Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Boris Johnson is victim of ‘plot to stop Brexit’ as he faces private prosecution over Leave campaign claims Britain’s top prosecutor has been urged to prevent the courts being “abused” in a plot to stop Brexit after Boris Johnson was told he could face trial over his part in the Leave campaign. The Tory leadership contender has been summonsed to appear before a judge to answer three charges of misconduct in a public office following a complaint that he “lied” about how much Britain gives to the EU. Marcus Ball, a Remain-backing campaigner, took out a private prosecution against Mr Johnson, claiming he was wrong to say during the EU referendum campaign that Britain gives £350 million a week to Brussels. On Wednesday a judge decided the case should go ahead, meaning the former foreign secretary could face a criminal trial over charges that carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. – Telegraph (£) Boris Johnson slams ‘bid to reverse Brexit’ by hauling him to criminal court over campaign bus which said EU costs us £350m a week – The Sun > Professor David Paton on BrexitCentral in 2017: Boris is right – Brexit does mean taking back full control of £350 million per week Michel Barnier tells the next British Prime Minister that May’s deal is the ‘only option’ for an orderly Brexit… If the U.K. wants to leave the EU with a deal, the current Withdrawal Agreement is “the only option,” according to the European Commission’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. “If the choice is to leave without a deal — fine. If the choice is to stay in the EU — also fine. But if the choice is still to leave the EU in an orderly manner, this treaty is the only option,” Barnier told the New York Review of Books in an interview published Wednesday. “This is all that our legal constraints allow.” While numerous Tory leadership contenders say they want to scrap the Irish backstop in the Withdrawal Agreement in favor of so-called alternative arrangements, Barnier had a message for whoever succeeds Theresa May: Sign the treaty, and you can pursue alternative arrangements afterwards. Otherwise, it’s no deal. – Politico …as Brussels plans new Brexit delay if the new PM tries to go for No Deal… Brussels is preparing for the possibility of multiple extensions of the Brexit deadline if a new PM disowns Theresa May’s deal. European leaders fear Boris Johnson or Dominic Raab will try to tear up the withdrawal agreement but fail to force through a No Deal exit, prolonging the chaos. Capitals don’t want to take the blame for a crash-out, so are likely to grant more delays until a General Election or second referendum forces the issue. Diplomats said hopes of creating a crunch moment in the Commons by putting Britain’s “back to the wall” have been dented by Mrs May’s departure. – The Sun …while Britain’s Brexit nemesis gets tops EU trade job and will negotiate future deal Britain’s Brexit nemesis has been made the EU’s top trade official – meaning she’ll be in charge of negotiating a future deal with us. Michel Barnier’s deputy Sabine Weyand is widely credited as the brains behind the bloc’s fearsome negotiating team. And the German eurocrat was on Wednesday appointed Director-General of the EU’s trade division – one of the most prized and powerful jobs in the Commission. Her promotion means that she will be in charge of the nuts and bolts of negotiating Brussels’ future trade deals, including with the UK. Ms Weyand said she was “proud and honoured” to be appointed to the role and that she was looking forward to the “many challenges ahead”. – The Sun Tory leadership candidates say they’ll refuse to talk to Nigel Farage on Brexit despite his massive Euro-election win… Tory leadership contenders will refuse to work with Nigel Farage to deliver Brexit, The Sun can reveal. The Brexit Party boss has demanded a seat at the negotiating table after his massive Euro elections win. But just one of the candidates to be the next PM says he is willing to hold talks with Mr Farage to help make Brexit happen. Eight other contenders insisted they have no plans to involve Mr Farage in their Brexit plans. After the Brexit Party took 32 per cent of the vote in last week’s European Parliament elections, the leader said: “We’ve got a mandate, we should be part of the Government negotiating team in Brussels.” Rory Stewart, the International Development Secretary who is an outside bet to be the next Tory leader, said he would happily consult Mr Farage. – The Sun …as Jeremy Hunt admits the Conservatives ‘would be wiped out’ in a general election in the next six months… Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned that if the Conservative Party was to face a general election in the next six months then “we would be wiped out as a party”. Speaking on ITV’s Peston, Mr Hunt also refused to rule out a further delay to Brexit beyond October 31, and insisted that a new deal that would be passed by Parliament could be negotiated with the EU before Halloween. The former health secretary said the major sticking point over the current deal was the issue to the Northern Ireland backstop, and a deal to change or