Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Boris Johnson plans radical overhaul of the Civil Service to guarantee ‘people’s Brexit’… Boris Johnson is plotting a dramatic overhaul of Whitehall after his landslide election victory, in a drive to demonstrate that the Government “works for the people”. Dominic Cummings, Mr Johnson’s chief aide, is to spearhead plans for radical reforms to the civil service, including a review of the processes for hiring and firing officials, to ensure Whitehall delivers the Prime Minister’s agenda. He has previously complained that “almost no one is ever fired” in Whitehall, during a lecture in which he set out a “to-do list” he had maintained in case “I ever manage to get control of No 10.” It suggests Mr Johnson’s programme for the next five years is likely to be much more radical than the agenda he set out after taking over from Theresa May in July. Plans discussed by Mr Johnson and Mr Cummings for reform of Whitehall will also form a major part of the Prime Minister’s vision. Sources said Mr Johnson and Mr Cummings were planning to review human resources structures within the service, including the recruitment, training and dismissing of officials. – Sunday Telegraph (£) …as it is confirmed the EU Withdrawal Bill will be back before Christmas In his triumphant Sedgefield speech, Mr Johnson expressed his glee at the prospect of having a Commons majority at the Tory party’s disposal for the first time in more than two years. The Queen’s Speech on Thursday, setting out the Government’s agenda for the new Parliament, will give legislative force to the policy priorities which secured Mr Johnson’s landslide win – delivering Brexit and pumping billions of extra pounds into the NHS. The new MPs will be sworn in on Tuesday, followed by the State Opening of Parliament on Thursday and then the introduction of the Withdrawal Bill on Friday in what Mr Johnson has described as ‘an early Christmas present’ for voters. The Bill has to be passed by January 29 in order for it to be ratified by the European Parliament in time for Britain to leave the EU by the deadline of 11pm on January 31. The legislation was blocked by MPs in October, but is certain to pass now that Mr Johnson has won his 80-seat majority. Cross-party talks to agree ‘an enduring solution to the challenge of social care’ will also start within Mr Johnson’s first 100 days. A No 10 source said: ‘This Election was as much about delivering on the people’s priorities as it was about getting Brexit done – and the Prime Minister understands that. – Mail on Sunday Michael Gove is being lined up to be new global trade supremo responsible for talks with the EU and US Michael Gove is being lined up to shape Britain’s future relationship with both the European Union and the United States, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. Despite their bitter fallout in 2016, the Prime Minister is drawing up plans to put his fellow Brexiteer at the helm of a Whitehall super department responsible for forging Global Britain’s place in the world. It is understood the new role would see Mr Gove responsible for both the second stage of Brexit negotiations with Brussels, as well as simultaneous trade talks with Donald Trump’s White House. However, the complex task will see demands from both world powers contradict each other. Downing Street sources say the potential move in February could see the Department for International Trade merged with the Brexit Department, and both brought under control of the Cabinet Office fiefdom Mr Gove currently runs. Since Mr Johnson took office last July, Mr Gove has been a key lieutenant and was regularly at his side during the Conservatives’ successful Election campaign. This newspaper has been told his new-found loyalty will be rewarded with the large promotion early in the New Year. – Mail on Sunday Britain is on collision course with the EU over trade rules in Brexit talks… Boris Johnson is on a collision course with Brussels when the second phase of Brexit negotiations open — as a former Downing Street aide warned that Whitehall is not “match fit” for the talks. The prime minister will reject calls from EU leaders for Britain to accept a “level playing field” on regulations, which would mean the UK adopting many of the same rules as the rest of the bloc even after Brexit. EU leaders agreed a joint negotiating position last week in which they want Britain to agree to regulatory alignment in exchange for a tariff-free, quota-free trade deal. However, Johnson’s team make clear that when they outline their demands in February Britain will seek to maintain the ability to set its own rules in key areas, even if that means some tariffs are imposed. “We don’t want to be in alignment,” the source said. “We want a free-trade deal with as close to zero tariffs as they are happy to do. But if they think we are going to be signing up to stick to their data laws and their procurement rules, that’s not going to happen.” – Sunday Times (£) …as Brussels