Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Boris Johnson refuses to sign Brexit extension request and instead sends a photocopy, saying: ‘This is not my letter, it’s Parliament’s’… Boris Johnson has told the EU that he is “not asking” for a “deeply corrosive” delay to Brexit, as he ordered a senior diplomat to send an unsigned photocopy of the request drawn up by MPs asking Brussels for an extension. The Prime Minister phoned European leaders on Saturday night to declare that the letter MPs had forced the Government to send to Donald Tusk “is Parliament’s letter, not my letter”. A senior No 10 source said he was asking them to “invite Parliament to reconsider”, on the basis that “the best thing for the UK and Europe” is for Brexit to take place on Oct 31. In a third letter to Mr Tusk, the president of the EU Council, Mr Johnson said a delay would be “deeply corrosive,” after MPs scuppered the crunch vote on his deal yesterday in what No 10 described as a bid to derail Brexit. Tonight Mr Johnson and Emmanuel Macron, the French president, agreed that there should be no further extension of the UK’s membership, and the Elysee Palace said additional delay “is in the interest of no-one”. – Sunday Telegraph (£) Defiant Boris refuses to sign EU letter begging for Brexit delay after rebel MPs sank deal vote – The Sun Saturday’s Brexit vote in Parliament: What happens now? – BBC News …prompting some to suggest he could face fresh court action for urging the EU to reject a Brexit delay… Boris Johnson was warned on Saturday that he risks a fresh challenge in the courts after he reacted to a humiliating Commons defeat over Brexit by calling on EU leaders to reject any extension of Britain’s membership of the European Union. After MPs voted by 322 to 306 to withhold approval of his EU exit deal, the prime minister was obliged to write to Brussels by 11pm on Saturday to request an extension until 31 January 2020, in order to comply with the law under the terms of the Benn act. A former Tory cabinet minister said Johnson was clearly behaving in a way that was “against the spirit of the Benn act”, which required him to have asked for an extension by 11pm on Saturday if no Brexit deal had been approved by parliament by then, or parliament had not given its backing to a no-deal outcome. The former minister said: “I think this will end up in the courts again. This is clearly against the spirit of the Benn act and is not consistent with the assurances that were given by Downing Street to the Scottish courts about applying for an extension. It will also put government law officers in a very uncomfortable position.” – Observer …after MPs voted for Oliver Letwin’s amendment to block a vote on Johnson’s deal at yesterday’s Saturday Commons sitting… As I feared might be the case this morning, MPs this afternoon voted for Sir Oliver Letwin’s amendment to the Government’s motion endorsing Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal so that MPs were unable to endorse the proposal in a Meaningful Vote, making the emergency “Super Saturday” sitting tantamount to farce. The Letwin amendment – passed by 322 votes to 306 (majority: 16) – effectively turned the Government’s motion into a neutral motion, with the aim of forcing ministers to seek an extension to the Article 50 period under the terms of the Benn Act (because MPs will not have endorsed a deal by the statutory deadline of today). 322 MPs voted for the amendment (324 if you include the two tellers) including 233 Labour MPs, all 35 Scottish National Party MPs, all 19 Liberal Democrat MPs, 17 Independent MPs, all 10 Democratic Unionist Party MPs, all 5 MPs from The Independent Group for Change, all 4 Plaid Cymru MPs, and 1 Green Party MP. 306 MPs voted against the motion (308 if you include the two tellers) including 285 Conservative MPs, 17 Independent MPs, and 6 Labour MPs. A further 7 did not vote in the division. – Jonathan Isaby on BrexitCentral …including all 10 DUP MPs who are opposed to Johnson’s deal The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has voted for a proposal that could delay Brexit until all necessary UK laws are passed in Parliament. MPs voted by 322 to 306 to pass the so-called Letwin amendment to the government’s Brexit deal, inflicting a blow on the prime minister’s strategy. The DUP backs Brexit, but does not support the prime minister’s revised proposals for Northern Ireland. It is not clear when Number 10 will now hold a meaningful vote on its deal. MPs met on Saturday for a rare sitting, with the government hoping to hold a vote on its Brexit deal – but that vote was pulled after they voted for the Letwin amendment. Independent unionist MP for North Down, Lady Hermon, backed it as well. It withholds approval of the deal until the legislation to enact it – known as the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) – is safely passed: a move that automatically triggers the “Benn Act” to force the prime minister to request a further postponement of Brexit until 31 January. – BBC News > WATCH: Sammy Wilson’s full speech on the new deal There were tears as Labour MPs faced the choice between party and Leave-voting constituents… Labour MPs