Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team David Cameron says another referendum could be necessary… Casting doubt on Mr Johnson’s promise of getting Britain out of the EU on Oct 31 with or without a deal, Mr Cameron also suggests a second referendum might now be necessary, saying: “I don’t think you can rule it out because we’re stuck.” Telegraph (£) Second referendum can’t be ruled out, says Cameron – Sky News ….as the former PM attacks Boris Johnson and Michael Gove over Brexit David Cameron has accused Boris Johnson and Michael Gove of leaving “the truth at home” over Brexit as he said they behaved “appallingly” during the EU referendum campaign. In an excoriating attack by an ex-prime minister on one of his successors, Mr Cameron criticised his former friends and colleagues over the claims they made about £350m a week payments to Brussels on their campaign bus. – Telegraph (£) “I think about this every day. Every single day I think about it, the referendum and the fact that we lost and the consequences and the things that could have been done differently, and I worry desperately about what is going to happen next. I think we can get to a situation where we leave but we are friends, neighbours and partners. We can get there, but I would love to fast-forward to that moment because it’s painful for the country and it’s painful to watch.” – David Cameron interview in The Times (£) David Cameron reveals Remainers shout abuse at him – The Sun David Cameron has taken Brexit turmoil very hard – Tamara Cohen for Sky News David Cameron’s memoir proves he still doesn’t understand the average Eurosceptic Tory – Camilla Tominey for the Telegraph (£) Boris Johnson ‘won’t be deterred’ from Brexit on 31st October… Boris Johnson has said he “won’t be deterred by anybody” from leaving the EU on 31 October. The prime minister said he was “cautiously optimistic” of getting a Brexit deal, but the UK would leave by the deadline “whatever happens”. EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said he did not have “reasons to be optimistic” over getting a deal. Mr Johnson will meet him and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday for talks. During the PM’s speech, at the Convention of the North in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, he was heckled by an audience member who told him to “get back to Parliament” and “sort out the mess that you have created”. – BBC News …as the Prime Minister agrees to meet Jean-Claude Juncker for lunch on Monday… Boris Johnson will hold his first bilateral talks with Jean-Claude Juncker next week as he seeks a possible Brexit deal. Mr Johnson will meet the president of the European Commission for a working lunch in Luxembourg, rather than Brussels. A spokeswoman for the European Commission said that the decision to meet in Luxembourg was by “common accord” and that they would have lunch in a “neutral location”. The meeting comes after The Times reported that the Democratic Unionist Party had agreed to shift its red lines to help unlock a deal. – The Times (£) Johnson to hold Brexit talks with EU’s Juncker – Sky News Jean-Claude Juncker says ‘anyone who loves his country’ would ‘not want’ a no-deal – Telegraph Gap between EU and UK on Brexit talks ‘very wide’ says Irish PM – Reuters …but Brexiteers fear Boris Johnson ‘sell out’ over ‘May 2.0’ Brexit deal British officials have told the European Commission they will accept all of Theresa May’s Brexit deal,except the Irish border backstop, ahead of a meeting between Boris Johnson and Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday. The revelation, coming as David Frost meets EU officials for talks in Brussels today, has raised fears among Tory Brexiteers that Boris Johnson is preparing to foist a May 2.0 deal on the UK, despite Mr Johnson’s insistence that the withdrawal agreement “is dead”. It means the British government is prepared to pay Brussels the £39 billion Brexit bill, if a solution to the backstop is found and the promise of a free trade deal made. “This rebranded EU treaty is not Brexit,” Nigel Farage, the leader of the Brexit Party, said, “This is a sell out and will lead to years of acrimony with the EU.” – Telegraph (£) Labour MPs offer backing to revised Brexit withdrawal deal – The Times (£) Boris Johnson ‘cautiously optimistic’ of Brexit deal – Politico Sterling hits two-month high with new hope of Brexit deal – The Times (£) EU commissioner Hogan sees ’cause for some optimism’ on Brexit talks – Reuters Hopes of clean break with EU are nonsense, says ex-DExEU Civil Servant – Guardian Civil servants are more convinced than Boris Johnson really wants a deal – James Forsyth for The Sun Northern Irish High Court rules ‘hard Brexit’ does not break Belfast Agreement Yesterday’s pro-Brexit ruling in Northern Ireland thoroughly dismissed a Remainer case attempting to make No Deal illegal – by arguing it would damage the Northern Ireland peace process. In his judgement Lord Justice McCloskey thoroughly slapped down the spurious arguments that the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement hinges on membership of the European Union, or even regulatory alignment with it… “Neither NIA 1998 nor the international treaty scheduled to the Belfast Agreement (or, for that matter, the