Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Boris Johnson set to be confirmed as Tory leader and next Prime Minister this morning when he will tell his party to unite behind him… Boris Johnson will today appeal to his warring party to unite behind him after an extraordinary attempt by one of his own MPs to prevent him becoming Prime Minister. Barring a last-minute shock, Mr Johnson is set to be named as the Conservative Party’s new leader this morning following a six-week contest that has been dominated by Brexit. Sources in Mr Johnson’s camp last night predicted he would secure more than 60 per cent of the vote, giving him a ‘free hand’ to sack his enemies and steer the Tories on a new course. He has planned a short acceptance speech in which he will repeat his campaign pledge to take Britain out of the EU on October 31, with or without a deal, and urge his party to turn its guns on Jeremy Corbyn. But he is also expected to make an appeal for party unity following a fractious campaign which has seen Tory Remainers vow to bring down his government if he tries to pursue a No Deal exit. – Daily Mail …as senior Tories warn him over no-deal Brexit… Boris Johnson has been put on notice by rebel Conservatives that he will not survive long as prime minister unless he drops his no-deal Brexit agenda, as he stands on the brink of entering Downing Street. Johnson is expected to be announced as the choice of the Conservative party to be the next prime minister on Tuesday morning after running a campaign against Jeremy Hunt that promised to take the UK out of the EU by the end of October “do or die”. On the eve of his probable coronation by the Tory membership, several senior Conservatives sent warning shots that his hardline Brexit plans put him on a collision course with parliament. Rory Stewart, a former leadership rival, joined Philip Hammond and David Gauke in telling Johnson he would quit the cabinet before the new prime minister takes office rather than serve under him. In a further ominous move for Johnson, Sir Alan Duncan, a Foreign Office minister, resigned dramatically to launch an attempt to test whether the new prime minister could command a majority among MPs. – Guardian …but he launches a charm offensive to calm no-deal rebels Boris Johnson has held secret meetings with Philip Hammond, David Gauke and Rory Stewart as part of a charm offensive amid concerns that they will prove to be a “nightmare” on the back benches. The former foreign secretary organised the meetings as part of a bid to unite the party amid opposition to his “do or die” approach to leaving the EU with or without a deal on October 31. Mr Hammond, Mr Gauke and Mr Stewart are among half a dozen ministers who are expected to quit before Mr Johnson enters Downing Street tomorrow. The Times has been told that Mr Johnson has arranged meetings with the cabinet ministers to explain his Brexit strategy. Mr Johnson met Mr Hammond in parliament yesterday and questioned the chancellor about the scale of opposition to suspending parliament to push through a no-deal Brexit. – The Times (£) Sir Alan Duncan quits as Foreign Office minister but his plot to allow MPs to reject Johnson as new PM unravels Sir Alan Duncan quit as foreign minister after hatching a plot to persuade the Queen to reject Boris Johnson as the next Prime Minister. In an extraordinary move, the longstanding Tory MP resigned in protest at a potential Johnson-led government before lobbying Speaker John Bercow to hold an emergency Commons debate on the new leader in a move that could have potentially dealt Theresa May’s successor a fatal blow before he formally took office. After hitting out at the “haphazard and ramshackle” would-be prime minister – who used to be his boss at the Foreign Office – Sir Alan then wrote to Mr Bercow to suggest Mrs May might be minded to advise the Queen against appointing Mr Johnson as her replacement. – Telegraph (£) > WATCH: Sir Alan Duncan explains his resignation to Laura Kuenssberg Anti-Brexit MPs and peers now attempting legal action to stop Boris Johnson from suspending the Commons to allow No Deal A cross-party group of MPs and peers is taking legal action to ensure the UK’s likely next prime minister Boris Johnson cannot suspend parliament to force through a no-deal Brexit. The group is seeking a ruling in Scotland’s Court of Session that the prime minister cannot lawfully advise the Queen to use a mechanism called prorogation to suspend sittings of the House of Commons in the run-up to the 31 October deadline for Brexit. They aim to have their crowdfunded case heard by the court – which sits through August – in time for a decision to be in place