Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team I didn’t lie to the Queen about prorogation, says Boris Johnson… Boris Johnson has denied lying to the Queen over his reasons for suspending parliament. Asked if he had misled the monarch over the purpose of the five-week suspension, he said: “Absolutely not.” The prime minister was speaking after a Scottish court ruled that the prorogation was “unlawful”. Mr Johnson also backed away from a row with the judiciary after one of his senior ministers said he understood why people thought judges were biased against Brexit. The ruling of Scotland’s highest civil court that prorogation was unlawful and the enforced publication of official planning documents combined to create another torrid day for the prime minister yesterday. Signs of progress in talks to find a replacement to the Irish backstop following meetings in Brussels and Dublin this week could help Downing Street shift the focus onto the prospects of a new deal agreed at the European Council on October 17, however. – The Times (£) …as he is accused of downplaying dangers of no-deal Brexit amidst rows over the Operation Yellowhammer document Boris Johnson has been accused of downplaying the dangers of a no-deal Brexit, as rows erupted over a government paper warning of delays, disruption and disorder if the UK crashes out of the EU on 31 October. Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon said that the Operation Yellowhammer document, presented by ministers as a worst-case outcome had been described to the devolved government in Edinburgh as a baseline scenario. And former prime minister Gordon Brown wrote to Mr Johnson to complain that – despite the paper’s warnings of two-and-a-half day queues at Channel ports, energy price hikes and riots in the streets after a no-deal EU withdrawal – ministers are “still not telling the truth” about the threat to medical supplies and food. – Independent Yellowhammer is yet another example of Project Fear – Graham Gudgin for The Spectator > Julian Jessop on BrexitCentral today: The out-of-date Operation Yellowhammer document fails to justify the doom-mongers’ scare stories John Bercow says Boris Johnson refusing to ask for an Article 50 extension would be like ‘robbing a bank’… John Bercow has suggested that Boris Johnson will be like a bank robber if he refuses Parliament’s order to ask for an Article 50 extension. The Speaker warned Mr Johnson that Parliament would step in if he tried to bypass the law, saying: “Neither the limitations of the rulebook nor the ticking of the clock will stop it.” Mr Bercow, who repeatedly signalled he is gearing up for a fight with the Prime Minister next month if he tries to take Britain out of the EU without a deal, said the only “legitimate” form of Brexit would be one that “the House of Commons has explicitly endorsed”. Speaking in public for the first time since Parliament was prorogued earlier this week, Mr Bercow also said the idea of an American-style written constitution should now be “explored” to avoid future crises. – Telegraph (£) …as Government faces a new legal challenge which could see judges sign the letter asking for a Brexit extension… Boris Johnson faces a fresh legal challenge to his Brexit plans in the same Scottish court that ruled he had acted unlawfully by proroguing Parliament. A group of 78 opposition MPs and peers which successfully challenged the Government earlier this week now wants the court to rule that it will ask Brussels for a Brexit extension if Mr Johnson refuses to do so. The Prime Minister has said he would rather be “dead in a ditch” than ask for a Brexit extension beyond Oct 31, even though an Act of Parliament now requires him to do so if he fails to agree a new deal with the EU next month. The anti-no deal campaigners believe judges in Scotland have the power to send a letter to Brussels asking for an extension if Mr Johnson refuses to. SNP MP Joanna Cherry QC and barrister Jolyon Maugham QC said they issued proceedings at Scotland’s highest court, the Inner House of the Court of Session, on Thursday. – Telegraph (£) …although Johnson has reportedly been urged by Cabinet allies to ask for an extension rather than disobey the law Boris Johnson has been urged by Cabinet allies to ask Brussels for a Brexit extension rather than disobey the law and risk a Jeremy Corbyn government. A Cabinet minister told the Telegraph Mr Johnson – who has said he would rather be “dead in a ditch” than ask for a delay – should back down and follow Parliament’s instruction to ask for a three-month extension if he cannot agree a deal. “The Government does not break the law,” the minister said. The Prime Minister