Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team EU leaders finally agree replacements for Presidents Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker… The Belgian prime minister has been picked by leaders in the EU to become its next council president – and for the first time a woman has been put forward for the role of EU Commission president. Charles Michel, who surprised Prime Minister Theresa May with a football jersey ahead of their countries’ football World Cup clash last year, will take over from Donald Tusk. The role will put him charge of meetings where EU heads of government thrash out debates on the withdrawal agreement and any further delays to Brexit. Ursula von der Leyen, the German defence minister, has been proposed as the first female head of the Commission, to replace Jean-Claude Juncker. A close ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, she is tipped to lead on trade negotiations with third countries and supervise EU state budgets. Her position must still be confirmed by a vote in the European Parliament. If it is, she will become the first woman ever to get the job. Also nominated for promotion was Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, who has been selected to take charge of the bloc’s central bank and the euro. – Sky News EU picks Ursula von der Leyen – who called Brexit ‘a burst bubble of hollow promises’ – to be first woman to rule Brussels – Telegraph (£) …but EU officials suggest Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt should not expect a different Brexit stance from the first female Commission President The German defence minister – a close ally of the country’s chancellor Angela Merkel – has been chosen to replace Jean Claude-Juncker as President of the Commission when he steps down in August. International Monetary Fund Director Christine Lagarde has been nominated to head up the European Central Bank, while Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel has been put forward to become the next president of the European Council, the EU body that brings together its national leaders. But EU officials warned that the appointments – which still need the formal approval of the European Parliament – will not lead to a shift in the bloc’s position on Brexit. Outgoing EU Council President Donald Tusk said: “I am absolutely sure that the new leaders of our institutions will be as consistent as we are today when it comes to the withdrawal agreement and our readiness to discuss our future relationship with the UK.” Conservative leadership contenders Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have vowed to try and renegotiate the withdrawal agreement thrashed out by Theresa May, with both candidates arguing that ramping up preparations for a no-deal Brexit will make it more likely that the bloc will agree to reopen talks. But French President Emmanuel Macron said: “We must not fear no-deal. If you fear no-deal you are the hostage of the ones you are facing.” Ms von der Leyen, who will take charge of Brexit negotiations from November onwards alongside Mr Michel, has previously described the aftermath of the 2016 EU referendum as a “burst bubble of hollow promises”. “People are starting to realise, after the Brexit vote and the election in the US, what it means to believe the promises of populists,” she told German magazine Der Spiegel. – PoliticsHome > Luca Siepmann on BrexitCentral today: Ursula von der Leyen may be a Euro-federalist, but on Brexit she will be a pragmatist Nigel Farage threatens to destroy the Tories if they don’t deliver Brexit on Halloween before a chaotic European Parliament session… Nigel Farage warned Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt his Brexit Party would destroy the Conservatives if the Tory leadership contenders failed to take Britain out of the EU on Halloween. Mr Johnson has vowed that Britain will leave on October 31, with or without a deal. Mr Hunt has said he would give the EU three weeks to renegotiate the withdrawal agreement before leaving on the deadline. But Mr Farage, who was at the European Parliament in Strasbourg at the head of his delegation of 29 MEPs for the first time, said he didn’t trust the Tories to deliver Brexit and mocked Mr Hunt, who voted Remain in the referendum. “He [Mr Johnson] says he will. Now of course ‘hard man Hunt’ says he will,” he said outside the parliament building in France, “Now we have two contenders telling us whatever happens, come Hell or high water, we are leaving on October 31.” “I have to be honest with you, I don’t believe a word they say. But I will give them this warning,” he said, “If they don’t deliver Brexit on that date they are toast and you will see a turquoise takeover.” – Telegraph (£) …as both Brexit