remove this could be negotiated with Brussels, even though the terms of the October 31 Brexit extension rule out changing the Withdrawal Agreement. “A deal is a deal unless both sides decide to do it differently,” Mr Hunt told ITV News’ Political Editor Robert Peston. “In this situation, you have to ask yourself – with a new prime minister, with a fresh mandate – whether, ultimately there is a deal there.” – ITV News …while Penny Mordaunt calls for a ‘different kind of leadership’ as she is expected to announce her own leadership bid Penny Mordaunt is preparing the ground for her own tilt at the Tory leadership by consulting grassroots members on the “pressing issues facing the country”. The Defence Secretary has been widely tipped as a future leader of the party but has so far resisted formally declaring her intentions. But in a major hint that she will join the fray, Ms Mordaunt will host a conference call with activists to allow them to “inform the debate”. “To unlock our nation’s potential requires a different kind of leadership,” she said in an article for Tory grassroots site Conservative Home. The former Naval reservist urged the leadership candidates to embrace “humility” during the campaign and called on them to avoid repeating the attritional contests of previous leadership battles. – i News Jeremy Corbyn pledges Labour to backing a referendum on any Brexit deal… Jeremy Corbyn has pledged that Labour will back a second referendum on any Brexit deal put to parliament, but warned of a “deliberately inflamed divide” as he sought to calm tempers among senior party figures. The Labour leader, who is visiting Dublin to meet Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar on Thursday, said his party would “do whatever is necessary to stop a disastrous no-deal outcome” and said Labour would work across party lines to block a new Brexiter prime minister who could crash the UK out of the EU. “Faced with the threat of no deal and a prime minister with no mandate, the only way out of the Brexit crisis ripping our country apart is now to go back to the people,” he said, speaking ahead of his visit to Ireland. – Guardian …but that any new Brexit vote would not be a ‘Leave’ or ‘Remain’ re-run Any new Brexit referendum should be about the terms of a deal struck with the European Union and not a repeat of the 2016 choice for Leave or Remain, opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Wednesday. Corbyn, who has said the option of a second referendum should be kept on the table, is under pressure to endorse one without qualification after Labour lost votes to the anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats in last week’s European Parliament election. He told reporters in Dublin that Labour would negotiate a new Brexit deal with the EU that would be put to the public, the Irish Times newspaper reported. “The referendum would be on a negotiated deal or alternatives to that. It’s not a re-run of 2016,” Corbyn said. – Reuters Pro-EU Speaker John Bercow faces coup attempt from furious MPs after vowing to stay on and help block Brexit Powerful Tories opened the door to a no-confidence vote in Speaker John Bercow today by saying “no MP” should allow him to stay on… Mr Bercow sparked fresh anger yesterday after he vowed to remain in post until Brexit is delivered and also reignited fury with Brexiteers by declaring MPs will get a chance to stop No Deal. Tory MPs today warned that he would use his extended tenure to overturn Brexit. Long-standing enemy James Duddridge branded Mr Bercow “pompous, egocentric, undemocratic and dishonourable.” He said: “Bercow does not want to resolve Brexit. He wants to block it. He wants to veto the referendum result and will abuse the role of Speaker to advance his cause. He is even trying to comment on the leadership campaign.” – The Sun Brexit Britain faces a surge in non-EU workers to plug skills shortages in the UK Brexit Britain faces a surge in workers from outside the EU after a top body put thirty-seven professions on a skills shortage list. The Migration Advisory Committee said tough border rules should be relaxed for firms looking to bring in everyone from welders to vets, web designers, social workers, civil engineers and chefs. Currently, firms can only bring in a set number of non-EU workers for skilled jobs each year – and only then if the trade or profession is on a so-called shortage occupation list. Yesterday’s recommendations mean the list will now cover some 9 per cent of jobs in the labour market up from 1 per cent – an increase of 2.5million roles. Critically, it means the jobs won’t have to advertised in Britain first – and the new hires can settle in the country without meeting a salary threshold. – The Sun New Airbus boss appears to reverse the company’s hardline threats over Brexit The stance taken by Airbus over Brexit has been thrown into confusion after its new chief executive appeared to suggest the aerospace company would stay in the UK regardless of the outcome of the negotiations – in contradiction to comments made by his predecessor. News website Euractiv reported that Guillaume Faury, who took over as chief executive from Tom Enders last month, told