has staked his premiership on getting Britain out of the EU on Oct 31 “do or die” whether or not he can broker a new deal. The comments from the minister, a Brexiteer, are the first sign of a Cabinet split over Mr Johnson’s insistence that MPs cannot stop him taking Britain out of the EU without a deal. – Telegraph (£) A Brexit delay would mean UK having to pick an EU commissioner, says Ursula von der Leyen Boris Johnson will have to nominate a British European commissioner as part of the EU’s terms for a delay to Brexit in another embarrassment for the prime minister after his defeat by MPs. Ursula von der Leyen, who replaces Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Commission on November 1, said that naming a Briton to the Brussels EU executive would be legally required if the Brexit deadline were extended again. EU diplomats and officials believe that a further Brexit delay beyond October 31 is almost a certainty after House of Commons legislation requiring the government to ask for one. – The Times (£) Northern Irish court dismisses latest anti-Brexit case The high court in Belfast has dismissed claims that a no-deal Brexit and the imposition of a hard border would damage the Northern Ireland peace process. Lord Justice Bernard McCloskey said the applications were a matter of politics and that was not an area in which courts should intervene… Delivering the judgment, McCloskey said: “Virtually all of the assembled evidence belongs to the world of politics, both national and supra-national. Within the world of politics, the well-recognised phenomena of claim and counter-claim, assertion and counter-assertion, allegation and denial, blow and counter-blow, alteration and modification of government policy, public statements, unpublished deliberations, posturing, strategy and tactics are the very essence of what is both countenanced and permitted in a democratic society.” – Guardian Rebel alliance will block an election until Brexit is resolved, warns Sir Oliver Letwin, also mooting prospect of a second referendum A cross-party alliance of MPs will thwart Boris Johnson’s plan to hold a general election before Brexit has been resolved, former Conservative cabinet minister Sir Oliver Letwin has warned. Sir Oliver, who was one of 21 Tories to lose the whip for blocking the Government’s no deal plan, said Parliament is unlikely to vote for a national poll until after a new deal with the EU was secured. His comments came a day after Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson broke with his party’s policy and demanded another referendum before a general election. Speaking to the Evening Standard, Sir Oliver said: “We need to resolve this issue of Brexit before there is a general election so that the election can be about who you want to have govern you, and so the resolution of the Brexit issue is separate.” – Telegraph (£) Sir Oliver Letwin interview: Brexit is not a game, this is about the fate of our fellow countrymen – Evening Standard Tory Brexiteers tell Boris Johnson ‘we need pact with Nigel Farage to win a majority’ Boris Johnson is under mounting pressure to reverse his decision to rule out an electoral pact with Nigel Farage amid growing fears among Tory Brexiteers the Conservatives will be unable to win a majority without an alliance. Mr Johnson stunned Westminster yesterday as a spokesman for the Prime Minister said he would never do a deal with Mr Farage as a senior Tory source claimed the Brexit Party leader should ‘never be allowed anywhere near government’. The comments alarmed Conservative Brexiteers who believe a deal with Mr Farage would significantly improve Tory chances of winning the next election because it would avoid the Leave vote being split. – Daily Mail European Parliament President slams Boris Johnson’s suspension of the Commons The president of the European Parliament has criticised Boris Johnson’s suspension of the UK parliament, warning that the decision seemed to date from another era. David Sassoli told reporters in Brussels that parliaments were “the house of democracy” and that debate should not be shut down at such a crucial juncture. “I’m in favour of parliaments being open permanently, particularly when they’re deciding on the destiny of a great nation such as the United Kingdom. Everyone was very struck, I think, by the decision,” he said. “I think it dated back to a time when parliaments were a bit different, but in today’s Europe, parliaments are the house of democracy, they’re the voice of the people – and if you can’t discuss the destiny of a country in a parliament where can you do it?” – Independent EU chiefs are ‘tearing their hair out’ over Labour’s ‘mad’ Brexit policy and regret alliance with Jeremy Corbyn’s army of bitter Remainers EU chiefs are “tearing their hair out” with Labour’s “mad” Brexit policy and regret forming an alliance with Jeremy Corbyn. Brussels are stunned at Corbyn’s plans to negotiate a deal and then campaign to stay in the bloc and now feel they “made mistakes” by cozying up to lefty labour boss. An EU source, close to Brexit negotiations, told the Times: “They want us to negotiate a ‘credible’ deal and then they will campaign against it in a referendum? That is mad. How can we negotiate with people like that? Their divisions and magical thinking are as bad as anything the Conservatives produced — perhaps worse.” – The Sun Michel Barnier warns Brexit situation ‘serious and uncertain’ in the face of a no-deal threat… Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, has warned that the Brexit situation “remains serious and uncertain” after Boris Johnson said the UK would leave the bloc on October 31 with or without a deal. “As if this prospect could lead us to give up our principles,” Mr Barnier told a meeting of political leaders in the European Parliament on Thursday. “While we have previously reached an agreement, even as far as we can speak, we have no reason to be optimistic,” he said after talks this week in Brussels between British and EU officials. He said the EU would analyse any legally operational proposal on the Irish border backstop that was compatible with the Withdrawal Agreement. Mr Johnson wants the backstop torn out of the divorce treaty. – Telegraph (£) …as Jean-Claude Juncker brands Britons ‘part-time’ Europeans… Britain was never truly part of the EU and the British just “part time Europeans”, Jean-Claude Juncker has said, as MEPs warned they would veto any Brexit deal that did not have the Irish border backstop. The outgoing president of the European Commission said: “The British were told for more than 40 years that they were in but they didn’t want to share all the policies that have been decided. The British from the very beginning were part-time Europeans, what we need is full-time Europeans,” he told the Euronews TV channel. “It is a tragedy and it is a failure, but I have to say I don’t think it is mine because I didn’t decide to have this referendum,” Mr Juncker, who leaves office on the Brexit deadline of Oct 31, said. – Telegraph (£) …but criticises the new EU commission over ‘anti-migrant’ European Way of Life job Jean-Claude Juncker has criticised the incoming European Commission for creating a job title that suggests migrants are a threat to the “European Way of Life” in the latest twist in an embarrassing row in Brussels. Ursula von der Leyen, the next commission president, announced that Margaritis Schinas, the former chief spokesman for the Juncker commission, would be the Vice-president for protecting our “European way of life” on Tuesday. The title sparked fury because Mr Schinas’ responsibilities will include migration and asylum policy, as well as security and education. Mrs von der Leyen has come under sustained pressure to change the title, which was branded “fascist”, “deeply insulting” and “populist claptrap” by MEPs, trade unions and NGOs. In an unusual intervention Mr Juncker said, “I don’t like the idea that the European way of life is opposed to migration. Accepting those that come from far away is part of the European way of life.” – Telegraph (£) Labour set for conference clash over party’s general election Brexit stance The five-day event in Brighton will see the party thrash out its position on the UK’s departure from the EU ahead of the looming general election. Labour has committed to holding a referendum on any Brexit deal agreed by the Commons, with the option of staying in the bloc on the ballot paper. But the party has not said whether its election manifesto will contain a pledge to campaign for Remain in all circumstances. A majority of Labour members, as well as many of the party’s MPs, believe it should take a stronger pro-EU stance. The issue dominated a meeting of trade union bosses, John McDonnell, Jeremy Corbyn and senior Labour aides at the TUC’s annual conference. It is understood that Unite general secretary Len McCluskey made it clear to the Labour leader that the party must not commit to backing Remain if it wins the election. – PoliticsHome Brexit showdown looms at Labour conference – FT (£) Labour MP says she would prefer to go into coalition with Farage’s Brexit Party than the Lib Dems A Labour MP has said that she would rather go into coalition with Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party than the Liberal Democrats, because of their adoption of a