Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Remain-voting Matt Hancock pulls out of leadership race and considers supporting Boris Johnson for PM… Matt Hancock is tonight weighing up whether or not to back Boris Johnson after quitting the leadership race. The Health Secretary – who admitted he has no chance of victory – is likely to endorse either frontrunner BoJo or challenger Michael Gove, The Sun understands. He is currently locked in talks with all six remaining candidates and will make his final choice early next week, sources said. – The Sun Hancock says Party was looking for ‘unique’ candidate to deliver Brexit – Politico Jeremy Hunt battling to lock up Matt Hancock’s votes after he quits PM race – The Sun …after Lord Sugar backed Johnson (despite previously calling for him to be jailed over Brexit) Lord Sugar has backed Boris Johnson as the next prime minister – despite having previously suggested he should be jailed for misleading the public over Brexit. He voiced his opinions on the leading Tory candidate on Sky’s Ian King Live on Friday, saying he was “delighted” that Mr Johnson looks like he will be the next Prime Minister. Lord Sugar said: “And the reason for that is because in a bizarre way, when the next general election comes up, I think the voting public will far prefer him than Jeremy Corbyn. – Sky News Secret Tory plan for members to crown Johnson as new leader unopposed Boris Johnson’s name could be the only one that goes forward to the party’s membership in the Conservative leadership election under a secret plan to avoid four weeks of damaging Tory bloodletting. Senior Cabinet ministers who are not linked to any of the six contenders in the campaign are examining whether Mr Johnson’s name alone might forward to a “confirmatory” vote of the party’s 160,000 members. The plan was hatched in the whips office amid concerns from party grandees that weeks of “blue on blue” attacks during a prolonged hustings battle will leave the eventual winner weakened and provide ammunition for Jeremy Corbyn.- Telegraph (£) The Tory survival instinct has finally kicked in: only Boris can deliver Brexit – Charles Moore for the Telegraph (£) The next Tory leader will be no messiah – just a mess – Patrick Benham-Crosswell for Conservative Woman Boris’ bashers may well have lost the plot, but voters must see him scrutinised – The Sun editorial Johnson can’t deliver a deal by October 31st, claim EU sources… European Union negotiators do not believe Boris Johnson’s Tory leadership promise to deliver Brexit by October 31, according to senior Brussels sources. Political planning in Brussels is now based on the assumption that Britain will not leave the EU on the present deadline, itself an extension from the original date of March 29. Senior EU sources, including those in contact with UK officials, believe Mr Johnson is the most likely next prime minister and will “give a serious try to getting a new deal”, as he has pledged. “Even the boldest prime minister for a no-deal will have to demonstrate he has had one serious try and that means an extension,” said a senior EU official. “Johnson will want to last more than ten days in power so will need to try getting it over the line. He, or whoever it is, will not be able to hide the need for an extension”. – The Times (£) …as he warns any further Brexit delay would “run up the white flag” to Brussels In his first broadcast interview of the Tory leadership race, the frontrunner to succeed Theresa May said “fortitude and determination” were needed in the negotiations with the EU. And he vowed to “honour the will of the people” by getting the UK out of the EU this autumn with or without a deal. Mr Johnson’s spoke out in an interview on BBC Radio 4 as he confronted criticism that he had been dodging media scrutiny throughout the leadership campaign. He also announced that he will take part in a head-to-head live television debate with other candidates following the second knock-out round of voting among Tory MPs on Tuesday. Setting out his Brexit plans, the former foreign secretary dismissed the idea of ruling out a no-deal departure as a surrender to Brussels. “Unless we get ready, unless we show fortitude and determination, I don’t think we will carry conviction in Brussels about the deal we want to do,” he said. – Express Jeremy Hunt interview: “In extremis, I’d leave without a deal” “I’ve negotiated extremely complex deals, whether it was more funding for the NHS, the junior doctors’ dispute, the BBC licence fee. But I’m an entrepreneur by background. I did negotiation every day of my life before I came into politics. In my bones, I don’t think this is going to be easy, but in my bones, there is a deal there. And I want to get that deal for the country because I think that would be way better if we possibly can. In extremis, I’d leave without a deal, of course. We have to deliver the referendum result. “We’re not at that point yet, and I think it’s really defeatist to say that we’re going to have to leave the EU without a deal, which is effectively what Boris is saying.” – Conservative Home Economists suggest chance of No Deal jumps but free trade deal is still likely… The likelihood Britain and the European Union part ways without a deal has jumped in the past month, according to economists in a Reuters poll, as most candidates jockeying to take over as prime minister appear to have adopted a hard line stance. Three years on since Britons voted to leave the EU, there is still little clarity as to how, when or even if the two sides will draw a line under Britain’s four-decades of membership. – Reuters …as the CBI chief claims no-deal Brexit ‘threats’ are harming Britain The risk of a “no deal” Brexit is harming Britain “right now”, the head of the CBI has warned, adding that threatening to leave the EU without a deal “is a bit like saying ‘if you don’t do what I want, I’ll shoot my foot off’”. “It’s not that the Brexit uncertainty and fear of no deal is going to have an impact in the future, it’s having it right now. This is a situation of enormous urgency,” said Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the business group. Boris Johnson, the leading contender to be the next leader of the Conservative party and prime minister, has vowed that the country must leave the EU without further delay. “If I get in, we’ll come out deal or no deal on