Agreement itself) has the effect in law of requiring the continued membership of the EU on the part of the UK.” – Guido Fawkes UK ‘Ireland-specific’ Brexit plan meets Brussels scepticism The UK presented a long-awaited plan to EU negotiators Wednesday on how to replace the controversial Northern Ireland backstop, but diplomats briefed on the Brexit talks say the proposals fall short of the reassurance that Dublin and Brussels need. Under the proposal, presented in Brussels by Boris Johnson’s most senior EU adviser, David Frost, the backstop would be removed and replaced with “Ireland-specific” arrangements for checking goods away from the border, according to diplomats briefed on the talks. – Politico John Bercow accused of running a ‘majoritarian dictatorship’ and being ‘irretrievably radicalised’… Speaker John Bercow has been accused of running a “majoritarian dictatorship” in the House of Commons after a scathing attack on Boris Johnson. The EU-loving Remainer sparked a furious backlash from MPs and voters after comparing the PM to a bank robber for refusing to delay Brexit again. Bercow, 56, has promised to use “creativity” in Parliament to stop a No Deal Brexit – but was today blasted for his “biased” views. Senior Tory Sir Bernard Jenkin warned the Speaker – who is meant to be unbiased – he had become “irretrievably politicised and radicalised.” Taking aim at the outgoing Remainer, who is quitting after 10 years on October 31, he proposed a radical shake-up in the Commons to limit the Speaker’s powers. – The Sun … after the Commons Speaker threatened to use ‘procedural creativity’ to ensure Johnson obeys Brexit delay law House of Commons speaker John Bercow has promised to use “creativity” to ensure Prime Minister Boris Johnson does not ignore a law which would prevent him taking Britain out of the European Union without a deal at the end of October. Johnson has vowed to deliver Brexit on Oct. 31, with or without a deal, and has said he will not request a delay to that deadline, despite the legal requirement to do so if he has not secured parliament’s approval for an exit agreement. Bercow, who has been accused by the government of breaking parliamentary rules to help lawmakers try to force a delay to Britain’s exit from the EU, said it was “astonishing” that anyone was entertaining the idea of not obeying the law. “If we come close to being there I would imagine that parliament would want to cut off such a possibility and to do so forcefully,” he said in a lecture to lawyers late on Thursday. – Reuters Why the next Speaker should be a traditionalist – Harry Phibbs for CapX Met Police drop criminal probe into Leave.EU referendum spending Campaign group Leave.EU will face no further criminal investigation over its spending during the Brexit referendum. It was referred to the Metropolitan Police after being fined £70,000 by the Electoral Commission in May last year for election law breaches. But the Met said there was “insufficient evidence” to justify any further criminal investigation. Leave.EU founder Arron Banks called for an inquiry to be launched into the commission’s actions. He said it had “serious questions to answer about political bias and whether it is fit for purpose as a regulator”. Mr Banks added that the probe had taken a “huge personal toll” on Leave.EU chief executive Liz Bilney and her family, and accused “anti-Brexit” MPs of “harassment and lies”. – BBC News Liberal Democrats to consider scrapping Brexit as party conference begins The Liberal Democrats’ annual conference is due to begin in Bournemouth, with the party’s leader hoping to convince members to back a new policy of scrapping Brexit without another referendum. Jo Swinson says the UK got into a mess as a result of having a referendum. And she believes revoking Article 50 – the formal process to leave the EU – is the only satisfactory way out. The party is enjoying a resurgence on the back of its anti-Brexit stance. Up until now, the party’s policy on Brexit has been to campaign for another referendum – in which it would again campaign for the UK to stay in the EU. MPs in all parties are preparing for a Brexit-themed general election, and Ms Swinson wants her party to have the most unequivocally anti-Brexit message – that the Lib Dems would immediately scrap Brexit. – BBC News Brexit Party take over Hartlepool Council Ten independent councillors elected to Hartlepool Council in May – turfing out the governing Labour Party in the process – have defected en masse to the Brexit Party, meaning the party now controls its first council in coalition with the Tories. The defecting 10 met with the Brexit Party at Nigel Farage’s rally in Sedgefield two days ago, where they informed Richard Tice of their decision. – Guido Fawkes Jayne McCormack: Will the DUP do a political 180 over the Backstop? It’s important to set out what the DUP has said it will accept, and how its tone has changed in recent days, causing a whiff of hope about a potential deal. The party has always made protecting the union its main priority, delivering Brexit second – and in the early stages of the negotiations insisted there could be no deal that allowed any splits to develop between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. It had, however, said it could accept certain