journalists the UK was a “ very important pillar” for Airbus and that “we want to stay in the UK”, regardless of the Brexit outcome and the future long-term relation between London and the EU. He was also reported to have highlighted Britain’s high-skilled workforce and its research facilities in the UK. “UK is part of Airbus and Airbus is part of the UK… and we would like to preserve that,” Euractiv reported him saying. – Telegraph (£) EU citizens should get legal right to remain in UK after Brexit, finds Home Affairs Committee The three million EU citizens living in Britain at the time of Brexit should get a new legal right to remain in the UK without going through the uncertainty of applying to a settlement scheme, the Home Affairs Committee says. In a report on Thursday, the MPs warn the Government risks repeating the Windrush scandal due to problems over the EU settlement scheme and lack of certainty over their future rights in the UK. They say no EU citizens should be left without rights or in limbo because they have not completed the scheme in time. “The Government could easily give EU citizens certainty over their rights by setting out in legislation that all who were here legally at the time of Brexit would remain so,” said the committee. The EU Settlement Scheme would only operate as a means for EU citizens to obtain proof of their status, rather than giving them a time-limited opportunity to guarantee their rights. – Telegraph (£) Jacob Rees-Mogg: No Deal Brexit is NO big deal — we could have £39bn in our pockets and free-flowing trade Voters have consistently rejected Project Fear and this has been shown once again by the European Parliamentary results. The sheer enthusiasm of Brexit Party voters for leaving cleanly no later than October 31 and their frustration that the United Kingdom is still in the European Union proved that we are not a nation to be cowed. Even if Theresa May never really believed it, the nation took to heart her message that No Deal is better than a bad deal. And the people, with their characteristic good sense, are right. Fortunately, there is no legal obligation, as set out in the House of Lords report, to pay the EU any money at all if we leave without a deal. That means we have £39billion to spend on our priorities rather than squandering it on the EU’s wasteful and consistently unaudited budget. This could be used for tax cuts to encourage business investment. The rates burden could be reduced or stamp duty cut. – Jacob Rees-Mogg MP for The Sun Priti Patel: It’s time to make the Conservative Party Conservative again The EU election results were not just a warning shot or a wake-up call, but a profound turning point in the political crisis we have found ourselves in. Everything has changed and the Conservative Party must change too or face a generation or more out of government. The stakes couldn’t be higher: we need a renaissance in our democracy and inspiring new leadership, not a reboot of the soulless managed decline of our country and party that we have endured over the past few years. All of the authors of this crisis must therefore leave the stage and make way for new faces, not only at the top of the party but throughout government. But we must also get back to being in touch with the people who elect us and who we should be proud to serve. Put simply, we urgently need leadership committed to the fundamental values of Conservatism: freedom, enterprise and opportunity. It is time to make the Conservative Party Conservative again. – Priti Patel for the Telegraph (£) John Redwood: Leadership candidates who say they will renegotiate the Withdrawal Agreement need to tell us why they think the EU will want to Several leadership hopefuls seem to think their mere presence in Brussels after becoming PM would get the EU to change its often stated position that there can be no change to the Withdrawal Treaty. It is difficult to understand why they think this. The EU has repeatedly said they will not reopen the Treaty. The EU did nothing to help Mrs May get it through the Commons when she was their best hope of doing so. The new Commission may not be formed before the summer break. There is no indication that any candidate for Commission President wants to change the policy on the Withdrawal Treaty. It is very unlikely that a new Commission, if one is formed by September, will want to devote the first month of its life locked in major negotiations with a country leaving the Union. They have many important issues they need to handle for the member states staying in. They will want to reinforce those MEPs who believe in the project, not help those trying to leave. – John Redwood’s Diary Nick Timothy: There can never be One Nation if liberal Conservatives betray Brexit There is a strange and false dichotomy in the Conservative leadership contest. The Tories must decide, we are told, whether to elect a Brexiteer or a “One Nation” Prime Minister. Framing the leadership election thus, the choice will end up between a candidate determined to take Britain out of Europe, whatever it takes, and a candidate who wants to make the country a fairer place, through social and economic reform. But like a lot of