Party and Lib Dem MEPs are accused of ‘childish’ and ‘petty’ protests on their first day in Strasbourg British MEPs were accused of being “petty” and “childish” in the European Parliament as chaotic scenes of protests marked the opening day of the new term in Strasbourg. The MEPs representing Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party stood and turned their backs on the Parliament during a rendition of the EU anthem Ode To Joy. And the Liberal Democrats posed in the parliamentary chamber wearing bright yellow protest T-shirts calling for Brexit to be stopped. Tuesday morning marked the opening of the new five-year session of the parliament and was the first opportunity for newly-elected MEPs to make their political opinions known in Strasbourg. The Brexit Party and Lib Dems – each with opposing views on leaving the EU – came first and second respectively in the EU Parliamentary Elections back in May. The newly-elected Brexit Party candidates took part in the protest because, they said, they did not recognise the EU as a “nation state”. Others in the parliament refused to stand at all as the song, composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1824, was played live by a jazz ensemble. Mr Farage, the former leader of Ukip, led the same protest in 2014 when in parliament with MEPs from his previous party. He told Sky News: “They played the anthem and we didn’t stand up as the others did – all ramrod straight to attention. We sat and the president of the parliament, Mr Tajani, said it is polite to stand up when the anthem of another nation is playing. – iNews Labour to ask civil service to start planning for a second Brexit referendum… Labour is to ask the civil service to begin working up proposals for a fresh referendum on Brexit because of the likelihood of a general election later this year, John McDonnell has said. The shadow chancellor said Jeremy Corbyn would seek formal discussions with civil servants when he meets Sir Mark Sedwill, the cabinet secretary, on Tuesday. The pair will meet to discuss Labour’s calls for an independent investigation into reports that senior civil servants had claimed the Labour leader was “losing his memory” and “too frail” Mr McDonnell said Mr Corbyn would also Sir Mark for permission to open talks with civil servants on Labour’s Brexit plan, including proposals for a Final Say vote. Speaking at a briefing in Westminster, he said: “At the moment the permanent secretary and cabinet secretary have said no to any pre-election discussions or meetings with the civil service. That was a civil service decision but they did consult Theresa May and Theresa May blocked those meetings as well. “This morning because Jeremy is meeting Sedwill about this issue of the inquiry, I’ve asked him to raise at that meeting that we should now have access to the civil servants because of the likelihood of a change in prime minister happening and the likelihood therefore of a general election in the autumn. I think that’s just the pragmatic and practical thing to do.” Asked if the potential discussions would involve civil servants being asked to draw up plans for another referendum, he said: “At the moment we’re consulting on our attitude in a second referendum but Jeremy has made it clear that it should go back to the people in a referendum. – Independent …while Remainer no-deal Brexit fears surge as some Labour MPs may not back a Corbyn no-confidence vote Jeremy Corbyn could be prepared to table a no-confidence vote to bring down the Government if the new Tory leader pushes forward with a no deal exit from the European Union, insiders have long speculated. But one Labour MP has made the sensational claim that several colleagues may abstain to support the move by the next Prime Minister. The MP told The Sun, several of his colleagues might end up being “locked in the toilet” so they could dodge voting in the motion. On Monday night, Nicholas Watt told Newsnight that 12 Labour MPs were “prepared to countenance no deal” meaning Remainer MPs fear they lack the numbers to block no deal. Meanwhile senior Labour MP John Mann, a Brexiteer who voted for outgoing PM Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement three times said up to 30 colleagues could vote for a deal that resembles that secured by Mrs May or abstain. One MP in the Mr Corbyn led party who voted against the deal all three times it was presented to the Commons told The Sun: “If it bore any semblance to Mrs May’s deal, I’d vote for it in a heartbeat.” She added at least ten of her colleagues would vote for it with another dozen prepared to abstain. – Express Mandelson claims Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage are ‘secretly plotting to deliver no-deal Brexit’ Remainer