Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Philip Hammond plans to quit as Chancellor before Boris Johnson can sack him Philip Hammond has told the BBC he intends to resign as chancellor if Boris Johnson becomes the UK’s next PM. He said a no-deal Brexit, something Mr Johnson has left open as an option, was “not something I could ever sign up to”. Asked if he thought he would be sacked next week, Mr Hammond said he would resign on Wednesday to Theresa May. He said he intends to quit after Prime Minister’s Questions but before Mrs May steps down. Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Mr Hammond said it was important the next PM and his chancellor were “closely aligned” on Brexit policy. Mr Johnson has said the UK must leave the EU by the new Brexit deadline of 31 October “do or die, come what may”. His leadership rival Jeremy Hunt has said a no-deal exit cannot be ruled out, but he is prepared to further delay Brexit if required to get a new withdrawal deal. Mr Hammond said the situation “might be more complicated” if Mr Hunt wins the Tory leadership contest, but “all the polling” suggested Mr Johnson would succeed. – BBC News > WATCH: Chancellor Philip Hammond on BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show …as Johnson blasts Brexit ‘pessimists’ and calls on Britain to rediscover its ‘can-do spirit’ Boris Johnson has insisted Britain can leave the EU with a new Brexit deal by October 31 if the country “recovered some of its can-do spirit” and “ignored the pessimists” ahead of his victory in the Tory leadership contest. The Tory leadership frontrunner said that if a man could make it to the moon and back 50 years ago, “we can solve the problem of frictionless trade at the Northern Irish border”, he wrote in The Daily Telegraph. He said: “It is time this country recovered some of its can-do spirit. “We can come out of the EU on October 31, and yes, we certainly have the technology to do so. What we need now is the will and the drive.” Mr Johnson commented on “pessimists” some of which are “apparently in London” who think it is impossible to re-negotiate a deal before October 31. He said: “I am afraid that there are technological pessimists – some of them apparently in London – who seem genuinely to think that such technical solutions are impossible, that they are a kind of logical contradiction, a mythological species that we will never see in this universe. Are they right? Of course not. “It is absurd that we have even allowed ourselves to be momentarily delayed by these technical issues. If they could use hand-knitted computer code to make a frictionless re-entry to the earth’s atmosphere in 1969, we can solve the problem of frictionless trade at the Northern Irish border.” – Express EU believes there’s an 80% chance Boris Johnson will preside over a no-deal Brexit… Brussels now believes there is an 80 per cent chance Boris Johnson will lead Britain out with No Deal on October 31 amid growing alarm over his campaign pledges. Eurocrats are bracing for an ugly split after concluding the Tory leadership contender has boxed himself in so tightly an “accident” is almost inevitable. They said member states may even have considered an unprecedented last minute offer on the backstop had he not ruled out any realistic compromise. And they warned if there is No Deal the bloc will attach harsher conditions to any standstill trade agreement than those contained in the backstop. A senior EU official questioned whether Mr Johnson is serious about getting a deal or his claim that crashing out is a “one in a million” chance. They told The Sun: “We’re a bit puzzled. He’s closed a lot of doors. He’s closing down each and every possibility. – The Sun …but Iain Duncan Smith suggests the EU will engage with Britain if they realise the no-deal threat is serious… Brexiteer Iain Duncan Smith has launched a scathing attack on the way Britain handled exit negotiations with the European Union, as he claimed the UK “got taken for a ride” before he predicted the EU “will engage” if facing the threat of no deal. Former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith, claimed the UK “got taken for a ride” in Brexit negotiations with the Brussels bloc. Mr Duncan Smith claimed the European Union have used similar tactics in multiple negotiations with other countries before he claimed the bloc would engage if Britain appeared as if it was going to walk away without a deal. Speaking on BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show, he said: “The EU is a master at hard-nosed negotiation. I think we got taken for a ride because we weren’t. “They do it all time with other countries. They treat us like a third-country and then they say ‘this is it, this is our position’. They have held their position, but they would say that. They are not going to negotiate in public. They are going to say that they won’t engage – but I am certain they will engage to discuss what the alternatives are, otherwise they want us to leave with no deal, in which that is very clear.” – Express > WATCH: Iain Duncan Smith MP discusses future Brexit policy on The Andrew Marr Show …as Ireland’s Deputy PM says No Deal would be the UK’s choice (not the EU’s)… If the new UK prime minister wants to “tear up” the existing withdrawal agreement with the EU “we’re in trouble”, Ireland’s deputy PM has said. Simon Coveney said the decision for a no-deal Brexit would be the UK’s but added checks “of some