were crying in the office of the Opposition whips yesterday as they weighed up whether to vote for a motion which could delay Brexit for months. MPs representing constituencies that voted to leave the European Union were caught between voting for a Brexit deal and far left ‘Momentum’ activists who might not forgive them for voting with the Tory Government. The stress on the MPs manifested itself when at least one MP burst into tears in the Opposition whips’ office, just next to the Members’ voting lobby in the Commons. One Labour MP said: “The pressure is extraordinary – Labour MPs are crying in the whips’ office.” Another Labour leaver said: “I want to vote for Brexit but Letwin is an insurance against a no deal. That is the cross I am on.” The MPs from a group of 19 who represent strongly pro-Leave constituencies had been courted for days by Boris Johnson’s team. Some of the group – led by former Labour minister Caroline Flint – were reported to have been in meetings in 10 Downing St twice last week. Regular meetings of the ‘Labour MPs for a deal’ group were held in Ms Flint’s office as the MPs plotted how to support the result of the 2016 EU referendum while also offering limited support to a Tory Government. – Sunday Telegraph (£) …as Jeremy Corbyn vows to challenge the Government ‘all the way’ over Europe Jeremy Corbyn told supporters he would challenge the Government ‘all the way’ over Europe – before later telling the Prime Minister to ‘jog on’. Speaking at a raucous party rally in Liverpool on Saturday night, the Labour leader said his party would reject Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s deal with the European Union as he mobilised for a general election. And later tweeted: ‘Jog on Boris Johnson with your daft ideas.’ Mr Corbyn said: ‘And he came with his plan, well we’ve got answers to his plan for our relationship to Europe because that plan was all about thumping our workers’ rights, taking away consumer protections, damaging our environment, damaging the Good Friday Agreement. But the real purpose behind it is, what they want for the future, which is, as I said in my speech today, is what he’s done today, if he succeeds is fire the starting gun in a race to the bottom. We will challenge them all the way, in Parliament next week, we challenge them in crashing out of the EU and we as a movement will come together, those that voted leave or remain have all got a place in the Labour Party and the labour movement. What unites us is our determination for socialism.’ – MailOnline John Bercow set for another clash with the Government when he rules whether MPs can even vote again on Johnson’s deal… John Bercow is set for another clash with the Government over Brexit on Monday when he will rule on whether MPs can vote again to approve Boris Johnson’s deal. The Government decided to boycott Saturday’s Meaningful Vote on the terms of the UK’s exit from the EU after Mr Johnson’s erstwhile allies in the DUP joined the other opposition parties in voting for the Letwin amendment. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Leader of the House of Commons, then surprised the Speaker and Opposition MPs by announcing that the Government would put the deal to a Meaningful Vote on Monday in a second attempt to force it through the Commons. Mr Rees-Mogg’s decision to ask for a re-run under Section 13 1(b) of the EU Withdrawal Act 2018 effectively gives Mr Johnson and his team 48 hours to try to win further support for his deal. – Sunday Telegraph (£) …although EU leaders are holding off a decision on delaying Brexit until such a vote has taken place… EU leaders will not decide whether to delay Brexit until after MPs have voted on Boris Johnson’s deal next week. There was frustration and exasperation in Brussels that MPs did not take the chance to ratify the Brexit deal struck at an EU summit last week. “It will be for the UK government to inform us about the next steps as soon as possible,” the European Commission’s chief spokeswoman said on Saturday. The heads of state and government could call another Brussels summit before the October 31 deadline to grant an extension. Any request must first be made by the UK government before being unanimously supported by the EU27. The vote for the Letwin Amendment meant the government cancelled a meaningful vote on the Brexit agreement. Boris Johnson had assured EU leaders on Thursday that MPs would support his deal. But there is nothing in the legislation that can compel the EU to answer before MPs vote again on the Brexit deal next week and Brussels is waiting for Britain to make the first move. – Sunday Telegraph (£) …but Macron has indicated he is against a Brexit extension as Merkel keeps the option open Emmanuel Macron has suggested he is against a further Brexit extension as the EU sought to sell the new deal but private comments from Germany’s chancellor highlighted the likelihood that one would still be offered. As a two-day leaders’ summit in Brussels finished on Friday, the French president said it was time for the current phase in the Brexit negotiations to end. MPs will convene on Saturday to vote on the revised withdrawal agreement and political declaration