Conference goers queued in their hundreds to get into last night’s BrexitCentral rally… Jacob Rees-Mogg, leader of the influential European Research Group of Brexiteer Tory backbenchers was cheered by activists who queued around the conference centre to get into the rally hosted by the Brexit Central website… Urging Eurosceptics to “hold our nerve”, he said that if the alternative of a free trade deal similar to the EU’s with Canada could not be agreed, there was no fear in leaving on World Trade Organisation terms and having “a proper, red-blooded, Conservative approach to governing that frees the people from being tied down. We have been Gulliver. Let us cut the ropes that the Lilliputians have tied on to us and show our giant form once again,” he added. – Express …where Jacob Rees-Mogg urged Tories not to fear a no-deal Brexit… Speaking to party members in Birmingham last night, Mr Rees-Mogg said the UK should not “fear” walking away from Brexit talks. He urged the Government to embrace the prospect of a hard Brexit by refusing to “a single penny” of the EU’s divorce bill. Mr Rees-Mogg said a move would help the least well off in Britain, and he insisted it was all legally justifiable. Outlining his plan the MP said: “There is £40billion of your hard earned money going to the European Union which we save.” – Express …and Conor Burns suggested Chequers means ‘Not in Europe, but run by Europe’… During a boisterous BrexitCentral rally at the party’s annual conference… Tory MPs lined up to condemn the prime minister’s Chequers proposals. Conor Burns told party activists: “If Chequers had a slogan, it would be: ‘Not in Europe, but run by Europe’.” But he claimed he was in a “compromising mood” and offered a hand of friendship to the prime minister, saying: “Adopt Canada-plus-plus, seal the deal. If you want to call is Chequers 2 then that’s cool with me. Prime minister, we don’t want to change you. We want you to change the policy of Chequers. Please, please, do it now.” – The Independent …while Ross Thomson condemned the Prime Minister’s plan as ‘an unmitigated disaster’ A packed conference fringe, attended by several hundred activists and hosted by the BrexitCentral campaign group on Sunday evening, saw standing ovations for [Jacob] Rees-Mogg, [Ross] Thomson and [Conor] Burns… The most withering attack on the PM came from Thomson, MP for Aberdeen South, who said that Chequers had ‘humiliated’ the UK on the international stage. “Chequers is an unmitigated disaster, it has humiliated us at home and in the EU and it is breaking this party apart.” He added that the ‘Opportunity’ slogan of the 2018 Tory conference was missing some key words: “I couldn’t help but think [they were] ‘missed’, ’lost, ‘wasted’ and ‘squandered’.” – Huffington Post I do believe in Brexit, insists May – but she won’t rule out more compromises… Theresa May has refused to rule out further compromises in order to broker a final deal with the EU, but hit back at Boris Johnson after the former foreign secretary questioned her belief in Brexit. The prime minister was asked repeatedly whether she was prepared to make further concessions to the EU after European leaders rejected her proposal in Salzburg earlier this month, saying it would risk the integrity of the EU single market. Speaking on the first day of the Conservative party conference in Birmingham, May told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that the government had to wait to hear the EU’s specific counter-proposals. – Guardian …as the PM insists Brexit will be a success ‘regardless’ of the outcome of the negotiations Theresa May claimed she would make a “success” of Brexit “regardless” of whatever exit deal the UK agrees with the Brussels bloc. The Prime Minister’s Chequer blueprint has faced criticism from EU leaders and from within her own party. Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show, Mrs May insisted that she would make a success of leaving the European Union regardless of the exit arrangement. Marr said: “Now if we don’t get the deal we want, your plan B at the moment is no deal at all. Can I ask, don’t the British people deserve a better proper plan B?” Mrs May replied: “I am working to get a good deal for the United Kingdom. I am working to ensure we get the best deal for the United Kingdom.” The BBC host stepped in pointing out the Prime Minister could not “be sure” Britain would get a good deal at the end of negotiations. – Express > WATCH on BrexitCentral’s YouTube channel: Theresa May interviewed by Andrew Marr Northern Ireland voters fear May will betray them Voters in Northern Ireland believe that Theresa May will betray them over Brexit, a Times poll has found. Sixty per cent said they believed that the prime minister would not honour her promise to keep Northern Ireland exactly the same as the rest of the United Kingdom, with no border in the Irish Sea, according to the poll by LucidTalk. A further 26 per cent “have their doubts” that Mrs May would keep her promise. Only 12 per cent expressed full trust in her. One in three Democratic