sorts” would be needed in the Irish Republic. Ireland would have to protect its place in the single market, he told the BBC. Both men vying to become UK PM say they want to change the withdrawal deal and, in particular, the so-called backstop. Mr Coveney warned: “That’s a little bit like saying, ‘Give me what I want or I’m going to burn the house down for everybody.'” He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show he hoped the UK and EU would negotiate a future relationship that would mean the backstop – designed as an insurance policy to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland – could be avoided. However, he warned it could not be removed from the withdrawal agreement. “The EU has made it very clear that we want to engage with the new British prime minister, we want to avoid a no-deal Brexit but the solutions that have been put in place to do that haven’t changed,” Mr Coveney said. “If the British government forces a no-deal Brexit on everybody else, the Republic of Ireland will have no choice but to protect its own place in the EU single market. That would fundamentally disrupt the all-Ireland economy.” – BBC News > WATCH: Irish Deputy PM Simon Coveney’s interview on The Andrew Marr Show …and claims that change in No. 10 will not change the fundamentals of Brexit… A change in British prime minister will not shift the fundamental realities of Brexit, Ireland’s deputy PM has warned, saying there is no chance of the EU ditching or watering down the Irish backstop. Wholesale changes to Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement have been suggested by some as a way of avoiding a no-deal Brexit, but Coveney told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday: “If the approach of the new British prime minister is that they’re going to tear up the withdrawal agreement, I think we’re in trouble. I think we’re all in trouble, quite frankly. That’s like saying, ‘Either give me what I want or I’m going to burn the house down for everybody’.” He said: “Just because there’s a change in personality as British prime minister doesn’t mean that the negotiation of the last three years and the solutions that were designed by the British government as much as by the EU aren’t still as relevant and important today as they were six or eight weeks ago.” – Guardian …as the EU prepares a huge aid package for Ireland to offset the impact of No Deal The European Commission is drawing up a multibillion pound aid package for Ireland to offset the economic damage of a no-deal Brexit, The Times understands. The bloc would “spend whatever was necessary” to support the Irish government through any disruption of trade, said a senior EU diplomat. European leaders have privately told Boris Johnson that he risks scuppering any prospect of averting a no-deal Brexit by making “totally unrealistic” demands over the Irish backstop. EU diplomats are understood to have made contact with senior figures close to Mr Johnson early in the campaign and urged him to show “restraint” in setting out his Brexit strategy before entering Downing Street. However, they expressed deep concern that he has hardened his rhetoric in recent days and last week explicitly ruled out any deal that included any form of the present backstop. One said that “dark clouds” had descended after Mr Johnson made his comments during the final debate of the campaign. “This is not simply a business deal that can be unpicked because a new chief executive comes in,” the diplomat said. – The Times (£) UK to hire 500 new Border Force officers for no-deal scenario Sajid Javid has got the go-ahead to hire 500 new Border Force officials to tackle a No Deal Brexit. The Sun can reveal that Philip Hammond has given the Home Secretary £12million to beef up Britain’s borders. The move comes with the Home Secretary under fire for struggling to cope with the huge numbers of illegal migrants crossing the Channel. A source close to the Treasury said the cash is an “olive branch” to try and patch up the pair’s friendship. They said: “This is the Chancellor extending an olive branch to someone who looks like he is going to be the next Chancellor.” Mr Javid is the favourite to be the new Treasury boss if Mr Johnson is crowned leader next week. The Home Secretary has been begging the Treasury to stump up more cash to help fortify Britain’s borders. In June, he demanded another £1.2billion in a bitter Cabinet dust-up with Mr Hammond. The Treasury has previously allocated £500million to the Home Office out of the £2billion budget for No-Deal prep. The cheque will be one of the last signed by Mr Hammond, who is expected to quit next week before Boris Johnson sacks him. – The Sun Tory backbencher quits as trade envoy in protest over no-deal threat to Canada agreement… One of Liam Fox’s trade envoys has quit in protest that the government’s no-deal Brexit policy threatens the demise of an existing trade deal with Canada worth £800m. Andrew Percy attacked the “cack-handed” move to scrap or slash tariffs on almost all imports if the UK crashes out of the EU – blaming it for Ottawa’s refusal to “roll over” its existing deal with the EU. The Conservative MP felt “patronised” by the international trade secretary when he warned him the announcement would backfire, The Independent understands, walking away after almost two years in the Canada role. The resignation is major embarrassment for Mr Fox, who has pledged to “replicate” all 40 trade agreements