Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Commit to no-deal Brexit or don’t serve in my Cabinet, Boris Johnson threatens… A Boris Johnson cabinet will be made up of people who are committed to leaving the EU on Hallowe’en, the Tory leader hopeful has said. In an interview with Conservative Home, the front-runner for the Tory leadership, said those who work under him if he is elected Prime Minister would “have to be reconciled” to leaving the EU on October 31, with or without a deal. “I want obviously to have a broad range of talent in my Government, the Government that I will lead, but clearly people must be reconciled to the very, very, very small possibility, and I stress it will be a very, very small possibility, that we would have to leave on those terms,” he said. Pressed on whether it is the case that “every member of your cabinet, when you appoint them, must be committed to leaving on 31st October, deal or no deal,” Mr Johnson said: “Yes, that will be the policy of the Government.” – Telegraph (£) Johnson says that every member of his Cabinet must sign up to Britain leaving the EU on 31st October – Conservative Home …as he proposes Stamp Duty-slashing no-deal budget… Boris Johnson is preparing an emergency budget for a no-deal Brexit, including aggressive tax cuts, an overhaul of stamp duty and an assault on regulation if he becomes prime minister, The Times can reveal. His team wants a series of measures to ensure that the economy is “going gangbusters” by October 31, putting Britain in the best position to leave the EU with or without a deal. Under the plan, the budget, which is usually held in October or November, is likely to be brought forward to September. Allies of Mr Johnson said that he had offered Sajid Javid, the home secretary, the job of chancellor during a phone call at the weekend. Mr Johnson told a hustings last night, however, that he had yet to offer any posts. Mr Javid, who is expected to endorse Mr Johnson formally within the next fortnight, outlined his own plans for an emergency “no-deal budget” during the Tory leadership campaign. – The Times (£) …and vows to play hardball with the EU… Boris Johnson tonight vowed to play hardball over Brexit – saying he’s “depressed” to see Theresa May roll over to Europe’s demands. The would-be next PM even refused to rule out shutting down Parliament to stop Remainer MPs from blocking a No Deal exit. Rival Jeremy Hunt tried to challenge him with his own tough line, pledging to push Brussels hard in trade talks so “they need us every bit as much as we need them”. Speaking at a hustings event with activists in Bournemouth this evening, Mr Johnson drew laughs and cheers from the 600-strong crowd while his challenger had a slightly more muted reception. – The Sun …while Guy Verhofstadt accuses Johnson of ‘foreigner bashing’ Sneering Brussels boss Guy Verhofstadt has accused Boris Johnson of “false promises, pseudo-patriotism, and foreigner bashing” in a bitter personal attack. The EU Parliament Brexit negotiator lashed out, calling the Tory frontrunner “a man who continues to dissemble, exaggerate, and disinform the public”. In the extraordinary rant he mocked eurosceptics’ vision of a Global Britain, bragging the EU will overshadow the UK on the world stage. The ex-Belgian PM also claimed Mr Johnson will struggle to deliver on many of his key Brexit promises, especially getting a better deal from Brussels. – The Sun Jeremy Hunt hits back at Johnson, accusing him of getting Brexit facts wrong Jeremy Hunt has accused Boris Johnson of getting important facts wrong in a searing attack on his Conservative leadership rival. The foreign secretary has sent a letter to Johnson accusing him of not being straight with people over Brexit, and reiterated his challenge of a head-to-head debate before ballot members in the leadership contest go out to Conservative members. Hunt’s missive is a response to a letter from Johnson last week asking him to rule out extending the UK’s EU membership past 31 October. In his reply, Hunt said: “I believe with a trusted negotiator and the right team we should get a deal by 31 October. If however, there was no prospect of delivering Brexit with a better deal I would leave without one.” – City A.M. Leaving the EU by October 31st will be ‘fairly seamless’ if Johnson is PM, says Andrea Leadsom Leaving the European Union by October 31 if Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister will be “fairly seamless”, Andrea Leadsom says today. The former Leader of the House of Commons also urged Mr Johnson to rip up Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement and force civil servants to be more upfront about no deal planning. Speaking to today’s Chopper’s Brexit Podcast – which you can listen to easily by logging in or subscribing below – Mrs Leadsom confirmed that members of Mr Johnson’s new Cabinet would have to sign his “do or die” commitment to leave the EU by the end of October. She said: ” Everyone must sign up to 31st October and we absolutely are determined to get proper arrangements, almost certainly not the withdrawal agreement, because that’s been tested to distraction – Parliament won’t support it. But there are lots of sensible measures that can be put in place to make our exit at the end of October something that is fairly seamless.” – Telegraph (£) Theresa May refuses to give unconditional support for the next PM’s Brexit plan Theresa May has refused to promise unconditional support for her successor’s Brexit plan. Asked if she would back whichever Brexit outcome the next prime minister achieves, including a no-deal Brexit, she said that amounted to agreeing to “whatever happens