Unionist Party voters does not trust Mrs May to keep her promise, suggesting that the Northern Ireland party could face a backlash if there were any attempt by Mrs May to soften her position. – The Times (£) Jeremy Hunt compares the EU to the USSR and accuses the bloc of holding the UK ‘prisoner’… Jeremy Hunt compared the European Union to the USSR as he warned Brussels: You cannot keep us prisoner. The Foreign Secretary launched an extraordinary attack on the EU in a conference speech which invoked Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill and which will inevitably spark speculation of a future leadership bid. It came as Theresa May and Boris Johnson were at loggerheads over the Government’s approach to Brexit negotiations as the Prime Minister repeatedly failed to rule out making changes to her Chequers plan to secure a deal with the EU. – Telegraph (£) Jeremy Hunt compares the EU to the Soviet Union and says if it becomes a ‘prison’ by denying the UK a fair Brexit deal other countries will ‘want to escape’ and it will crumble – Daily Mail …and warns the EU that a bad Brexit deal would stir Britain’s ‘Dunkirk spirit’ The Foreign Secretary has warned the EU that it will stir Britain’s “Dunkirk spirit” if it tries to force a bad Brexit deal on Prime Minister Theresa May. Jeremy Hunt’s warning at the Conservative Party Conference came after he compared the EU to the Soviet Union. He said that if the bloc becomes a “prison” and punishes Britain for Brexit other countries will “want to escape.” Mr Hunt also invoked Margaret Thatcher as he told EU leaders that if they want to break up the UK by putting a border in the Irish Sea the answer is “No, no, no.” In an interview with The Telegraph after his speech, Mr Hunt said the EU was “over-confident” about Britain’s willingness to compromise, adding that if Europe took a hard line: “The way Britain reacts is not that we crumble or fold but actually you end up invoking the Dunkirk spirit and we fight back. – Telegraph (£) EU may leave the UK with ‘no choice’ but a no-deal Brexit, says Dominic Raab The UK could be left with “no choice” but a no-deal Brexit if the EU tries to “lock us in” to a customs union, according to Dominic Raab. The Brexit secretary will tell his party’s conference later that any attempt “via the back door” will be met with the UK walking away. He will say the UK’s willingness to compromise is “not without limits”. Later, Chancellor Philip Hammond will attempt to look beyond Brexit in a speech about plans to raise salaries. Mr Raab – who has been a vocal supporter of Brexit – will say: “We are leaving the European Union in fact, not just in name. – BBC News Iain Duncan Smith: ‘EU migrants should have to wait five years before they can claim benefits’ EU migrants should be banned from claiming benefits in Britain until they have lived here for five years, Iain Duncan Smith will say today. The former Tory leader says welfare payments for EU migrants cost the UK nearly £5billion last year and he is calling for a tough new regime post-Brexit. He argues such curbs would reduce the number of unskilled workers arriving from Eastern Europe and help the Tories hit their tens of thousands migration target. – Daily Mail > Iain Duncan Smith MP on BrexitCentral today: The Chequers plan would not deliver a properly controlled migration policy David Davis: Barnier saw Irish border issue from ‘nationalist perspective’ Michel Barnier had a “tendency” to view the issue of the Irish border “from the nationalist perspective,” former U.K. Brexit Secretary David Davis said Sunday, adding that the U.K. found it “difficult” to engage with Dublin on the issue in his final months in government. The idea of holding a referendum on the status of Northern Ireland had “floated around” the EU, Davis told Politico’s Jack Blanchard at the Future of Britain post-2022 event at the Conservative party’s conference. But he said EU negotiator Barnier had never personally raised such an idea with him. – Politico Gibraltar Chief Minister urges Theresa May to channel Churchill and stick to her ‘solid’ Chequers plan Theresa May is under fresh pressure not to ditch her Chequers plan from the boss of Gibraltar. In a rare Brexit boost for the PM, the Rock’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo says Mrs May’s plan is the only “solid deal” that will protect the United Kingdom and keep trade flowing. Urging Mrs May to channel “Nelson, Churchill and the heroes of the Falklands war”, Mr Picardo warned Chequers is how to square the result of referendum without Britain losing out. And he told The Sun: “Gibraltar has always been there for the British people. Now Britain is there for us, making sure that the good things we had from the EU are not lost.” – The Sun Dominic Grieve: “It’s difficult to see what would be better than a second Brexit referendum” Dominic Grieve does not immediately strike you as a man prone to controversy. On a Wednesday afternoon interview in his Westminster office, he begins by reflecting on his time in parliament: “I had 13,years in opposition, which