the UK enjoys as an EU member, to avoid any “disruption of trade” if Brexit goes ahead. The controversy will also dog Boris Johnson if he wins the Tory leadership race and carries out his threat of a no-deal Brexit. – Independent …while a defence minister suggests a no-deal Brexit would plunge the Tories into opposition ‘for a long time’… Boris Johnson will plunge the Tory party into opposition for “an awfully long time” if he carries out a no-deal Brexit, a government minister says. Tobias Ellwood also warned the near-certain next prime minister he would be “crawling back to the table”, begging the EU for an agreement, if he crashed the UK out of the EU in October. The comments appear to ensure the defence minister will follow chancellor Philip Hammond out of the government if Mr Johnson wins the Tory leadership race on Tuesday. Mr Ellwood ducked repeated questions about his future, but attacked the claims that the UK could prosper if it tried to “run away from the EU”. Speaking on Sky News, he ridiculed the idea that “we are able to land man on the moon 50 years ago but we can’t sort out the Northern Ireland backstop”, insisting: “We can.” Mr Ellwood added: “If we don’t do that than the Conservative party could be destined to be in opposition for an awfully long time. – Independent > WATCH: Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood discusses Brexit on Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday …and Greg Clark insists a Brexit deal will bring big rewards The next Conservative prime minister could unleash a “wall of investment” if he resolves Brexit with a deal but risks plunging the British economy into uncertainty if he allows the UK to crash out of the EU, business secretary Greg Clark has claimed. Mr Clark, who is expected to leave his post this week if Boris Johnson succeeds Theresa May, told the Financial Times he would “do everything it takes to get a good deal”. He is expected to join chancellor Philip Hammond and about 30 other Tory MPs opposed to a no-deal Brexit on the backbenches in the House of Commons. Mr Clark said there was a real risk of the UK departing the EU without an agreement and that the business environment had “got tougher” since March 29, when MPs last rejected Mrs May’s Brexit deal. “Of course it could happen,” he added. “The performance of the pound underlines it.” But while Mr Hammond is set to resign this week before Mr Johnson gets a chance to sack him, Mr Clark is not inclined to pick a personal fight with the new prime minister. Mr Clark declined to follow Mr Hammond in hinting he would bring down the government rather than allowing a no-deal Brexit to take place. Instead he hopes to win the argument by presenting the new prime minister with stark economic facts about what is at stake. – FT(£) Voting to close later today in Tory leadership contest… Voting will close later in the Conservative leadership contest, with the UK’s next prime minister set to be announced on Tuesday. Party members will have until 17:00 BST to return their ballots for either Jeremy Hunt or Boris Johnson, regarded as the frontrunner in the contest. The winner and successor to Theresa May is due to take office on Wednesday. Mr Johnson has said the UK must leave the EU by the new Brexit deadline of 31 October “do or die, come what may”, while Mr Hunt has said he is prepared to further delay Brexit, if required, to get a new withdrawal deal. Meanwhile, with the next prime minister due to be announced this week, two former Labour prime ministers have warned about what they see as the dangers of leaving the EU without a deal. – BBC News Tory leadership race: Voting set to close as Johnson urges UK to rediscover ‘can-do spirit’ – Sky News …as it is suggested that Boris Johnson will sack Jeremy Hunt as Foreign Secretary if he becomes Tory leader by a landslide Boris Johnson will sack Jeremy Hunt as Foreign Secretary if he wins the Tory leadership on Tuesday by a big margin, allies believe. Two of his close confidantes have told The Sun the No10 frontrunner is still furious with his rival for launching a series of personal attacks on him during the race – including branding him a coward for initially refusing TV debates. But they say Boris will wait to see what the marginal of his expected victory on Tuesday is before finally locking down the full composition of his Cabinet. If Boris gets “comfortably” more than 60% of Tory members’ votes, he will remove Mr Hunt from the Foreign Office and offer him a less grand Cabinet job, such as Business Secretary.One close confidante said: “Boris’s whole reshuffle revolves around what he does with Hunt.” But if the result is tighter and Mr Johnson gets less than 60% he will be under heavy pressure to keep Mr Hunt where he is in a bid to unite the party and pacify Mr Hunt’s followers. If not, Mr Hunt is likely to be replaced by an elder statesman figure seen as more loyal to Boris, such as ex-Cabinet ministers Sir Michael Fallon and David Davis, or Attorney General Geoffrey Cox. Iain Duncan Smith is also a contender, who Brexiteer Tory MPs are also pushing to be Boris’s deputy PM. The Sun can also reveal that Boris appointed the first member of his Cabinet last week, asking a senior MP to become his Chief Whip. – The Sun CBI urges next Prime Minister to launch a pro-business strategy The next prime minister needs to act fast to set out a pro-business strategy for the UK to repair the damage caused by Brexit stalling progress