dangles hope of broad trade deal in exchange for a ‘softer’ Brexit… European Union member states are leaving the door open to Boris Johnson signing a broad-based trade deal by December 2020 in the hope that he will embrace a softer Brexit, EU diplomatic sources have told The Telegraph. EU leaders last week ordered the European Commission to draw up a “comprehensive mandate” for the future relationship talks after pushing back against Commission plans to confront Mr Johnson with a narrower menu of options. Three EU diplomatic sources said the shift in position creates the potential for a broader future partnership deal, including some elements of services trade, if Mr Johnson chose to extend the transition period which currently expires on December 31 2020. “The member states didn’t want to limit mandate discussion to a very narrow range of issues,” said an EU diplomat familiar with internal discussions. “There was no desire to pre-determine the shape of the negotiation.” A second EU diplomat said there might still be space to include elements of services trade which are key to the UK economy. “Maybe we will be able to get services into the overall package, the UK will now doubt want something on that,” the source said. – Sunday Telegraph (£) …and the EU looks at extending the Brexit transition period beyond 2020 EU leaders would take the initiative and request an extension to the transition period, keeping the UK under Brussels regulations beyond 2020, under a plan mooted for getting around Boris Johnson’s stated refusal to seek a delay. The move is being considered by EU officials as a way out of the problem posed by the short time available to negotiate a new relationship and the prime minister’s insistence that he will not seek an extension beyond 11 months. With a majority of 80 secured by the prime minister, the UK is expected to leave the EU on 31 January – in fewer than 50 days. At the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020, the UK is set to exit the EU’s customs union and single market and enter newly negotiated arrangements. Ursula von der Leyen, the European commission’s president, said that negotiating a future relationship in such a short timeframe would be very challenging. The withdrawal agreement stipulates that the transition can be extended by “one or two years” but that this must be agreed before 1 July next year. It is recognised in Brussels that Johnson will find it politically impossible to seek an extension to the transition to allow all the issues to be agreed. Instead, it is understood initial discussions have taken place in Brussels about the EU asking the British government for an extension, given the complexity of the talks. It is likely that the EU would also need to sweeten the offer of an extension by minimising the costs that the UK would face. Sources suggested that such a move might offer Johnson a better chance of gaining cabinet approval, and avoid a cliff-edge exit from the EU’s structures on 31 December 2020, including the imposition of tariffs. – Observer …but Johnson is warned by Brexiteers not to back down on Brexit deadlines Boris Johnson is under pressure from his Conservative colleagues not to use his “stonking” majority to sideline Brexiteers in his approach to negotiating a free trade deal with the European Union. It comes as Nigel Farage admitted that the Brexit Party has “disappeared” as a threat to the Tories, with its MEPs waiting to lose their jobs in the coming weeks once Brexit happens, but he warned in The Daily Telegraph that “pressure will have to be reapplied” if the Prime Minister fails to take the country out of the EU. Mr Johnson returned to office with a majority of 80, which MPs said should enable him to be flexible in trade talks with Brussels after passing his withdrawal deal into law by extending the transition period that follows in order to finalise the best deal. “With a majority this size, Boris can revert to the centre ground,” a minister told this newspaper, arguing that the European Research Group (ERG) of Tory Brexiteer backbenchers “won’t have the same power”. But another warned that it would be “electorally disastrous” if Mr Johnson decided next summer to extend the transition period beyond December 2020. “He already has a problem with credibility, so going back on this would be catastrophic,” he added. – Sunday Telegraph (£) Lord Heseltine concedes the battle for Britain to remain in the EU has been lost… Michael Heseltine, the europhile former deputy prime minister, has admitted that the battle for Britain to remain in the European Union has been lost. The 86-year-old – who lost the Tory whip after urging people to vote against his party to stop Brexit – fears it will be 20 years before the issue of rejoining the EU is raised again. Lord Heseltine endorsed the Liberal Democrats during the election campaign and said their candidates represented “the best chance I can see for stopping the enormous self-harm of Brexit”. Following the Conservatives’ sweeping gains