Peter Mandelson, who served in Labour’s government in the Blair years, has said the Tory leadership hopeful and the Brexit Party leader are in talks together on how they would work together to ensure as little disruption as possible for a no deal scenario. In a piece for the London Evening Standard, Mr Mandelson said: “Johnson will argue unscrupulously that Brexit is ending austerity, even though we know how severe the impact on jobs and the economy of the hard Brexit he is planning will be, especially for the manufacturing-linked areas of the country. “I hear Nigel Farage is already in close talks about how his Brexit Party can deliver its support for such a Johnson electoral plan.” He added: “The only effective way to deal with Johnson is not to try to match him in tactics but to tell the truth: that three years on from the 2016 referendum it is clear that there is no good Brexit on offer; nothing compares with what we have now in the EU; and that Labour is the party of Remain.” Lord Mandelson spoke of the danger Mr Johnson poses to Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party. He said: “Voters can dislike someone and be fascinated by them at the same time. He has celebrity. And while people may not agree with what he says, they notice when he is talking, which is more than can be said for many politicians. “There is another reason why Johnson should worry Labour. Many voters will be put off by his character but nonetheless wonder whether, because he is a strong personality, he would be good for the country. “Margaret Thatcher fell into this category. President Trump gains support for similar reasons. In normal times such extreme personalities are unattractive. But we are not living in normal times. To many people Johnson’s optimism and confidence about the future of the country may be appealing. It is something Theresa May could not convey on Brexit because she approached it as a grim obligation to execute rather than being able to convince herself and the rest of the country that it was actually a good thing.” – Express Philip Hammond hints that he will fight a no-deal Brexit from the backbenches Philip Hammond has strongly hinted he could vote against a new Conservative government to block a no-deal Brexit, as he used what could be his last Commons appearance as chancellor to warn about the dire economic consequences of such a course. Speaking at Treasury questions on Tuesday, Hammond told the Tory leadership rivals Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt that the so-called fiscal headroom of about £26bn, which they have earmarked for tax cuts and extra spending, would be more than wiped out by no deal. On no deal, Hammond was asked by his Labour shadow, John McDonnell, what action he might take as a backbencher – it is widely assumed both Johnson and Hunt would replace him as chancellor – if a new prime minister sought no deal or attempted to prorogue parliament to ensure this. McDonnell said: “Can I ask him, very straightforwardly, bearing in mind what he’s said, will he join us in committing himself to doing everything he possibly can to oppose the prorogation of parliament to try to sneak a no deal through, and also voting against a no deal?” Hammond said he had been “consistently clear that I believe a no-deal exit will be bad for the UK, bad for the British economy, bad for the British people.” He said: “We cannot, however, rule out that that could happen, because it is not entirely in our hands. But I do agree with him that it would be wrong for the British government to seek to pursue no deal as a policy, and I believe that it will be for the House of Commons, of which I will continue proudly to be a member, to ensure that that doesn’t happen.” – Guardian Hammond vows to oppose ‘£90bn no-deal hit’ – BBC News > WATCH: Chancellor Philip Hammond on a no-deal Brexit at Treasury Questions ‘We will under no circumstances have a hard border’, Boris Johnson tells Tories in Belfast… Boris Johnson has told Tory members in Belfast there will “under no circumstances” be a hard border on the island, saying the issue will be resolved in a free trade deal after Brexit. “Of course we need to sort out the problems of the Northern Irish border, where those problems should be sorted out in the context of the free trade deal that we are going to do when we have left on October 31st,” Mr Johnson said. “I think it’s absolutely vital here in Northern Ireland to stress two things. “Number one: that we will under no circumstances have a hard border. There will be no physical checks or infrastructure at the border in Northern Ireland. “And number two: we will make sure we have an exit from the EU, a Brexit, that allows the whole UK to come out entire and undivided and we keep our