on the future relationship. Macron told reporters: “I am not trying to read into the future but I do not think we shall grant any further delay. I think it is time to put an end to these negotiations and move on to the future relationship. And put to an end to what is currently ongoing. What matters is to stick to the commitment we made and the deadline we set ourselves. It is up to each and every one to make their own decisions. There shall be no delay unless there are major changes.” The Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar also sought to scotch talk of an extension, pointing out any decision would have to be approved unanimously by all 27 EU leaders: “I don’t think any MP voting tomorrow should make the assumption that there would be unanimity for an extension.” Despite the comments, which echoed those of the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, on Thursday, the privately stated position of Angela Merkel is seen in Brussels as closer to the reality of the leaders’ thinking. During a discussion on Thursday, the German chancellor told EU leaders that a Brexit extension would be unavoidable if British MPs vote down the new deal. – Observer Tory rebel Sir Oliver Letwin left a political outcast after tripping Boris Johnson inches from Brexit finishing line… Tory toff Sir Oliver Letwin was a political outcast last night after he tripped up Boris Johnson within touching distance of the Brexit finishing line. The former minister left MPs spitting with rage as he cynically blocked the PM’s attempt to win Parliament’s approval for his hard-won EU departure deal. Sir Oliver fronted a Remainer plot to hijack the deal, just as Mr Johnson was convinced he had enough support to get it through. He launched a procedural ploy that rendered any vote on the deal meaningless and forced the Government to delay Brexit again. His phone lit up with angry texts and calls from Leavers and Remainers after his amendment was voted through by the rabble alliance of Brexit-wreckers. One senior Tory said: “Letwin has gone and f***ed it again.” Another added: “He’s either set out deliberately to wreck Brexit or, if as he insists, this is a genuine attempt to help it along, then he’s a prize c**k.” Eton and Cambridge-educated Sir Oliver, 63, was once seen as a rising Tory party star but had the whip removed last month and now sits as an Independent. He had earlier fallen from grace after a string of mishaps that would put Mr Bean to shame. – The Sun …and stands accused of taking instructions from anti-Brexit QC The former cabinet minister Sir Oliver Letwin has been accused of taking orders from the QC who helped to defeat the government in last month’s Supreme Court case in a secret remainer plot. As Letwin resisted pressure to redraft his amendment during a meeting at No 10 on Friday night, senior sources say he received conspiratorial phone calls in which he was given “instructions” from Lord Pannick, who represented the anti-Brexit businesswoman Gina Miller when she challenged Boris Johnson over the suspension of parliament. One witness said: “He walked through No 10 giggling like an eight-year-old and had to keep calling Pannick on his mobile to find out what he was allowed to do.” As Letwin was being urged to alter the wording, the witness said: “He said he had to ask Pannick. Pannick said, ‘Don’t change a word’ and Letwin said, ‘Sorry, I can’t do anything.’” Another senior Tory added: “This isn’t Letwin’s amendment, it’s Pannick’s amendment. Pannick is the organ grinder. Letwin’s just the useful idiot.” – Sunday Times (£) Theresa May says MPs will be guilty of a massive ‘con trick’ if they fail to deliver Brexit Theresa May said Westminster would be guilty of a massive “con trick” if it fails to deliver Brexit. The ex-PM maintained Brits would “keep faith” with MPs but only if they agreed an exit from the EU. In a significant intervention on the historic Saturday sitting, she said: “The position we take will determine not just the future of our country and the future lives of our constituents but, I believe, the very future of our politics. “Because we have, today, to make a key decision. And it is simple, do we want to deliver Brexit? Do we want to deliver on the result of the referendum in 2016?” She added: “When we voted to trigger Article 50, did we really mean it? “When the two main parties represented in this House stood on manifestos in the 2017 general election to deliver Brexit, did we really mean it? “I think there can only be one answer to that and that is yes, we did mean it. Yes, we keep faith with the British people. Yes we want to deliver Brexit.” Mrs May added: “If this Parliament did not mean it, then it is guilty of the most egregious con trick on the British people.” – The Sun Nigel Farage: ‘Only an election can solve the Brexit impasse’ Nigel Farage responded to Saturday’s “shenanigans” in Parliament by insisting the time has come for a general election. The Brexit Party leader said MPs had shown they wanted to delay Brexit, adding that their ultimate goal was a second referendum, meaning it was time for the public to shake up the Commons. He told LBC Radio: “The public will just see more parliamentary