before MPs return from their summer break in September. – Independent Jo Swinson elected first female leader of the Liberal Democrats and vows to do ‘whatever it takes’ to stop Brexit Jo Swinson has made history as the first female leader of the Liberal Democrats, replacing Sir Vince Cable. Ms Swinson secured 47,900 votes with 63 per cent of the vote. Her rival Sir Ed Davey came second with 28,021 votes. The new leader said in her victory speech: “I will do whatever it takes to stop Brexit.” Ms Swinson was first elected as MP for East Dunbartonshire in 2005 at the age of 25, becoming the youngest member of Parliament. Ms Swinson remained the“Baby of the House”—the youngest MP and the first person born in the 1980s to be elected to parliament – for years. Despite being the first woman to lead the Liberal Democrats, Ms Swinson has been vocally opposed to all-woman shortlists. At the 2001 Lib Dem party conference she wore a bright pink T-shirt saying “I am not a token woman”. – Telegraph (£) Darren Grimes lashes out at ‘incompetent’ Electoral Commission following appeal victory Brexiteer campaigner and founder of BeLeave, Darren Grimes, lashed out at the Electoral Commission for “three years of hell”, after winning an appeal against the elections regulator. Darren Grimes appealed against the £20,000 fine imposed by the Electoral Commission, following accusations of breaking spending rules during the Brexit referendum. The pro-Brexit campaigner said a “massive weight” has been lifted following the judge’s decision. Mr Grimes told BBC’s Politics Live: “This wasn’t a reduction of a fine, this wasn’t the judge saying that the decision was unreasonable, this was the judge quashing their entire notice. – Express Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are already meddling in BoJo’s Government telling him to call referendum on no-deal Brexit Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are already trying to meddle in Boris Johnson’s Government – telling him to call another referendum on a No Deal Brexit. The two former PM’s are already trying to cause trouble before Boris has even got into No10 by slapping down his plans and rallying MPs to stop a No Deal. Boris has promised to get us out by October 31, with or without a deal to finally deliver on the 2016 referendum result. But MPs and several other high profile politicians are plotting to stop us leaving with nothing. Brexiteer MP Nigel Evans blasted: “Blair and Brown in full reverse Brexit throttle today – one reneged on a referendum promise on the Lisbon Treaty and the other sold our gold reserves at rock bottom prices costing taxpayer £5billion – why are we paying attention to them?” – The Sun > WATCH: Tony Blair on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme Pat Leahy: Is Ireland really about to ‘cave in’ to Boris over the backstop? The Irish Government will not change its position on the backstop in the face of threats of a no-deal on October 31. It may however, be open to a more reasonable approach. The idea gaining currency in some Brexiteer circles that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is under pressure to cave in on the backstop is based on a misreading of Irish politics and of the EU that has been unfortunately prevalent throughout the Brexit process. The apparent judgment of Boris Johnson and some of his supporters that the serious threat of a no-deal – such as was never convincingly conveyed by Theresa May – will prompt the callow Varadkar to crumble before the mighty Boris is wishful thinking masquerading as analysis. It is certainly not based on an understanding of what’s happening in Dublin or Brussels. – Pat Leahy for the Telegraph (£) Matt Ridley: It’s time for a bonfire of the regulatory quangos that are destroying our democracy Darren Grimes’s court victory over the Electoral Commission is a win for David against the Goliath of the regulatory state in a war that democracy is otherwise losing against bureaucracy. The next prime minister must tackle the menace of regulatory quangos which have too much power, too little accountability and an apparently blatant bias on key issues. The Electoral Commission, some of whose commissioners are openly sympathetic to Remain, investigated Vote Leave and Mr Grimes three times. The third fishing expedition was at the behest of lawyers for the Remain lobby and eventually turned up the fact that Mr Grimes had ticked a wrong box. For this, a young man was going to be fined £20,000, saddled with legal costs, his reputation trashed, and he was even to be denied the chance to cross-examine the commission in court when he appealed. – Matt Ridley for the Telegraph (£) Alberto Costa: It