackled the man. Mr Farage can be heard telling one of his team that it was a “complete failure” and he “could have spotted that a mile away”. – Telegraph (£) …and his Party Chair ridicules ‘dirty money’ claims The Brexit Party accepts donations made in foreign currency, its Chairman Richard Tice told the BBC’s Today Program on Monday, while dismissing claims that the party os funneling “dirty money.” Tice said the party uses a PayPal account to receive relatively small donations of less than £500, which are subject to less scrutiny by the party than larger donations. “I don’t sit in front of the PayPal account all day so I don’t know what currencies people are using,” he said when asked if the party received donations in currencies other than sterling, potentially from outside the country. “As I understand, that’s not illegal,” he added. – Politico People’s Vote’s shameless donation hypocrisy – Guido Fawkes Change UK leader Heidi Allen suggests Change UK may not exist at the general election Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the newcomer group’s interim leader signalled that Change UK could morph into something else in the “brand new world” of the next parliamentary race. The former Tory MP admitted the format of the party – which is struggling to break through in the polls ahead of this week’s European elections – could change as she pushes for it to become “more successful”. Ms Allen said: “Will I stand again in South Cambridgeshire, in my constituency, as Change UK, in whatever format? Let’s hope, depends when next general election comes. If we’ve managed to bring together other MPs from the House of Commons, the format might be slightly different. But whatever the ‘Brand New World’ party looks like, at that point of the General Election in South Cambridgeshire, absolutely. I’m not going back to the Conservatives.” – PoliticsHome Norman Tebbit: With Farage in the ascendant, much now rests on the men in grey suits As a Conservative I try quite hard to find issues on which to support the (nominally) Conservative government and all too many Conservative Members of Parliament. So I am pleased this week to raise a cheer for Johnny Mercer, the Member for Plymouth Moor, who has, in his own words, “gone on strike”. That is because of Mrs May’s refusal to lift the threat of prosecution of elderly members of the armed services over alleged incidents during peace keeping operations before the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland. I can see well enough that one has to look very hard at the rules of engagement when the military are acting in this country in support of the civilian police. However any such considerations were swept into irrelevance by the grant of immunity from prosecution to the terrorists of IRA/Sinn Fein given by the Blair Government. – Norman Tebbit for the Telegraph (£) Andrew Lilico: Why would the Brexit Party bail out the Tories when it could destroy them instead? The Tories cannot win the next general election. That is clear from the opinion polls, which have the Brexit party now second behind Labour and the Tories languishing in the low twenties or high teens in voting support. Some Tories might like to delude themselves that this is a form of “mid-term blues” and voters will come back to them in the end. But they will not, and even if there were some reversion it would be nowhere near sufficient to secure them a majority. We can see this by considering the following amusing coincidence: at every European election since proportional representation was introduction in 1999, the governing party has won 13 per cent less of the voting share than it has then gone on to win at the next general election. – Andrew Lilico for the Telegraph (£) John Redwood: A short Committee meeting with a big consequence Sir William Cash, I and others opposed the delay to our exit from the EU when the government embarked on it. We complained about the way the government agreed to the delay on the terms offered by the European Council and rushed it through in UK law by a Statutory Instrument that was not even debated. Yesterday, after much delay and argument, the government allowed Sir William a ninety minute debate in a committee where there was a secure opposition and government majority to approve the Statutory Instrument anyway. I am grateful to him for securing this debate and for submitting an important legal case about the way the government pushed through delay to our exit. Many of us attended the Committee though we had not been included as members of it because we wished to put the case against delay, and to support Sir William’s legal case concerning the imperfections of the Statutory Instrument which in his view made it void. In the Commons any MP can attend and speak at a committee, though only those made members of the committee can vote. Time did not permit speeches from most of those wishing to speak, though a series of lively interventions made sure the case for exit did not go unheard. I was allowed a couple of minutes at the end of the proceedings. – John Redwood’s Diary Nick Timothy: Tinderbox Tories desperately need a new plan before they get burned at the ballot If you play with fire, you get burned. Play with fire as the Tories have been — by delaying and watering down Brexit until it feels like it won’t happen at all — and the party will become engulfed in a destructive firestorm. Many of its MPs and ministers still do not understand what’s at stake. But on Thursday, they will be given one last chance to understand how reckless they have been. In the European elections, in which we elect British MEPs to attend a European Parliament we have voted to leave, the Conservatives are likely to win as few as one in ten votes. Undeterred by the haemorrhage of support to The Brexit Party, Tory “modernisers” have issued a mini manifesto of demands they say the next party leader must accept. Far from representing modernisation, however, their demands — under the banner One Nation Caucus — betray a nostalgic desire to bring back the past. – Nick Timothy for The Sun Rachel Sylvester: Leavers might not get the Boris they want According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, “unlike a revolution, which is usually achieved by large numbers of people working for basic social, economic and political change, a coup is a change in power from the top that merely results in the abrupt replacement of leading government personnel”. The Tory leadership contest may not involve guns and tanks or generals seizing control of the airwaves to announce that Theresa May has been ousted. There is, however, something profoundly undemocratic about the way in which 120,000 disproportionately white, male and elderly Conservative Party members are about to choose the next prime minister at this critical moment in the nation’s history. – Rachel Sylvester for The Times (£) Robert Peston: Why Labour will not rescue Theresa May’s Brexit There is a single important question for tomorrow’s Cabinet: Is anything the prime minister could offer the Labour Party by way of a concession that could persuade the opposition to abstain rather than vote down her Brexit plan at the fourth time it’s presented to MPs (probably on Friday June 7, according to ministers). The point is that Theresa May has given up on persuading her own rebel Brexiter MPs to come round and support her Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB). In fact, those voting against it are likely to be swelled by at least two – namely Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab, who want to prove their “true” Brexiter credentials ahead of the looming election for Tory leader. So although there are Tory MPs who naively believe she could yet amend Brexit legislation to placate Northern Ireland’s DUP and her own ERG Brexiter MPs by unilaterally removing the Northern Ireland backstop, and in effect mooning the EU, I am reliably informed by her close colleagues this is NEVER going to happen. – Robert Peston for ITV News The Sun: Hipster wannabe who threw milkshake achieved nothing but to recruit more voters for Nigel Farage We couldn’t have scripted a more perfect encapsulation of the entitled Remoaners’ new assault on democracy. A virtue-signalling Corbynite hipster wannabe who brews craft beer and fashionably hates Tories hurls a £5.25 salted caramel milkshake at Nigel Farage. It’s not quite Bob Geldof making V-signs at Brexit-backing fishermen from a Thames gin palace, but it’s close. It is another demonstration of sneering contempt towards 17.4million mainly working-class Leave voters and the one man sticking up for them. It has achieved nothing but to recruit thousands more to Farage’s cause. Milkshake-chucking morons are one thing. More sinister is the orchestrated, desperate plot by politicians including Gordon Brown to discredit the Brexit Party as it roars ahead in the polls. It’s no surprise that Farage has paying members flooding in. Britain voted for Brexit… MPs refuse to implement it. – The Sun Brexit in Brief The hypocrisy of the Left over the milkshake attack on Nigel Farage is appalling – Charlotte Gill for the Telegraph (£) Milkshaking Nigel Farage doesn’t win the argument and lets him play the victim – Kevin Maguire for the Mirror The good, the bad and the ugly of Jean-Claude Juncker’s presidency – Pieter Cleppe for The Spectator Leaving EU will plunge us into peril, Sturgeon warns – The Times (£) Everything you need to about the EU-wide vote – Independent