shenanigans, more delay, more attempts to stop Brexit. That’s what the public will see. “And of course, the truth of it is this is all about getting a second referendum. That is what the Remainer forces in Parliament want. And the more time they buy, the more chance they’ve got of getting something like that passed. “So you know, we’ve got this odd situation that goes on and on and on. A Remain Parliament and a Leave country and it’s just the most awful situation. I feel in the absence of a general election, nothing is going to improve.” – Sunday Telegraph (£) Roland Rudd to quit as head of key Remain group as campaign is riven by infighting The multimillionaire Roland Rudd is at the centre of an extraordinary power struggle at the heart of the Peoples’ Vote campaign. In a letter to grassroots activists last week, he said he would stand down as chairman of Open Britain, the most powerful group within the coalition that makes up the People’s Vote campaign. The announcement from Rudd, a PR guru who raised funds from his City network for the failed 2016 Britain Stronger In Europe campaign, reflects his belief that new leadership is needed if a remain campaign is to win a second referendum. In a memo to the Open Britain board and campaign groups on August 20, Rudd said: “I will stand down as chair as soon as a suitable replacement is found.” He also made clear there would be no attempt to appoint a new executive until the campaign for a referendum had been won, but in a letter sent last week to more than 100 grassroots campaigns he indicated the reorganisation would begin almost immediately. In recent weeks Rudd is understood to have been pushing hard for a wider shake-up that would involve ousting the executive leadership of the People’s Vote campaign, including James McGrory, its director, and Tom Baldwin, the communications chief. – Sunday Times (£) Daniel Hannan: On the cusp of victory, will Nigel Farage decide to put Brexit – or party – first? Are politicians principled or venal? The honest answer, in most cases, is “a bit of both”. When, for example, Labour and Lib Dem MEPs wrote a letter pleading with the EU to reject Boris’s deal and delay Brexit, they were, I am sure, acting from a sincere belief that Britain would be better off remaining. But, being human, they were almost certainly thinking, too, about hanging on to the Michelin-starred, gourmandising life of an MEP. In much the same way, when Labour MPs argue that an early general election would be bad for the country, they have doubtless convinced themselves that a Tory majority would somehow or other harm their constituents. But, again, they are also thinking about their own prospects. Every day that they stay in Parliament is an extra day that their salaries flow and their pension contributions mount. Now for a hard question that needs asking. What are the self-serving biases of Brexit Party MEPs? Within minutes of its publication, and before he could possibly have read it, Nigel Farage came out against the deal, claiming that it “wasn’t Brexit”. That assertion, while bizarre, was not especially surprising. Ever since the referendum, Farage has been claiming that leaving under pretty much any agreed terms would somehow or other not count as Brexit. This is it: victory. Like Cincinnatus returning to his plough, those of us who have struggled for decades to reach this point can leave the field with honour. I intend, after 20 years of working away from home, finally to get the dog I have been longing for. Nigel is a handy golfer and, by all accounts, a skilled fisherman. It’s time for us all to move on. – Daniel Hannan MEP for the Sunday Telegraph (£) Mark Littlewood: Boris Johnson’s deal is a triumph of statecraft that would give us back control In approving the Letwin amendment, our political class have just proven the adage known as Parkinson’s law; “work expands to fill the time available for its completion”. MPs from all parties seem committed to extending the period of procrastination indefinitely. The public, understandably exasperated by Parliament’s obfuscation, must now be inclined to welcome almost anything that brings this saga to an end. The offer on the table, though, is rather better than that. The Prime Minister’s negotiated settlement with the EU is about as good a deal as Brexiteers could now reasonably hope for. Compared to the proposals advanced by his predecessor, it is both measurably different and substantially improved. The crucial difference hinges on our ability to escape from the customs union. The Johnson vision is of a free trade agreement with Europe.Theresa May’s deal envisaged an ongoing customs partnership and close regulatory alignment with the EU. This would have seriously undermined a key upside of Brexit – the ability to set our own regulations and strike our own trade deals with the 93 per cent of the human race who do not reside in the European Union. Brexit is not a policy question about what labour market and ecological regulations we should have. It is a constitutional question about who should set them. Those who wish for cleaner beaches and more generous rights for workers are entirely free to legislate in this way if