union absolutely intact.” – Irish Times …as he meets the DUP leader and pledges not to take Northern Ireland out of the UK customs territory… Boris Johnson has vowed “under no circumstances” will there be a hard border in Ireland if he becomes PM and never to accept any Brexit deal that would take Northern Ireland out of the UK’s customs territory. He made the comments in a tweet after meeting with DUP leader Arlene Foster at Stormont. The front runner in the Conservative leadership race had earlier faced members of his party in a hustings event. He said it was “a pleasure” to meet with Arlene Foster saying they discussed restoring the Northern Ireland institutions. “If I become PM, under no circumstances will there be a hard border on the island of Ireland, nor will I accept a deal that sees NI taken out of the UK’s customs territory,” he tweeted. Mrs Foster described their discussion as “useful” saying they talked about the lack of government in Northern Ireland and “delivering the referendum result”. – Belfast Telegraph …while Jeremy Hunt says the backstop ‘has to change or go’… Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has told a Conservative Party leadership hustings that as Brexit approaches, the Northern Irish backstop “has to change or has to go”. He and Boris Johnson are making their pitch to be the next PM to Conservative Party members in Northern Ireland. The two candidates for the Tory leadership have been taking part in a series of party events across the UK. The current EU withdrawal agreement was “a dead letter”, said Mr Johnson. He said the backstop presented the UK with the “unacceptable choice” between “abandoning the ability to govern ourselves” or to “give up control of the government of Northern Ireland”. – BBC News > WATCH: Tory leadership candidate Jeremy Hunt discusses the Irish backstop …and claims a no-deal Brexit could be almost as damaging as the 2008 financial crash A no-deal Brexit could inflict almost as much damage as the 2008 financial crash, Jeremy Hunt has admitted – before vowing to crash out of Europe if necessary. The admission is the starkest assessment yet of the impact of crashing out of the European Union, which both Tory leadership candidates say they are ready to do on 31 October. “The Bank of England’s predictions are that it wouldn’t be quite that bad, but it could be very serious if we get this wrong,” the foreign secretary said. The 2008 crash – or Great Recession – was the worst economic disaster since the Second World War, triggering a downturn that lasted more than a year. Unemployment soared to 2.68 million people – the highest level since 1994 – and manufacturing output took more than a decade to recover. Nevertheless, Mr Hunt said the UK had to make that “choice”, to allow withdrawal to go ahead without an agreement, if the EU refused to renegotiate Theresa May’s divorce deal. – Independent If you stand up to the Irish, they’ll take you seriously, says DUP’s Sammy Wilson The DUP’s Sammy Wilson has said he will advise the Conservative leadership candidates that they should stand up to the Dublin government during the Brexit negotiations. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s position on how Brexit should be negotiated isn’t shared unanimously in the Republic. “There are many people in the Republic that are now thinking that Ireland has overstretched itself, overstated its case and that stance could damage the Irish economy. I think that will put immense pressure on Leo Varadkar to have a different attitude,” he said. “During my time in the Northern Ireland Executive and in the period since the Belfast Agreement, we’ve had to negotiate with Dublin time and time again. The one thing we do know is that once Dublin knows you mean what you say and say what you mean, I think that you sometimes find they have a different attitude. What we’ll be saying to both candidates is look, we know the Irish. If you vacillate, they’ll push you around. If you stand up to them, they’ll start to take you seriously.” The Brexit spokesperson said his party is happy with what they’ve heard so far from the Conservative leadership candidates Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson. – Belfast Telegraph DUP welcomes Tory leadership contenders’ vow to ditch backstop – Guardian > LISTEN: Sammy Wilson on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme Theresa May to warn a no-deal Brexit would threaten the UK in Scottish visit tomorrow… Theresa May will on Thursday issue a coded warning to Conservative leadership frontrunner Boris Johnson not to jeopardise the UK’s integrity through a no-deal Brexit, in a provocatively-timed farewell speech in Scotland. The prime minister’s speech comes on the eve of Tory leadership hustings