in future”. Jeremy Hunt or Boris Johnson will be announced as the winner of the Tory Party leadership race on 23 July. Both men have said they would try to renegotiate a deal with the EU. Speaking to journalists on her official flight to the G20 summit in Osaka, Mrs May said: “It is important that we deliver a Brexit that is good for the British people. It will be up to my successor to take this forward. To find the majority in Parliament that I was not able to find and to deliver the decision of the British people in 2016.” – BBC News Ruth Davidson tells Johnson: It’s not Brexit do or die, it’s the Union do or die Ruth Davidson has challenged Boris Johnson to show he will prioritise the UK’s integrity over Brexit if he becomes Prime Minister by telling him: “It’s the Union do or die.” The Scottish Tory leader demanded assurances from the Tory leadership frontrunner over his promise this week to “do or die” on Brexit by getting the UK out of Europe by October 31, no matter what. She said Mr Johnson’s unequivocal “do or die” pledge should instead apply to preserving the Union, and contrasted this with Jeremy Hunt’s promise to prioritise the latter “every time.” In a rebuke to Mr Johnson, she said that was why she had decided to back Mr Hunt in the contest after MPs whittled down the candidates to two. Her intervention undermined claims earlier by Mr Johnson that he has a “very good relationship” with Ms Davidson. He also denied that his election as Tory leader would damage the Scottish party and the Union. – Telegraph (£) EU faces ‘disastrous’ hit to economy under no-deal Brexit with up to 1.2million jobs lost, suggest Belgian academics Europe faces 1.2m job losses and a “disastrous” hit to key sectors of its economy under a No Deal Brexit, a shock report revealed yesterday. Experts have calculated that the EU’s growth will be slashed by 1.54% in the “short term” after Britain leaves without an agreement. Ireland would be the worst hit, shedding 50,330 jobs – more than 2.5% of its workforce – and losing £9bn of value from its economy. But the UK would also be badly affected, forfeiting 4.4% of GDP and suffering a 525,000 hike in unemployment under such a scenario. In contrast, under a soft Brexit job cuts across the EU would be significantly lower at around 280,000, while the UK would lose 140,000. – The Sun Fury at ‘grossly irresponsible’ plot by anti-Brexit MPs to block No Deal by holding back money from vital public services Hardcore Remainers were today accused of risking vital public services with an “arrogant” attempt to stop No Deal Brexit. Pro-EU MPs will next week threaten to block funding for services in a bid to stop Boris Johnson taking us out of the EU without a deal. Theresa May blasted the “grossly irresponsible” Remainer plot. And Tory MPs hit out at Europhile ringleader Dominic Grieve, who is masterminding the plan with Labour’s Margaret Beckett. The two ex-ministers have drawn up an amendment which would deny Government departments funding in the event of a No Deal. It would see the department of work and pensions, education, housing and foreign aid cut off from the cash they need to operate. – The Sun Ken Clarke ‘minded to retire’ from Commons after almost 50 years In a damning verdict on Brexit and the Tory party, Mr Clarke was scathing about the leadership campaign being fought out between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt. “They are pitching themselves at the electorate they are doomed to have to appeal to,” he said. “I don’t think either candidate believes leaving with no-deal makes the slightest sense at all. Jeremy hedges it, Boris does his usual thing of changing the way he expresses it day-by-day. He’ll make his mind up what he’ll actually do regardless of what he has said if he actually finds himself prime minister. And I’m sure Jeremy will start getting back common sense if he finds himself prime minister. Neither of them thinks we’re going to leave with no-deal on October 31 – it is in all practical terms utterly impossible.” Defending the prime minister, he called her “poor Theresa” and said she had produced a “perfectly reasonable compromise” on Brexit, yet had been “thrown on the scrapheap”. – Sky News Fraser Nelson: With the EU in need of friends on the world stage, conditions are ripe for Boris to pull off a Brexit deal Of all the tall stories that Boris Johnson has told, his latest – about how he’ll secure a Brexit deal by Hallowe’en – is seen as the most laughable. There is a million-to-one chance of his failing to negotiate a Brexit deal, he says. Most Tories think it’s the other way around, that he stands a million-to-one chance of success. They back him because they think he’d leave without a deal if he had to. But the mood music in Europe is changing and there’s a decent chance of a breakthrough – for a Prime Minister sharp enough to take it. The EU still likes to say the deal it offered to Theresa May cannot be “reopened” but this is a bit of a verbal trick. No one is seriously expecting a new 585-page deal to be negotiated. If a few sentences were added to the end, giving either side the ability to walk away – in the way EU members and Nato members can walk away – then Parliament would probably vote it through. The Northern Irish backstop is a problem, but alternatives are there. Agreement is tantalisingly close. – Fraser Nelson for the Telegraph (£) Bruno Waterfield: Baffled EU officials believe Johnson will blink Brussels is betting that Boris Johnson blinks this summer despite the fog of often contradictory bluster from the Tory leadership favourite this week. European Union officials and diplomats are bemused by the torrent of seemingly