they prevail in a general election. This is surely the very essence of “take back control”. Pulling off a smooth departure from the EU before Halloween would now be seen, rightly, as a triumph of statecraft for Boris Johnson. British politics has been an unedifying and ugly spectacle in recent years. Finally resolving the Brexit question might extract some of the poison which has infected public debate. – Mark Littlewood for the Sunday Telegraph (£) Martin Daubney: Brexit mockery – now it’s time we got rid of this zombie Parliament At just before 3pm yesterday, did anybody else feel a minor earthquake, as 17.4 million Britons head-butted their desks or kicked their tellies? Once again, it was Brexit Groundhog Day as another vote – this time the Letwin amendment – meant just 16 MPs votes rendered the British public’s vote meaningless. Our zombie Parliament proved it is utterly unfit for purpose. In Parliament Square, the People’s Vote crowd cheered. Onstage, Remainers Anna Soubry, Jess Phillips and Caroline Lucas celebrated like England had won the Women’s World Cup. This should not be happening. It makes an absolute mockery of British politics. We are now a global laughing stock. Understandably, our nation is now consumed by Brexit Fatigue Syndrome. We are all desperate to get Brexit done. One good thing that may come of this delay is that when MPs get more time to analyse the detail of Boris’s deal they will see that it isn’t Brexit. The only way to reset this horror show is a general election. Only when our 75 percent Remain Parliament represents our 52 percent Leave society can we fix this mess. The Brexit Party is ready to spearhead that fight. – Martin Daubney MEP for the Sunday Express Janet Daley: This badly behaved Parliament has just done the PM a huge favour Does Parliament – or, at least, some notorious sections of it – have any idea how much it has come to be hated? Many of the communications I have received on this subject are unprintable. And that was before the Letwin Wrecking Amendment which sabotaged what should have been the Momentous Saturday that had raised everybody’s hopes of an end to this agony. Suffice it to say that the tidal wave of loathing for Boris Johnson which poured out of the broadcast media on his elevation to the leadership of the Conservative Party was as nothing – absolutely nothing – compared with the disgust that has been expressed by real people toward the legislators of this country who, according to one of my correspondents, have behaved with “an irresponsible wickedness that is beyond belief”. This began with the open contempt for the referendum decision (the original People’s Vote) which they made no attempt to disguise. But their current failure to understand the desperation, even of Remain voters, to end this purgatory of delay and uncertainty is truly astounding in its arrogance. I have been told stories of small business owners (whose family homes often stand as collateral for their ventures) who feel they would manage to survive either in or out of the EU, but for whom further indecision and confusion could well be fatal. One of them told me that when they learnt of the proposed Letwin amendment last week – whose advent came as a complete and devastating surprise after the elation of Boris Johnson’s deal – his wife was physically sick. This goes way beyond disappointment: it is a peculiarly cruel form of despair that follows so closely on the expectation of relief. For those whose immediate futures are at stake, this is not a party political game: it is life and death. – Janet Daley for the Sunday Telegraph (£) Michael Deacon: The farce of Super Saturday summed up Brexit to a tee Super Saturday? Make that Superfluous Saturday. In a way, though, the outcome was fitting – because it was, let’s face it, the entire Brexit process in microcosm. Hysterical build-up. Media frenzy. Promises to the public that this was crunch time, the final battle, the moment of truth. And then, at the last minute, MPs once again agreeing to put off the big decision for another day. Still, at least we’re used to it by now. That, apparently, is Brexit. A never-ending anticlimax. A perpetual toiling scrum from which the ball never escapes, and neither team ever scores. Pity the poor members of the public, who started queuing for a seat in the Commons gallery two hours before the debate was due to begin. Those who didn’t get in ended up watching on TV in Westminster Hall. One person who did manage to bag a seat in the gallery, incidentally, was 11-year-old Peter Rees-Mogg: an earnest miniature replica of his father Jacob, right down to the double-breasted suit. The five-hour debate began with a statement from Boris Johnson. Throughout his tone was carefully tailored to the task at hand (winning over Labour MPs). None of his previous mockery or bluster, no taunts of “Surrender Act” or “humbug”; here he was emollient, conciliatory, solicitous – and when opponents were critical, his replies were polite, even gently rueful (“I certainly did not mean to dismiss anyone’s concerns…”). Throughout, Sir Oliver Letwin lurked in a corner at the back, arms folded, looking faintly nervy. MPs were due to vote on an