in Scotland, where Mr Johnson is seen by his critics — including some in his own party — as an English nationalist whose fixation with Brexit will fuel demands for Scottish independence. “The prime minister has said we have to deliver a Brexit which works for all parts of the UK,” said one ally of Mrs May. “That is a point which I’m sure she will want to make again in Scotland.” Mrs May fears that a chaotic no-deal Brexit would fuel Scottish demands for independence — Scotland voted 62 to 38 per cent in favour of staying in the EU in the 2016 referendum — as well as strengthen calls in Remain-supporting Northern Ireland to break away from the UK. – FT(£) Theresa May is to make her first intervention in the Tory leadership battle – Daily Mail …as it is claimed millions of pounds intended to help Scotland prepare for a no-deal Brexit have been ‘mis-spent’ Millions of pounds intended to help Scotland prepare for a no-deal Brexit has been spent as part of the normal Scottish Government budget, Scottish Labour has claimed. MSP Jackie Baillie said that of the £37.3 million the Scottish Government received as part of the UK’s Brexit preparation fund, £10m has gone on departmental budgets. Money received through Barnett formula consequentials is not ring-fenced, but traditionally is spent on the area for which it was received. However, in a parliamentary answer to Ms Baillie, SNP finance secretary Derek Mackay said £10m of the Brexit fund had been spent across a variety of government departments – with the largest share, £4m, going to the environment, climate change and land reform budget. The row comes just weeks after the independent Scottish Fiscal Commission warned that the Scottish Government was facing a £1billion black hole. Ms Baillie said: “The SNP’s decision to blow £10m of no-deal Brexit funding has left Scottish businesses, and the jobs they support, at risk. – The Scotsman Ryanair traffic takes off despite Brexit gloom Irish airline Ryanair carried eight per cent more passengers on its planes last month, it revealed today. The budget carrier said it served 13.6m passengers, up from 12.6m in the same period last year. It was spread across 78,000 flights. Read more: Wizz Air grows passenger numbers amid route expansion. Earlier this year the company signed a deal to acquire Laudamotion and its 24 aeroplanes. When taking into account an added 600,000 passengers from its new Lauda traffic, numbers grew by 13 per cent, it said. On a rolling annual basis, passenger numbers were up 10 per cent to 146.5m, the company said. It comes as the company is forced to deal with uncertainty over its post-Brexit future. Last week it amended the terms of its €700m (£627m) share buyback in a bid to safeguard against Brexit. The new terms would allow block purchases of shares in a bid to limit the numbers owned by British shareholders. It will allow it to ensure more than half of its shareholders are from the EU, even after a hard Brexit. – CityA.M. Priti Patel: This country can leave the EU and thrive – but only with a true Brexiteer at the helm Over the next week, Conservative Party members must ask themselves one key question: do we elect a leader who will continue to ignore the British people’s decision to leave the EU by dragging on with this Government’s failed strategy of kicking the can down the road? Or do we choose someone who is committed to delivering Brexit, come what may, by 31 October and who will raise our standing in the world? The future of the Tory party is on the line because of this Government’s failure to get Brexit done. Unless we have fresh leadership with the conviction and determination to leave the EU, the party will continue its precipitous decline. For three years, ministers who claimed they were pro-Brexit chose not to stand up for the 17.4 million people who voted Leave and failed to make a robust case for delivering on the referendum mandate. Our political class lacked confidence in our country and had no trust in the verdict given by the public. They sought the comfort of the EU making our laws and governing our destiny. No wonder the British people feel betrayed. And this is why Jeremy Hunt, having voted to Remain, having supported a second referendum – and after calling a no-deal Brexit “political suicide” one day, only to tell the world Britain can “flourish and prosper” under a no deal the next – lacks the credibility to lead us out of the EU. – Priti Patel MP for the Telegraph (£) Patrick Minford: It will take an unconventional leader to make no deal a success It is likely that the new government will need to make serious preparation for no deal, given that EU leaders determinedly say they will not contemplate any change in the Withdrawal Agreement. With both candidates for