random and meaningless words from the former foreign secretary. Is a no-deal Brexit really a “million-to-one against” chance if it is really “do or die” (an unhappy chime with Tennyson’s Charge of the Light Brigade) by October 31? The two statements made within 24 hours of each other seem contradictory. He says that the withdrawal agreement is dead but wants to “disaggregate” (whatever that means) the parts that he likes. – Bruno Waterfield for The Times (£) Nikki Da Costa: The Brexit wreckers’ desperate rear-guard action on No Deal risks taking our politics to new extremes The barrel is being scraped – the latest tactic to constrain a new Prime Minister and undermine their negotiations with the EU, in the name of preventing no-deal, is to deprive key public services of funding in a no deal scenario. Not content with their own evaluation of the dangers, Dominic Grieve and Margaret Beckett are determined to make a no deal outcome as difficult and unpredictable as possible. Specifically, they want MPs to vote to deprive the Department for Education, Department for Work and Pensions, Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, and the Department for International Development of funding from 31 October if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. – Nikki Da Costa for the Telegraph (£) Andrew Lilico: Brexiteers risk blowing their best chance for no deal Boris Johnson is making all the wrong noises. He tells us there is only a “million to one” chance we’ll leave the EU with no deal. He tells us he will get the EU to agree a new deal. He tells us that will include “the commonsensical protraction of the existing arrangements until such time as we have completed the free trade deal between us and the EU” (so, something like May’s standstill ‘transition’ period, but whereas hers lasted 21 months his would apparently be indefinite). None of this is in any way reassuring to Brexiteers that he has any genuine way to actually get us out through the only route that any longer exists: via no deal. The EU isn’t going to agree any new deal. It isn’t going to believe he’ll pursue no deal if he says it’s a million to one shot. It isn’t going to believe Parliament will allow him to pursue no deal even if he truly wanted it. And it isn’t, at this late hour, going to change its deal even if no deal is the result. Pretending or wishing that weren’t so won’t make it go away. – Andrew Lilico for the Telegraph (£) Kai Weiss: What chance of a Brexit renegotiation? In the months since the House of Commons rejected Theresa May’s Brexit deal for a third time, it’s fair to say there has been no movement whatsoever on how Britain will actually extricate itself from the bloc. Not only is Westminster in the grip of a not especially exciting Tory leadership race, but Brussels too has been bust with its leading lights battling for the top jobs in the EU institutions – so far without any results. So, much is in flux. But whoever ends up leading the next stage of negotiations will have to find a way through with very little time remaining – after all, the (current) extension ends on October 31 and presumably, the UK will leave then, in the words of Boris Johnson, “come what may, do or die”. Johnson also thinks there is a “million to one” chance of a No Deal Brexit, though exactly how he hopes to avoid one is less clear. – Kai Weiss for CapX Asa Bennett: Plotting no-deal chaos shows how desperate Remainers are to be right about Brexit Who could forget the Remain campaign’s referendum warnings that merely voting to leave the European Union would leave the United Kingdom in a recession by Christmas, with borrowing and unemployment soaring while house prices, productivity and real wages tumble? Remainer politicians must wish we could forget these gloomy predictions, given that none of them came true. Those still fighting against Brexit refuse to acknowledge those predictions were wrong, conceding they were – at most – overly hasty. In their eyes, there will eventually be an economic slump that they can seize on as vindication. But their Chicken Little strategy, waiting for the sky to fall in, has yet to pay off. So they have over the last few months been taking matters into their own hands by trying to engineer as much post-Brexit chaos as possible. Remainer MPs insist they are only manoeuvring against a no-deal Brexit. However, their refusal to back any sort of deal has left those who want Brexit with little option but a no-deal as the legal default. – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) The Sun: Remainer MPs are trying to stop Brexit by inflicting hardship on the poor and vulnerable Even we didn’t think Remainer MPs would stoop this low. To stop Brexit they are now ready to inflict hardship and fear on the poorest and most vulnerable. Shame on Tory saboteur Dominic Grieve and Labour co-plotter Margaret Beckett. Shame on Labour if it backs them, and on any Tories who join them. MPs have repeatedly promised to honour Brexit. Yet they reject the only deal on offer and the EU refuses to improve it. No Deal isn’t The Sun’s favoured option, but it IS the logical and inevitable consequence of their game-playing. Grieve hopes instead to stop Brexit . . . by blackmailing his own Government and, sickeningly, holding a gun to the heads of the poor both here and abroad. – The Sun says Brexit in Brief We need an immigration system that can wean our economy off its addiction to cheap labour – Matthew Lynn for the Telegraph (£) Nigel Farage tells European Parliament that undeclared donations were to help him become US TV star – Telegraph (£) EU commission bids farewell to Edinburgh after 44 years – The Times (£)