amendment he’d put down to withhold their final verdict on the deal until the legislation to implement it had been passed. Tory whips were desperate to defeat it. Shortly before 3pm, the result came in. Sir Oliver had won. Perhaps inevitably, the result worked out as 52 per cent to 48. While the Opposition cheered and clapped, Sir Oliver sat silent, gazing straight ahead, perhaps a little sadly, his hands clasped in his lap. In the same emollient tone as earlier, Mr Johnson murmured that he was neither “daunted nor dismayed” – but now, thanks to Sir Oliver, there could be no decisive vote today. Everyone had come in on a Saturday for… well, nothing, really. Almost apologetically, Sir Oliver promised that he would vote for the deal at the Prime Minister’s earliest convenience. Still the ball bobbles beneath the grunting scrum. Perhaps next week it will finally pop free. – Michael deacon for the Sunday Telegraph (£) Rod Liddle: Poor Nigel Farage — what’s he going to do with his 600 camp followers now? The most reliable means of knowing whether or not Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal is any good, better even than reading it all, is to ask Anna Soubry what she thinks of it. The former Tory MP hates it and wanted it stopped. That was good enough for me to wish it swift passage through the chamber. I admit I was helped in reaching this conclusion by hearing the journalist Polly Toynbee howling about it on the radio, like an undead blue-stockinged banshee; and by finding that it also had the loathing of the anti-Brexit businesswoman Gina Miller, the Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson and various pompous Scottish remoaner lawyers who always bring out the Jack Cade in me. If these monkeys hate it, it can’t be all bad. This cabal of truly awful people have no concept of democracy and will not respect it unless their side wins. We have enjoyed democracy for so long that we perhaps take it for granted a bit — but it is a fragile thing, and dependent upon the co-operation of the losing side. With Brexit, a prominent proportion of the remain contingent have not accepted the result because it did not go their way. Their recourse has been to insist that the referendum vote was not itself democratic — a bizarre conclusion arrived at through a combination of utter arrogance and, you have to say, stupidity. One big question now is where this all leaves Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party. Without Farage there would have been no referendum. Without Farage our prime minister might not have been quite so bludgeoning (and thus effective) in his attempts to wring a deal from Brussels and impose discipline upon his own party. Farage, whom I like personally, is probably one of the three or four most significant politicians of the past 70 years. But right now he is in a spot and, perhaps for the first time, losing a sense of where the public — especially the leave-minded public — sits on this issue. – Rod Liddle for the Sunday Times (£) Sarah Baxter: The People’s Vote is Labour’s bus to nowhere It would have been far wiser for Labour to keep its promise in the 2017 election to accept the referendum result. Corbyn could have held on to remain voters by working with the Tories to achieve the softest of Brexits, defanging the strutting no-deal Spartans and preventing the birth of the Brexit Party. Admittedly, Theresa May was too narrow-minded to reach out for help until it was too late, but the attempt to be constructive would have served Labour well. Instead the party is saddled with a policy on a second referendum at the very moment that voters are sick to death of Brexit. The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, the supposed brains of the operation, has chosen precisely the wrong moment to move his lieutenants, such as Rebecca Long-Bailey, into this camp. Yesterday he placed himself at the head of a People’s Vote march like a field marshal surveying his army. But how many of those present will vote Green or Liberal Democrat? Only if Labour dumps the idea of rerunning the referendum can it fight an election on the basis of “winning the peace” — in the hope that leave voters in the north of England and Midlands prefer its policies to the Tories’ and that Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party fox is shot. But it can’t as Corbyn still hopes to con remainers into voting for him (and to betray them later). – Sarah Baxter for The Times (£) Tony Parsons: Still these dullards in the Commons vote for more dithering, delay and damage to our economy They really don’t get it, do they? Our MPs increasingly resemble those moronic Extinction Rebellion activists who looned on top of a Tube train in London’s rush hour. See them cavort and preen! See them faff and fart about! See the witless prats kick the Brexit can down the road one more time! Like commuters prevented from going to work, out in the real world millions glare up at their stupid, self-indulgent antics, wanting nothing more than to get on with our lives. And still these democratically-elected dullards vote for more dithering, delay and unimaginable damage to our economy. All that stuff about simply wanting to