the leadership committed to leaving by end-October, then if no deal has been agreed, there will be exit with no deal. This in turn may force a general election if Parliament refuses to support the government. How well the government prepares for no deal will then be important for its success in that election. No Deal is widely misunderstood as a lawless situation. In fact it is governed by WTO law, which is highly prescriptive and would be upheld by both the EU and the UK if we leave without an agreement on trade; indeed it forms part of existing commercial law in both. All the fears conjured up by Remainers about no deal revolve around border hold-ups blocking the timely arrival of supplies.Whatever happens over tariffs, it makes sense for the new government to strengthen the economy by cutting business and other taxes as well as embarking on sound spending policies on infrastructure and public services. The public finances are now in good shape and real interest rates are negative: so the government can follow an aggressive fiscal policy and still reach a sound debt/GDP ratio by the mid-2020s. It makes no sense for it to hold back and leave this fiscal opportunity to a Corbyn government to misuse and squander. This is a time for bold new policies, ‘outside the box’ of the conventional failing policies we have been exposed to under the current government in its dying spasms. To my mind this requires a new leader with fresh ideas unconnected with those spasms, which points clearly to Boris Johnson as the right choice. – Patrick Minford for the Telegraph (£) Mark Wallace: The farcical horse-trading of the EU’s top job is a stark reminder of why we must leave Well, it’s been a nail-biting race from start to finish. The polls have swung back and forth between the hopefuls. Each one has laid out their manifesto and vision of the future for the people to scrutinise. The hustings and debates – oh, the debates, so full of vim and energy, with candidates for the very highest office presenting their character, experience and proposals, to vast public interest. Who are you backing? Frans Timmermans (#TimeforTimmer)? Manfred Weber (#ManfredsTheMan)? Or perhaps you’re mad-keen on late entrant Ursula von der Leyen (#WouldILeyToYouBabyWouldILeyToYou)? Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of any of these people, they’re only fighting it out to run the EU Commission, and thereby wield sizeable power running the executive of what the President of the European Parliament openly referred to as a “country” this morning. As such, there’s no particular reason why you should know who they are, or ever have encountered anything they might believe or desire. Indeed, they’ve no particular interest in talking to you about it, either – because neither you nor any other voter anywhere in Europe will ever have a say on whether they get or keep this job. Hence why there’s no public campaign at all. EU-enthusiasts rarely choose to talk about the way the organisation’s institutions work, and the process for picking a successor to Jean-Claude Juncker shows exactly why. The whole thing is stitched-up in grubby horse-trading behind closed doors, from a field of candidates with next to no profile among the hundreds of millions of people they seek to govern over, and with no interest in or opportunity for meaningful public scrutiny or accountability. This farce has flowed back and forth for quite some time, and today’s tide is reported to be flowing in the direction of von der Leyen. Readers will of course know that she is currently Germany’s defence minister (overseeing a military which was last year deemed officially “not deployable”), but they might not be acquainted with some of her views on the desirable direction of travel for the EU. She wants “a united states of Europe – run along the lines of the federal states of Switzerland, Germany or the USA”. She argues that “Europe must be able to defend itself” with “a European army”, which she says “is already taking shape”. And in the midst of the Eurozone crisis she urged the EU to demand gold reserves or state industrial holdings as collateral for bailouts to Greece – something others warned might drive the already stricken Euro member to outright default. It sounds as though she’ll fit right in. Now, can we get out, please? – Mark Wallace for ConservativeHome Brexit in Brief The inconvenient truth about Ursula von der Leyen – Matthew Karnitschnig for Politico Differing views from the pair who will steer EU-UK relations – Jim Brunsden and Alex Barker for the FT(£) Surprise finish, uncertain consequences, in race to choose new EU leaders – David M. Herszenhorn, Jacopo Barigazzi and Rym Momtaz for Politico Four things to look for as MEPs get back to work – BBC News