regulatory differences that didn’t damage trade with Great Britain or undermine the Union. The Northern Ireland Assembly would also need to have oversight of the process. While continuing to oppose the backstop, the party has softened its language, saying it would be open to all-island “arrangements” on food standards and animal health, which could partially remove the need for some checks at the land border. – Jayne McCormack for BBC News Caroline Ffiske: If Boris won’t create a Leave alliance, the grassroots must The rejection of an electoral pact is almost impossible to find words. You can only assume that Dominic Cummings and Boris Johnson are also stuck in the Westminster and Remainer bubble they complain of. They are seemingly unaware of the overwhelming backing among supporters of both parties for a pact. A YouGov survey found 60 per cent of Tory voters and 70 per cent of Brexit Party backers were keen on the idea. In the same way they seem unaware that the vast majority of Leave voters couldn’t care less about this or that smear on Nigel Farage, any more than they did about those on Boris. Rather, what they see is a Brexit Party, whether in its selection of candidates, its policy pronouncements to date or its social media presence, that hasn’t put a foot wrong in terms of being anything other than a tolerant, broad-based and, as far as I can make out, social conservative party – which is committed to taking us out of the EU. – Caroline Ffiske for ConservativeWoman Tom Harwood: Leavers must brace themselves for the most audacious second referendum plot yet As long as this Parliament stays on life support, the Groundhog Day Brexit saga will continue. After a second referendum, the Remain politicians will continue to say with a straight face that voters were too simple, easily lied to, or just didn’t understand, all while conveniently ignoring their own flagrant disregard for the truth. The day after the vote, hoards of children from mysteriously funded lobby groups would appear on television declaring that literally dozens of youngsters have turned 18 in the last 24 hours, obviously invalidating the result. Leavers will yet be again be belligerently told they are too old, too racist, too northern, and too stupid to be allowed their say. Nothing will have changed. The country is currently facing the crisis of a Parliament refusing to accept a referendum result, refusing to face the people in an election, and refusing to accept that they are to blame. – Tom Harwood for the Telegraph (£) Philip Aldrick: Don’t panic — we’re not as doomed by Brexit as defeatist officials tell us Yellowhammer warned that the flow of Dover-to-Calais lorry traffic could more than halve as trucks sat on the tarmac for two and a half days owing to “lack of trader readiness combined with limited space in French ports”. Those hold-ups would cause the shortages of food, fuel and medicines. At the Irish border it warned of chaos in the agrifood industry. What was not mentioned was that before Yellowhammer was drafted in August, Brussels said that Calais had bought “42 acres of land for customs inspection posts and storage”, added 700 customs officers, was developing a “fastpass” for lorries and that hauliers would be able to clear customs online mid-Channel. On our side of the border we have pledged to keep the lorries rolling with simplified customs and security checks. Philip Aldrick for The Times (£) Comment in Brief My Week: John Bercow* – Hugo Rifkind for The Times (£) Remainer elites want to criminalise Brexit – Brendan O’Neill for Spiked Draghi’s dangerous farewell – Ashoka Mody for Briefings for Brexit This crazy capitulation on overseas students – Alp Mehmet for ConservativeWoman Convention underpins our democracy, and MPs toss it aside at their own risk – Charles Moore for the Telegraph (£) Prorogation litigation – Titus for Briefings for Brexit Grieve’s demand for advisers’ correspondence touches on awkward questions of how transparency really works – Mark Wallace for ConservativeHome Mediocrity and platitudes are the European way of life – Juliet Samuel for the Telegraph (£) Now for a Free Trade Deal – Melanie Phillips for Briefings for Brexit The plan to force a second referendum, and the prospect of party realignment – Paul Goodman for ConservativeHome The weasels and stoats are triumphantly running riot in Parliament – Guy Walker for ConservativeWoman Labour’s surreal referendum policy – Brian Morris for Briefings for Brexit News in Brief Brexit Party allocated just one minute in three-hour European Parliament Brexit ‘debate’ – Guido Fawkes London Stock Exchange rejects £32bn Hong Kong takeover bid – City A.M. Why sterling is on the rebound – FT (£) Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin hints at retirement and attacks ‘misguided’ Oxbridge remainers – Telegraph Home Office policy that gives migrants just 72 hours notice of deportation deemed lawful, High Court rules – The Sun Gibraltar boosts port preparations in case of no-deal Brexit – Reuters Nigel Farage vows to boycott the BBC after accusing it of treating him like a ‘war criminal’ – The Sun Heidi Allen may defect to the Lib Dems – Guido Fawkes Boris Johnson heckler yells ‘get back to Parliament’ and sort Brexit out before being dragged out of PM’s speech – The Sun