policy to revoke Brexit. South Shields MP Emma Lewell-Buck said that she “despises” what Mr Farage’s party stands for, but could not work with a party which wants to withdraw the Article 50 letter informing the European Council of the UK’s intention to withdraw from the EU. Her comments were branded “disturbing” by Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson, who said that some Labour MPs were so keen to deliver Brexit that they would put Farage into government. Ms Lewell-Buck was confronted with the unpalatable coalition choice in a series of quickfire questions on ITV News’ Acting Prime Minister podcast. Asked if she would prefer to go into coalition with the Brexit Party or Lib Dems, her voice dropped to a whisper as she said: “I will be vilified for this, but the Brexit Party.” – Independent Asa Bennett: Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage’s cold war risks ending in mutually assured destruction Dominic Cummings is not quite ready to bury the referendum hatchet, judging by the venomous briefing from “a senior Tory source” in response to the idea of the Tories striking a pact with the Brexit Party. “Neither Nigel Farage nor Arron Banks are fit and proper persons and should never be allowed anywhere near government,” they said. In the past, Mr Farage would have countered such a jab with equal, if not greater, vitriol. The allusion to Mr Banks, who was a central member of Vote Leave’s rival Brexit campaign Leave.EU but is not now part of the Brexit Party, clearly shows the aim of touching on the referendum-era rows they had with Mr Cummings and his colleagues. But the Brexit Party leader has not risen angrily to the bait, instead choosing to respond with disappointment. “I don’t want to be in government! I’m not asking to be in government!” he protested to Robert Peston last night. “All I want to do is unite the Brexit vote in this country, to give the 17.4 million people a political vehicle whereby we can get the result of the referendum delivered.” – Telegraph (£) Fraser Nelson: Forgiving the Tory rebels is a dangerous move for Boris When is a government not a government? When it’s run by Boris Johnson. This joke is doing the rounds amongst the rebels who seized control of parliament last week and it’s depressingly accurate. The Prime Minister is now a prisoner in 10 Downing Street, kept there by Jeremy Corbyn who is refusing to let him hold a general election – and instead joining forces with Tory rebels to pass laws and issue instructions. Their hope is that, after a few more weeks of this torture, his Brexit deadline will has passed and he’ll be humiliated in the eyes of voters. Dominic Grieve is enjoying this a bit too much. A former Attorney General and alumnus of Westminster School and Magdalen College he has, fairly late in life, tasted the vodka of rebellion and now seeks to finish the bottle. First he voted against Theresa May’s deal, then threatened to resign from his party. Now he’s using his lawyerly skills to draft legislation that Corbyn and his allies can deploy as they seek to destroy a Conservative Prime Minister. Philip Hammond is behaving in much the same way and although he has been kicked out of the Tory party, he’s hinted that he’ll sue his way back in. – Fraser Nelson for the Telegraph (£) Iain Martin: Leavers must unite and seize rebranded deal Any Brexiteers still in doubt about the lengths to which Remainer MPs will go to block Britain’s departure from the EU should surely have realised after the events of recent days that they will stop at nothing. Parliament has all but shut down the no-deal option, weakening the government’s negotiating position. A no-deal outcome is still just about possible but only by accident. The situation is so dire that it seems MPs will, in extremis, install a new prime minister in late October as a caretaker, an oxymoron in the case of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. That new leader will beg the EU for another extension. – Iain Martin for The Times (£) Katy Balls: The rebel alliance has taken control of parliament – and Brexit. What happens next? Every Monday, a group of unlikely bedfellows meet in Jeremy Corbyn’s parliamentary office. Jo Swinson, Liberal Democrat leader; Ian Blackford, the SNP’s Westminster leader; Caroline Lucas, the Green party’s sole MP; and Liz Saville Roberts from Plaid Cymru all gather to discuss their common aim — preventing a no-deal Brexit. This rebel alliance is more than just a group therapy session: last week, they succeeded in taking control of parliament and immediately started to give instructions to the Prime Minister. So their Monday club is now a kind of remote-control