political framing, it is total nonsense. All the candidates say they are committed to delivering Brexit – with varying degrees of credibility – and all have begun to articulate their views on domestic policy. Jeremy Hunt and Matt Hancock, for example, are keen to emphasise their business credentials. Hunt has promised cuts in corporation tax, while Hancock has proposed an economic stimulus to support new tech firms and small businesses. Neither is prepared to risk a no-deal outcome, but both insist they will get Brexit done. – Nick Timothy for the Telegraph (£) Rob Wilson: No 10 must take radical action against tyrant Bercow, before he wrecks Brexit for good John Bercow’s announcement that he will stay on as Speaker of the House of Commons until the UK leaves the European Union is concluded will have been received with the enthusiasm of a visit to the dentist for root canal surgery by Brexiteers. It has become apparent to all sides in Parliament that this Speaker has little or no interest in impartiality on this issue or indeed many others. Veteran Labour MP, Margaret Beckett, let the cat out of the bag some time ago when she said, after Bercow was accused of bullying Commons staff, that “Brexit trumps poor behaviour”. She, like many of the 400-plus MPs in a Remain-dominated Commons, have decided that they will help Bercow stay in place come what may in order to have his support in their efforts to stop Brexit. – Rob Wilson for the Telegraph (£) Andrew Lilico: The legal harassment of Boris Johnson reeks of Remainer despotism How happy, innocent and naïve we all were! We thought – we fools – it worked liked this: you have a campaign; people vote; someone wins; the thing people voted for happens; life and politics move on to the next debate. But no. Instead, the way it works is: if you vote the wrong way, the thing you voted for doesn’t happen and the people who campaigned for that wrong thing get hounded through the courts. Since the EU referendum, Matthew Elliott, chief executive of Vote Leave, Darren Grimes, head of the youth campaign BeLeave, and Dominic Cummings, Campaign Director of Vote Leave, have all been repeatedly harassed through legal processes. Now Boris Johnson has been ordered to appear before the courts to face a criminal charge related to his repeating the claim that the UK sends £350 million each week to Brussels. – Andrew Lilico for the Telegraph (£) Ross Clark: Boris Johnson’s court appearance is nothing to celebrate Boris surely won’t be the last politician to get marched into court to explain himself. Next in the dock, surely, will be George Osborne for his claim that a vote for Brexit would result in unemployment rising by between 500,000 and 800,000 within two years (in the event unemployment fell to a 45 year low). And what about Nick Clegg who claimed in 2016 that the brief disappearance of Marmite from the shelves in 2016 in a contractual dispute between the manufacturers and Tesco was a foretaste of food shortages to come if we leave the EU without a trade deal? Both claims might struggle to stand up to examination that they were based on sound facts and reasoning. If we are going to conduct politics in the courts there is really no end of possibilities, but it is clear who would have the upper hand: people with the funds available to fight such cases… We exempt politics from laws which protect us from commerce for a reason – if we fought politics in the courts we would hand huge power to the wealthy. It is the Left, at present, which seems keenest to use the courts to further their aims. But ultimately the winners would be billionaires and multinational corporations. – Ross Clark for the Telegraph (£) Richard Johnson: Betrayed Brexiteers are a bigger threat than revolting Remainers in battleground marginals The “Remainers’ revolt” is one of the most influential concepts in the number-crunching world of British politics. After being trounced by the Lib Dems in the EU elections, Labour is under tremendous pressure from its members to back a second referendum, lest they face a Remain backlash at the ballot box in a general election. Some Conservative MPs are also terrified that moving towards a hard Brexit could lose them key constituencies in the south of England. Headline figures suggest, both camps have reason to be anxious. In the local elections, the Liberal Democrats won 704 councillors, and the Greens doubled their councillors across the country. In the EU elections, the Brexit Party were the clear winners, but the combination of votes for the Greens, Lib Dems, and Change UK roughly matched those of the Brexit Party and UKIP. The Labour Party’s loss of Islington to the Lib Dems and Bristol to the Greens in the EU elections have also reinforced fears around this perceived phenomenon. But has the looming risk of a Remainer earthquake been overstated? – Richard Johnson for the Telegraph (£) Brexit in Brief Isolated and vilified, Speaker John Bercow is clinging on to get the Brexit he wants – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) Remainer politician slammed after she compares Leave voters to Nazis in online smear – The Sun Government spends almost £100m on Brexit consultants – Guardian