in the economy over the past three years, according to the UK’s largest employers’ group. In a business manifesto published on Monday, the CBI calls for a new national infrastructure strategy, annual business rates revaluations and improved transparency in the use of the government’s apprenticeship levy as immediate ways to boost corporate Britain. The CBI wants Theresa May’s successor to make a clear commitment to infrastructure projects — such as the High Speed 2 rail line and a third runway at Heathrow airport. “The next prime minister must back up his campaign promises and prove to be indisputably pro-business,” said Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the CBI. “Early signals matter. The UK is a fantastic place to do business but we must be honest — the reputation of our country has taken a dent in recent times.” Boris Johnson, the front-runner to succeed Mrs May when the Conservative leadership election result is declared on Tuesday, has been on a charm offensive with British companies, attending meetings with chairs and chief executives where he has sought to portray himself as pro-business. – FT(£) Brexit party activist says he obtained Kim Darroch cables New questions have emerged over leaks of confidential UK diplomatic cables criticising Donald Trump after a 19-year-old Brexit activist was revealed to be the person who obtained them. In a lengthy feature in the Mail on Sunday, Steven Edginton, who describes himself as a freelance journalist and who since April has worked for the Brexit party, said he was passed Sir Kim Darroch’s briefings on the White House. The messages, sent from the Washington embassy to the Foreign Office, described Trump’s administration as “inept” and “utterly dysfunctional”. Darroch resigned from his post after the president tweeted his fury at the comments, labelling Darroch a “pompous fool”. Foreign Office veterans, however, defended the ambassador’s cables as nothing more than the type of frank talk expected of diplomats. Scotland Yard has launched an investigation into the leak to the Mail on Sunday and at one stage suggested editors could be prosecuted for publishing sensitive material. In his account of the affair, Edginton admitted to believing he could be arrested for his role even though he was not “the leaker”. He said he had begun investigating this year how the civil service was preparing for Brexit. – Guardian Independent Group for Change only has one member of staff left after poor performance at EU elections The Independent Group for Change has sacked all but one of its members of staff following its poor performance in the European elections, The Sunday Telegraph has learned. Party bosses confirmed that the group, formerly known as Change UK, had undergone a “restructuring” and now only employs one member of staff, down from ten. Six of the party’s 11 MPs abandoned the group after a disastrous May European election result in which not a single one of the party’s candidates was elected. Heidi Allen, Luciana Berger, Gavin Shuker and Angela Smith broke away to form a new co-operative called The Independents, while Chuka Umunna joined the Liberal Democrats. Sarah Wollaston left Change UK to become an independent MP, but did not join the co-operative, and Anna Soubry, formerly of the Conservative Party, took over as The Independent Group’s leader. At around the same time, the party changed its name from Change UK, following a dispute with Change.org. Ms Soubry said the party had “not been structured and organised as it should have been” before she replaced Heidi Allen as leader. “We’ve had a restructuring,” she said. “Every party gears up for an election and we had to gear up very, very quickly for the EU elections. “Now that the EU elections are over and the expenses and all the other washing up processes that have to be gone through have been gone through, and we are now five, we don’t need as many staff as we needed. All our staff are on very short contracts, all aware of why they were taken on and what the job was, and we will carry on.” Ms Soubry strongly denied that the decision to sack almost all of the party’s staff was financially motivated. – Telegraph (£) Boris Johnson: We need the ‘can do’ spirit of 1960s America to help us get out of the EU I spent a few guilty minutes on Saturday watching the old footage of the 1969 Moon landing – and my word, I was wrung out by the end. They lose contact several times with Houston. The fuel in the Eagle is running so low that by the time they make their final descent they have less than 60 seconds’ worth left. They overshoot the landing place, and at one point they seem to be going so fast that there is a risk of a crash. In the final seconds, Neil Armstrong has to take over and fly the craft manually because they are in the wrong place and there are too many rocks about. You are left in awe of the bravery of those astronauts. But of course the whole mission was so spectacularly improbable. Think of that achievement, and then think of the current debate about actually leaving the EU – which has been going on for so long that we are in danger of believing that we are incapable of finding our way out; like someone who has lost their car in a vast multi-storey car park, and is beginning to despair of ever leaving at all. It is time this country recovered some its can-do spirit. We can come out of the EU on October 31, and yes, we certainly have the technology to do so. What we need now