government, with plenty to discuss. While parliament is suspended, they’ve promised to keep in touch. – Katy Balls for The Spectator Peter Foster: Second referendum could provide us with a route out of purgatory Another day of negotiations in Brussels ended this week without “tangible progress”, to quote one EU diplomat, raising further questions over how the Brexit impasse might be broken – both in London and Europe. Europe sees that Boris Johnson is boxed in on all sides. They welcome his “step in the right direction” in recognising that Northern Ireland needs unique arrangements, but only in the hope that one step will lead to several more. On the substance of a backstop the EU remains unmoved: any alternative must deliver a “fully open” border in Ireland. Dress it up how you will, that means a Northern Ireland-only backstop, including customs. The EU’s encouragement is founded partly on a calculation: Mr Johnson does not want an extension; he does not want “no deal”; and he cannot get away with breaking the law – ergo, he will accept their Northern-Ireland only solution to deliver Brexit (and if this is proves to be a miscalculation, then the EU’s receptive language at least insures it against claims from Mr Johnson that their intransigence was to blame). – Peter Foster for the Telegraph (£) Henry Hill: Brexit once again puts a spotlight on the role of the courts in our politics This week’s decision by the Court of Session to rule Boris Johnson’s advice to Her Majesty to prorogue Parliament unlawful has once again put the spotlight on the relationship between politics and the judiciary. Whether or not you think this is the judges’ fault appears to be one of the emerging dividing lines. To some, the Scottish court has overstepped its proper bounds to stray into territory which is properly the reserve of politics. Others insist that they were only applying the law appropriately. As the Court of Session’s ruling conflicts markedly with a ruling from the High Court in London on the same question, all eyes are now on the Supreme Court, which will make the ultimate decision on Tuesday. But the broader question of the relationship between the political and judicial elements of the constitution will remain regardless of their ruling – albeit that a Government defeat might make them more pressing. – Henry Hill for ConservativeHome Andrew Lilico: The Tories’ egotistical refusal to engage with the Brexit Party may spell their downfall Nigel Farage has offered the Tory Party a “non-aggression pact” for the surely soon-forthcoming general election. We are told that “senior Tory sources” have dismissed the prospects of any such pact, declaring Nigel Farage not a “fit and proper person” for any role in government. Now of course “senior Tory sources” doesn’t have to mean anyone on Team Boris. After all, half the Tory MPs voted against him in the recent leadership campaign, and several members of his Cabinet literally stood against him themselves. We might not, for example, want to treat the comments of a “senior Tory source” as indicative of his own thinking. Nonetheless, there certainly has been a certain sort of Tory Leaver who in the past used to attempt to distance themselves from Farage. During the early 2010s there was even the “Farage paradox” that, the better Ukip did in the opinion polls, the lower support for leaving the EU became. – Andrew Lilico for the Telegraph (£) Garvan Walshe: No Deal has failed – the choice is May’s deal, no Brexit – or no United Kingdom Until this week I had thought that Brexit had become inevitable. The referendum victory, though narrow, was clear, and those who continued to oppose Brexit lacked the tactical sophistication to press their case successfully. That’s started to change. The campaign to take Britain out of the EU is now at risk of failing altogether. But the manner of its failure, the scorched earth tactics of its more extreme partisans, and the increasing radicalisation of the Remain electorate (reflected in the Liberal Democrats’ tactically astute shift in position to direct revocation of Article 50, without a referendum) could cause a significant portion of the public to feel completely alienated from the political system. – Garvan Walshe for ConservativeHome Ross Clark: Despite the hysteria, Yellowhammer suggests there is little to fear about a no-deal Brexit How ironic that whenever the BBC runs a story about a no-deal Brexit it uses a photograph of lorries backed up along the M20 taken during the Calais port strikes in 2015. On that occasion, strikers dumped tyres on the road leading to Calais docks and set them alight, closing the port altogether and leading to long tailbacks of lorries