prevent No Deal? Lies, lies and more lies. They lie to us all the time. One day there will be a mighty reckoning for all their mealy-mouthed lies. But not on Saturday. There is a great deal on the table. On Saturday, MPs defecated on the table. Classy! Saturday was the chance for MPs to get down from the roof of the stalled Tube train that is Brexit. Saturday was the day to put the country out of its misery. Saturday was a chance to end the national paralysis. Here at long last, shining like a heavenly light, was an exit door out of purgatory. Finally, after all these wretched years, there was an opportunity to get Brexit done. And the House of Commons blew it. Once more, they placed Parliament above the people. We will never forgive or forget this treachery. – Tony Parsons for The Sun The Sun: Once again, Parliament has proved it is a national disgrace The most duplicitous Parliament in history has proved once again that it is a national disgrace. MPs have promised time and again to take Britain out of the European Union. They promised when they said they would abide by the 2016 Brexit referendum result. They promised when they voted to trigger Article 50. And they promised when the bulk of them stood on pro-Brexit manifestos in the 2017 General Election. But yesterday once again they went back on those promises. Presented with Boris Johnson’s deal, they insulted the voters and chose the route of the Brexit-wreckers. As former Prime Minister Theresa May pointedly told them, if Parliament had never meant to honour the referendum it was guilty of the “most egregious con trick” on the British people. The decision by these con-artists to push through Sir Oliver Letwin’s Brexit-blocking amendment is a wretched waste of precious time. Letwin’s claim that he merely wanted to ensure the UK did not accidentally drop out of the EU on October 31 with no deal is surely disingenuous. He knows Brexit-blockers will use any extra time in an 11th-hour bid to sabotage the legislation and press for a second referendum. Parliament has failed the people. Now the people must have their say. – The Sun editorial Patrick O’Flynn: Letwin plot is ‘disgraceful bid to thwart the will of the people’ Now, thanks to the Prime Minister’s vastly improved deal with Brussels, there is a real chance of Parliament finally permitting our departure. As someone who opposed Theresa May’s fake Brexit deal with its permanent lock-in to EU rules and regulations, I was perfectly prepared to dismiss her successor, Boris Johnson’s agreement too. But I am not doing so as I believe it really does pave the way to restoring national democratic sovereignty. A month ago, MPs who passed the Benn Act, the so-called “Surrender Act” which forbade us leaving the EU without a deal, claimed their only concern was to rule out what they termed a “cliff edge” departure. But now Mr Johnson has, quite against their expectations, returned with a deal agreed with the EU for a smooth exit and the truth will out. Either those MPs will now vote it through or they will be exposed as political charlatans who have simply been trying every trick to thwart Brexit but have lacked the courage to admit it. If they block it again and another extension is forced, then public opinion will surely swing even further against them. I am quite certain now that we are going to win this struggle. We are going to restore our country to the ranks of independent, sovereign democracies and then we are going to make a huge success of it. – Patrick O’Flynn for the Sunday Express Paul Baldwin: For how long can gutless political pygmies prostitute British democracy? So here we are again – Brexit Groundhog Day. Another chance to enact the will of the people ripped away by our gutless political pygmies hell bent on prostituting British democracy. The eyes of the world are upon us said Theresa May this morning with uncommon prescience – they must be blinking in disbelief at how we have the front to call ourselves a democracy. Boris Johnson’s deal is imperfect, as any deal will be imperfect. We are removing a huge nation from a much huger supranation. There’s a lot to go wrong. But it is workable, just. But it requires guts and verve and, yes, a bit of bulldog spirit. And if you’re looking for that in Parliament you’ll be looking for a long time. The Commons is packed-out with risk averse timorous minnows. Nothing great is ever achieved without risk. It’s the risk that makes the greatness and sometimes in life a leap in the dark is required. Without that leap Mount Everest would remain unclimbed, the Atlantic would remain uncrossed and there would be no footprints on the Moon. Without a political leap in the dark – as any GCSE history student will tell you – Britain might never have got universal suffrage. – Paul Baldwin for the Sunday Express Brexit in Brief The next Speaker must restore some respect to this disgraced Parliament – Dame Eleanor Laing MP for the Sunday Telegraph (£) Negotiation in Europe is a fundamentally turbulent sport – James Arnell for ConservativeHome Cabinet ministers given police escorts as hundreds of thousands march against Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal – Sunday Telegraph (£)