in England and Wales in the election, he conceded that “Brexit is going to happen” in an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Asked whether the Remain fight is over, Lord Heseltine said: “Well we’ve lost, let’s not muck about with the language. We’ve lost, Brexit is going to happen and we have to live with it. I’ve made my views pretty clear and there will now be a long period of uncertainty, but we can’t escape from that, so we must do the best we can.” – Telegraph (£) …although acting Lib Dem leader Ed Davey says the battle against Brexit has not ended and Johnson’s plans could still ‘implode’ The battle against Brexit has not ended with Boris Johnson’s emphatic general election victory, Liberal Democrat interim co-leader Sir Ed Davey has said. While accepting that the prime minister now has the votes in the Commons to get his withdrawal agreement through by 31 January, Sir Ed insisted that this will not mean Brexit is “done”. Johnson’s plans could still “implode” over the course of the coming year as the inconsistencies in his election promises come under strain in the struggle to get a trade agreement with Brussels by the extraordinarily tight deadline of December 2020, he said. And he said that the threat which Brexit poses to the future position of Scotland and Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom will give the lie to Johnson’s “One Nation” rhetoric, declaring: “We are the unionists now – the patriotic party who support our union.” – Independent Downing Street boycotts Radio 4’s Today over election bias as Number 10 slams the BBC for ‘speaking to pro-Remain Islington, not the real world of Wakefield and Workington’ Downing Street has boycotted the BBC’s flagship news programme amid ongoing rows over the Corporation’s Election coverage and questions over the future of the licence fee. No 10 pulled Ministers from yesterday’s Radio 4 Today programme and intends to ‘withdraw engagement’ from future broadcasts of the show. The bitter stand-off comes as the BBC is facing intense criticism over alleged bias in its Election coverage, which included presenter Andrew Neil delivering an on-air monologue criticising Boris Johnson for failing to agree to be interviewed by him. Tory strategists were also infuriated by the lead item on Monday’s BBC News At Ten, which gave extensive coverage to the row over a four-year-old boy with suspected pneumonia forced to sleep on a hospital floor. They say the Corporation failed to properly report the swing in support from Labour to the Tories along the ‘Red Wall’ in the Midlands and the North which swept Mr Johnson to victory on a tide of support for Brexit. Last night, a No 10 source called on the BBC to mount an internal investigation into its performance during the campaign, saying: ‘The BBC speaks to a pro-Remain metropolitan bubble in Islington, not the real world represented by Wakefield and Workington. There has been a failure by senior management at the BBC, and we expect them to launch an internal review of their performance.’ The BBC angrily denies the allegations of bias. – Mail on Sunday Premier League clubs could continue signing Europe’s best teenage footballers after Brexit Premier League clubs could continue signing the best teenage talent in Europe after Britain’s departure from the European Union is confirmed, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal. Top-flight clubs had feared the passing of a Brexit deal by parliament – something all but inevitable following Boris Johnson’s landslide General Election victory – would immediately prevent them recruiting the continent’s best 16 and 17 year olds. But the Premier League yesterday told the Telegraph that it had sought clarification from Fifa over rules banning the cross-border transfer of any player under the age 18 excepting that of a 16 or 17 year old between two countries in the European Economic Area. A spokesman said it had been told British clubs would continue to benefit from that exception during the transition period the UK Government and the EU agreed would follow the passing of the withdrawal agreement struck between them. – Sunday Telegraph (£) Daniel Hannan: This is the government to get Britain moving after three and a half years of lost time My son is three-and-a-half. He has lived his entire life in a country that has voted to leave the EU, but has not in fact left. The paralysis of our political system during his lifetime, the waste of time, is unforgivable. Instead of negotiating with the EU, we negotiated with ourselves. Or, more accurately, we tried to get Brexit past a bunch of MPs who, in defiance of their pre-election promises, used every procedural device they could think of to block the referendum result. That point needs emphasis. The reason nothing happened for three-and-a-half years was not that there was some insurmountable difficulty in the negotiations with Brussels, let alone some intrinsic flaw in Brexit itself. The stasis was caused by Parliament. That truth may not have been widely