is profoundly un-British to leave EU citizens in limbo Last Friday I was delighted to lead a British parliamentary emergency taskforce to meet with Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, at the European Commission in Brussels to discuss the rights of more than one million British citizens living in the EU, and over three million EU citizens who call Britain home. The make-up of the taskforce, from all sides of both Houses of Parliament and with differing views on Brexit, underlines the tremendous unanimity among parliamentarians on the issue of citizens’ rights. This is not a matter of a withdrawal, an orderly Brexit or a messy divorce; instead this concerns the lives and livelihoods of a collective five million people. – Alberto Costa MP for The Times (£) Shanker Singham: Boris is right: You don’t need the backstop to keep the Irish border open after Brexit Boris Johnson – who seems likely to win the contest for the Conservative Party leadership, and hence become the country’s new PM – has compared the difficulties we face on the Irish border with landing a man on the moon. I have often used the same analogy. Like the moon landings, resolving the Irish border issue will be difficult but not impossible. And many of the technologies and practices required to do so already exist. We recently helped launch Prosperity UK’s Alternative Arrangements Commission Report and Protocols, which set out in a detailed, 273 page report precisely what is necessary to ensure alternative arrangements on the Irish border so the backstop is never triggered, or is replaced. I had the privilege of chairing the Technical Panel which consisted of some 25 global experts on trade, customs, the Good Friday Agreement (including people like Paul Bew and Graham Gudgin who were involved in crafting it) and international law. – Shanker Singham for the Telegraph (£) The Sun: Boris Johnson must summon a Cabinet to deliver Brexit and fight off Jeremy Corbyn’s Stalinist mob It’s almost certain that Boris Johnson will be elected Tory leader tomorrow, becoming PM on Wednesday. But there’s no time for champagne corks. He’ll have just hours to assemble a top team to run a country crying out for leadership. BoJo should summon a Cabinet of all the talents, uniting staunch Brexiteers such as Dominic Raab and Michael Gove with former Remainers like Sajid Javid — not to mention his leadership rival Jeremy Hunt. As Trevor Kavanagh writes for The Sun, there can be no room for the Tory Europhiles who refuse to sign up to the October 31 Brexit deadline. That’s why it’s good to see Philip Hammond bow to reality, finally accepting his time at the top table is over. – The Sun says Ruth Lea: Take these No Deal meltdown warnings with a large pinch of salt Another day, yet another manifestation of Project Fear Mark 2, the alleged economic meltdown if the UK were to leave the EU with ‘no deal’. This time it is the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR), a fine institution for which I have a great deal of respect. But, alas, it has allowed itself, willingly or otherwise, to be dragged into the quagmire. There is, of course, a concerted campaign against the prospect of a ‘no deal’ Brexit. But, as many of us have attempted to point out over the months, we would not be descending into lawless chaos if there were ‘no deal’. We would be trading under the tried and tested rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Furthermore, over half of our exports currently go to non-EU countries, most of which do not have trade agreements with the EU. In addition, our non-EU exports are growing significantly faster than our EU exports, suggesting the benefits of ‘frictionless’ trade, and the glories of Customs Union and the Single Market, are grossly exaggerated for political reasons. – Ruth Lea for The Conservative Woman Gerard Lyons: The new Prime Minister must be realistic about the economy Realism and vision will both be needed as the new UK prime minister takes office this week and formulates his economic policy. Realism is essential because the UK has limited time to negotiate an exit from the EU and its unbalanced economy requires a major reboot. There needs to be a smooth evolution from current policy but Britain must approach Brexit as a great opportunity. Many challenges we face are seen across other western economies because of globalisation and technology. Brexit is disruptive but will allow us scope to play to our strengths. – Gerard Lyons for FT (£) Brexit in Brief Can London and New York stay on top as the world’s financial capitals? – Gerard Lyons for The Times (£) Today the Conservative party elects a new leader – John Redwood’s Diary