October 31,” he said in his campaign video. – Telegraph (£) Hammond says he would not serve under a no-deal Brexit Prime Minister The Chancellor said he would not serve under a Prime Minister who was advocating no deal. Hammond, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of EU finance ministers in Luxembourg on Friday, also warned whoever succeeds Theresa May not to withhold Britain’s dues to the bloc. “I don’t think this is about personalities, it’s about policies,” Hammond said when asked if he would serve as a minister under Johnson, the front-runner in the Conservative Party leadership race.. “Before I could serve in any government, I would want to look at the policies that the prime minister was setting out. I would not be able to serve in a government which had as its policy leaving the European Union without a deal,” he said. – Reuters EU arrest warrants for record number of suspects in Britain A record number of European criminals are suspected of being on the run in Britain. The UK received 17,256 European arrest warrants last year for suspects wanted by police elsewhere in the EU, including 619 people wanted for murder or manslaughter, 229 suspected rapists and 265 suspected paedophiles, an analysis of National Crime Agency (NCA) figures has revealed. Max Hill, QC, the director of public prosecutions, said last year that a no-deal Brexit would mean extra delays in extraditing suspects if the UK fell out of the European arrest warrant system. Despite the record number of warrants, the number of arrests was 1,027 in the 12 months to April last year, the lowest in five years and down 35 per cent on the previous year. Germany sent the largest number of arrest requests, seeking 2,975 suspects, followed by Poland with 2,174 requests. – The Times (£) Five electoral fraud allegations at Peterborough by-election being investigated by police Police are now investigating five electoral fraud allegations relating to the recent Peterborough by-election. The number of investigations has risen from two earlier in the week and includes one message shared on social media allegedly showing someone bragging that he and two others had ‘burned more than 1,000 votes for the Brexit Party’. Last Thursday’s by-election saw Labour’s Lisa Forbes win the seat by 683 votes ahead of the Brexit Party’s Mike Greene. However, the Conservative deputy leader of Peterborough City Council, Cllr Wayne Fitzgerald, has alleged there was “harvesting” of postal votes, while the Tories have highlighted the involvement in the campaign of Labour activist Tariq Mahmood who was jailed in 2008 for postal vote interference. Mr Mahmood was pictured with Ms Forbes and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn during the campaign and was also present at the election count – just as he has been at previous elections. – Peterborough Telegraph Why was this man helping Jeremy Corbyn’s by-election candidate scrape to victory despite being jailed for fiddling votes? – Richard Pendlebury and Stephanie Condron for the Daily Mail Gerald Warner: Proroguing parliament is legal and should be on the table The ultra-Remainers’ 298-309 defeat effectively put a WTO Brexit into play as part of the mainstream Brexiteer strategy for exit from the EU by 31 October. Remainer delusions should be fading fast. Their best ally was Theresa May and she is now off the radar screen, manufacturing a “legacy” by pretending to commit Britain to a £1 trillion non-energy policy that would see the citizens of 2050 rubbing two sticks together to make fire. – Gerald Warner for Reaction (£) Wolfgang Streeck: The EU is a doomed empire Authoritarian liberalism uses a strong state to protect a free market economy from political democracy. In the EU this is accomplished by internationalisation: the construction of an institutional setting in which national governments can turn over national economies to rule-setting international bodies, like ministerial councils and supranational courts or central banks. They relieve themselves of the responsibilities to their citizens, which come with national sovereignty, that they can or will no longer discharge. – Professor Wolfgang Streeck for Briefings for Brexit John Longworth: My mad first week in Brussels as a Brexit Party MEP I’ve sat through interminable meetings there, listening through my “cans” to the translation and not being able to resist a joke. Everyone would laugh, except for the Germans. Not because they had no humour, but because they had no English and it would take an extra 10 seconds for the translator to get to the verb at the end of the sentence. The prize for the Eurospeak of the day goes to the official who explained to me that it was not permitted to represent your country as an MP and be an MEP at the same time because that would be a conflict of interest. I think that sums up the problem! – John Longworth MEP for the Telegraph (£) Claire Fox: ‘Gravy train?’ A first taste of life as an MEP I kept wondering how all the pro-EU MEPs could justify being mere insignificant cogs in a toothless technocratic wheel. Yet the paraphernalia and trappings, the payments and pay-offs are obviously an important prop in the grand illusion that your job matters. Surely no-one would throw such extravagant rewards at you unless you are crucial, right? For example, according to recent Treasury figures, the annual cost of an MEP is three times the cost of an MP in the House of Commons. Indeed, most Remainer MEPs are easily flattered into believing they deserve every penny. But this is delusional. Wherever you stand on the Brexit divide, I think voters deserve a more honest critique of the ludicrous excesses on offer to MEPs. Never mind the business-class travel, surely even Remain-and-Reform advocates might be keen to challenge whether every new MEP needs a free iPad, two offices in Brussels, one in Strasbourg, an office and staff budget for the UK. – Claire Fox MEP for UK in a Changing EU Brexit in Brief After Brexit, let’s take back control of agriculture – Shanker Singham for the Telegraph (£) Remain does not do democracy – they just assert they know better than the people – John Redwood’s Diary In defence of the nation state – Roger Scruton for UnHerd IoD calls on business to speed up no-deal Brexit preparation – FT (£) Theresa May is looking forward to life after Brexit – so she can watch more cricket – The Sun