in Britain and France. Yet did the supermarkets run out of food? Did the British public riot because they were unable to get one type of lettuce? Industrial disputes affecting vital infrastructure are just one of the many crises for which governments have to plan. I presume – and hope – there are people in Whitehall already engaged in detailed contingency planning in the event of a general strike in Britain: something which many on the left keep demanding for various reasons and which a Corbyn government would help enable by repealing much trade union law. – Ross Clark for the Telegraph (£) Julian Jessop: Why No Deal doesn’t mean no deals I’ve just read for the umpteenth time that ‘crashing out of the EU without a deal’ would inevitably lead to ‘shortages of food, medicines and petrol’. But the fact that many people take this as a given still does not make it a fact. Back to basics. A ‘no deal’ scenario is one where the UK leaves the EU without the Withdrawal Agreement and framework for a future relationship anticipated in Article 50. The Treaties that set out the rights and obligations of EU membership would then cease to apply to the UK. However, this could mean many different things in practice. – Julian Jessop for CapX Allister Heath: Post-Brexit, we need real capitalism – not stealth foreign nationalisation It was Voltaire, as so often, who got it right. In his Letters on the English, the French philosopher and original Anglophile understood what made this country special far better than most domestic observers of the time (or, arguably, since). Writing in 1733, he marvelled at Britain’s religious tolerance, its freedoms and its increasingly commercial society, sentiments which led to his book being burnt in France. “Go into the London Stock Exchange – a more respectable place than many a court”, Voltaire explained, “and you will see representatives from all nations gathered together for the utility of men. Here Jew, Mohammedan and Christian deal with each other as though they were all of the same faith, and only apply the word infidel to people who go bankrupt.” The free market, Voltaire realised, brings people with different values and backgrounds together. – Allister Heath for the Telegraph (£) John Redwood: Yellowhammer – is that it? The Yellowhammer document when released turned out to be thin and poorly researched. A lot of it which went largely unreported was grudgingly reassuring. Our water supply will be fine. We will still have normal services for electricity and gas. Demand for energy will be met. There will of course be no overall shortage of food. There is a “low risk of significant sustained queues at ports outside of (sic) Kent”. Perhaps the worst warning was that a large number of foreign vessels might still be fishing in our waters, and doubt is expressed about our ability to enforce the return of our fishery to UK control immediately. I think I have higher expectations of our coastal patrols and of the conduct of our neighbours than that, who should want to obey the new law. – John Redwood’s Diary The Sun: When pro-EU elite claim they want to ‘resolve’ Brexit — they mean ‘reverse’ it Now the Remainer endgame is revealed: To keep this paralysed Government in office for nearly a YEAR, deny us an election and hold their “people’s vote” instead. Presumably their own unelected pseudo-Government will see to it, since Boris Johnson won’t agree. This pro-EU elite — Letwin, Blair, Mandelson and the rest, in treacherous collusion with Brussels — want to “resolve” Brexit. They mean “reverse” it, with a referendum question splitting the Leave vote and stitched up for Remain. Brexit won’t be “resolved” if we back Leave again. They won’t accept that result any more than the last. Their referendum would be utterly illegitimate. To cap it all, ex-Tory Remainers are now plotting for Rory Stewart to stand against Boris in Uxbridge. Remember Amber Rudd and others throwing hissy fits when he kicked these wreckers out? What else did they deserve? – The Sun says Brexit in Brief With Boris Johnson snookered by Remainers, the Tory Party is almost certainly finished – Sherelle Jacobs for the Telegraph (£) Brexit blockers: Go back to your constituencies and prepare for electoral annihilation – Gerald Warner for Reaction In an onslaught of Brexit gloom, Sajid Javid’s duty free plans are a shaft of light – Ross Clark for The Sun Why is Nigel Farage being so emollient to the Tories? – James Forsyth for The Spectator Theresa May considered suspending parliament but rejected ‘un-Conservative’ idea, ex-cabinet minister reveals – Independent Scotland-Northern Ireland bridge a very good idea, says Boris Johnson – The Times (£)