is the will and the drive. – Boris Johnson MP for the Telegraph (£) Priti Patel: With Boris Johnson, the UK will finally have a PM who believes in Britain After three years of being repeatedly told that ‘nothing has changed’, the time has finally come for everything to change. Following the failures of the current government to unite and deliver the largest democratic vote in the history of our country we now have the opportunity to be led by a new Conservative leader who will relish the prospect of securing our future as an independent United Kingdom. That means no more missed deadlines or broken promises and an end to the paralysis and the national demoralisation project led by the current Cabinet, which has resulted in uncertainty and expense for businesses. A new dawn is coming and is about to change the political landscape significantly. With Boris Johnson leading the Conservative Party and as Prime Minister, the United Kingdom, at long last, will have a Prime Minister who believes in Britain and is in tune with the views of the millions of people who voted – over three years ago now – to leave the EU. He has promised that we will be leaving on 31 October, deal or no deal, so his first job must be to ensure that we are ready to leave the EU and to crack on with securing a deal in the interests of both the UK and the EU. – Priti Patel MP for the Express Telegraph: Whatever the outcome of tomorrow’s contest, a showdown over Brexit is inevitable Few prime ministers of recent times have taken office in less propitious circumstances than those facing the winner of the Conservative leadership contest this week. The Brexit imbroglio remains unresolved and the prospect of a conclusion that hardly anyone wants, namely a no-deal departure, is now a real one. The priority is Brexit and persuading the EU to reopen talks around the Withdrawal Agreement and the Irish backstop. This gives the new prime minister 100 days until October 31 – the new Brexit date – to succeed where his predecessor failed. There are signs that the EU is prepared to compromise with a new British leader; but Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign minister, was adamant that this would only be over future relationships and could not involve dropping the backstop from the Withdrawal Agreement. Both Mr Johnson and Mr Hunt have indicated that they consider the backstop to be defunct. If that threat were followed through, said Mr Coveney, “then we are in trouble”. A showdown, therefore, is inevitable and yet this is all taking place just as EU negotiators prepare to head off on holiday. Westminster is also due to adjourn for the long summer recess on Thursday. In these parlous times, the country will simply not understand if ministers carry on with their holiday plans given that the UK is due to leave the EU on October 31. They need to concentrate on the matter at hand and the new prime minister must insist that they do. There are some who, somewhat optimistically, see this week as “a new beginning”; but it is in truth a continuation of a three-year political drama that is about to come to a head. There is, indeed, the chance of a new beginning – but only after Brexit is done. – Telegraph (£) editorial Nick Ferrari: Stand firm, Boris, and help us be free Do you really care whether it takes “proroguing”, prowrestling or even a Pro Am golf tournament to free this nation from the vice-like grip of life within the EU? No, me neither. Yet to listen to some of the more ardent Remain supporters, No Deal means all trade will stop, the shelves will be empty, the sick will be dying in front of our eyes due to a chronic shortage of medicine, jobs will be lost by the minute and the pound will make the Zimbabwean dollar look like the gold deposits at Fort Knox. Now, when might we have heard that before? That’s right. Just before the Brexit referendum, when Project Fear was at its most jangling, discordant worst. One of the claims, put forward by then Chancellor George Osborne, was that 820,000 jobs would have been lost within two years of the vote. Hopelessly out of touch, the reality is employment has actually reached an all-time high and growth in the economy is out-stripping almost all of the other countries in the European Union, including the one time powerhouse, but now dramatically ailing, Germany. By the time you read my next column, Boris Johnson will be the nation’s prime minister and love him or loathe him – and, mark my words, he’ll do plenty of things to ensure no shortage of both during his time – he’s already brought a new dynamic to the negotiations before he’s even crossed the threshold of Number 10. To achieve his goal of leaving, Johnson will have a heck of a fight, not least against his own MPs, some of whom rebelled last week and tried to shackle his efforts to take No Deal off the table. The never-ending hesitation damages the country’s standing on a daily basis. The EU seems rattled and has appointed real clinkers to plum jobs ahead of crucial negotiations in the autumn. Resolve now is the path to results then. – Nick Ferrari for the Express Brexit in Brief Holidays reinforce my love affair with all things European – except its Union – Robert Tombs for the Telegraph (£) Why Boris Johnson should hold another Brexit referendum – Tony Blair for The Times (£) MPs must find the courage to stop a mindless no-deal Brexit – Gordon Brown for the Guardian New Lib Dem leader to be announced this afternoon – BBC News