understood by overseas commentators, but it was grasped by the British electorate. Three-and-a-half years ago, we voted to leave the EU. Twelve months later, we backed parties that promised to implement the referendum. On Thursday, we punished the party that turned out to have been lying when it made that promise. – Daniel Hannan MEP for the Sunday Telegraph (£) Janet Daley: The people have got their revenge against the hateful Remainer diehards It wasn’t just about Brexit. At least, not just about the actual, concrete reality of leaving the European Union. That may have been the initial spark but had that whole national argument been handled differently – had the concerns and resentments of real people not been treated with open contempt by this country’s governing class and by EU officialdom – it might not have grown into a conflagration that has ripped apart the old political settlement and enveloped the public discourse in a miasma of vitriol and hatred. I have written many times, in what must by now seem a tiresome refrain, about my shock and disgust at the shameless loathing which has been poured over the ordinary people of this country by those whose privileged existence leaves them utterly ignorant (one of their own favourite epithets, as it happens) of what life is like for those without their advantages. First they tried instilling fear and when the great mass of Leave voters did not flinch, they insulted and bullied them, and brazenly wished them dead. As snobbery mutated into what sounded like eugenics, something snapped in the electorate’s consciousness. Well, the people have got their revenge. They have humiliated their tormentors and, as many times before in their history, refused to buckle. – Janet Daley for the Sunday Telegraph (£) Raoul Ruparel: Five Brexit blunders we must avoid this time With the general election out of the way, attention should quickly turn to the next phase of negotiations with the EU. None too soon. There has been much talk over the past few years about getting the UK ready to leave the EU without a deal. However, the government and civil service have a lot of work to do if they are to prepare to leave with a deal. As it stands, the UK does not appear “match fit” for the next phase of negotiations. To truly get Brexit done, the UK needs to learn from the mistakes of the first phase. Based on my experience of the negotiations, there are five key lessons. 1)Have a clear view of how the negotiations should be structured and argue for it. 2) Get on the front foot. For much of the first phase, the EU made the running. It did a far better job of taking decisions early, staying unified behind those positions and getting policy and legal text out in public. 3) Have a clear communications strategy and public narrative. 4) Bring parliament and external stakeholders with you. 5) Make better use of the UK diplomatic service. Of course, it’s not just the UK that has lessons to learn. The EU has made plenty of missteps too. Its decision to make amendments to the Northern Ireland backstop only at the last moment, when faced with a more hardline government, has helped ensure a harder break between the UK and the EU. Yet, there seems to be even less introspection and reflection on the EU side than the UK side. There remains a risk that, if this complacency persists in both camps, the next phase could run into the ground, raising the chance the UK leaves without an agreement on the future after all. – Raoul Ruparel for the Sunday Times (£) Marco Giannangeli: Global Britain – finally it can believe in itself and its values From Washington to Warsaw and Sydney to Singapore, a Tsunami of relief has swept the world since Thursday’s election results. It’s more than just seeing off Marxist Corbyn, and his reductive agenda. Boris Johnson’s resounding victory comes at the moment in our history where Britain, unshackled from the EU, is once again free to redefine itself and its approach to the world. We now have our first non-technocrat PM since Margaret Thatcher; no longer is Downing Street reduced to just ensuring “cog Britain” operates efficiently within the Brussels machine. Johnson is a big picture man with an eye for foreign policy and genuine ambition to make Britain “a more outward-looking country”. Our Special Relationship with the US is now secured, and a good trade deal is in the offing. The stars are aligned. Boris Johnson is the right person in the place at the right time to give Britain what it hasn’t had since 1990: permission to believe in itself and its values, and the capability to fight for a fairer world. It’s all up to us. – Marco Giannangeli for the Sunday Express Brexit in Brief ‘Get Brexit done’ is perhaps the greatest example of a golden slogan in my lifetime – James Frayne for the Telegraph (£) The pollsters were under the spotlight this election, and they performed – Sir John Curtice for the Telegraph (£) The war is over. Make friends and don’t be beastly to the Remainers – Katie Perrior for the Sunday Times (£)