were difficult, and a very interesting just over four years in government, which I’m sorry came to an end.” This understated appearance is misleading. In June, the unofficial leader of Remain-supporting Tory MPs was causing havoc for the Government. Now, after a quiet summer of non-interference, he is again voicing his disquiet with the road to Brexit, to the extent that he is for the first time backing a second referendum as put forward by the People’s Vote campaign. – New Statesman Tory rebels plot to bring down Theresa May and install new PM who will call a second EU referendum – The Sun Iain Duncan Smith attacks Dominic Grieve over national government call – PoliticsHome Lord Ashcroft: They want a People’s Vote. So what was 2016, then? A Penguins’ Vote? Once again, conference-goers are being harangued by protesters demanding things noisily, though it’s not always easy to tell exactly what – from inside the perimeter we heard a fellow booming something into a megaphone which could have been ‘No Brexit’ but might on the other hand have been ‘Poached Eggs Please’. It is certainly true that some of the demonstrators are demanding another referendum on Brexit, or a People’s Vote, as they like to call it. Which I always think begs the question – a people’s vote as opposed to what? What was 2016 – a badgers’ vote? Penguins? I suppose they had to choose a name, and they can’t very well call it Try Again And Pay Attention This Time, or Repent!, which is what they really mean. – Lord Ashcroft for ConservativeHome Brian Monteith: Theresa May will survive conference but Chequers will not The Prime Minister should survive the Conservative Party conference this week but her policy to offer a limited type of Brexit – which can only lead to further compromises once negotiations go down to the wire – is set for widespread rejection. Gone are the days when a Conservative conference might allow a vote on a government policy or accept motions to be submitted from constituency associations to act as a release for unrest among party members. Few in the past under Margaret Thatcher realised how fortunate they were to be able to submit an impromptu speaker’s slip and be called to say their piece – and without any vetting or manipulation of what you might say. – Brian Monteith for the Scotsman Larry Elliott: Leftwing Brexiters want out from the ‘transnational juggernaut’ Politics was once a simple affair. On one side were the lefties, unhappy with the status quo and agitating for something different. On the other side were the conservatives, suspicious of change. When it comes to Brexit, though, the natural order of things has been reversed. The right has come up with all sorts of visions – most of them dystopian – of Britain’s future outside the European Union. The left, for the most part, has spent its time praying for the vote in June 2016 to be reversed. It’s a bit more complicated than that. There are those on the left who understand that there was a reason people who had never voted before came out in their millions to vote for leave, and who say that something must be done for communities hollowed out by the failed policies of the past four decades. They even have a soundbite: tough on Brexit, tough on the causes of Brexit. – Larry Elliott for the Guardian The Sun Says: Eeyore Chancellor Philip Hammond must encourage businesses to invest in Britain’s future The Tories have made a decent start to their conference – but they need to set their ambitions higher. Last week the Labour Party promised easy answers on everything from housing to the economy. It was a radical, if utterly disastrous, vision for Britain. The Government changing tipping rules and increasing taxes on foreign property buyers is pretty small beer. Not least since the former was first announced three years ago and the latter is pretty much copied from last year’s Labour manifesto. Philip Hammond — rarely mistaken for a ray of sunshine — needs to provide light at the end of the austerity tunnel. He must lay the groundwork for entrepreneurs to thrive in a newly liberated, unapologetically free market economy. – The Sun says Brexit in Brief Now we must seize the opportunities that Brexit offers – Chloe Westley for ConservativeHome It has only just dawned on the Government that leaving the EU was designed to be difficult – Christopher Booker for the Telegraph (£) Why Canada option is just as damaging as ‘no deal’ – Nicky Morgan MP for The Times (£) Boris Johnson’s ‘super-Canada’ plan could never work. Here’s why – Gina Miller for the Guardian Sir John Curtice hits back at MP suggestions pollsters misled public on Brexit – Telegraph (£) Theresa May and senior Tories hit back at Boris Johnson over his claims Brexit plans ‘deranged’ – ITV News Philip Hammond mocks Boris Johnson for being ‘incapable’ of grown-up politics – Telegraph (£) Liam Fox suggests Theresa May may quit as PM next March after Brexit – The Sun Senior Tories acting like ‘political jihadis’ over Brexit, major donor warns – Independent Leaving EU will release cash for threatened species – Express