Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Boris Johnson sets out ‘glorious’ Brexit plan and says £350m should go to NHS… It is understood that the Foreign Secretary wished to make a speech about Brexit but has not had the opportunity. Whitehall sources suggested that the Prime Minister and Chancellor were unaware of Mr Johnson’s article. His Brexit blueprint will send shockwaves through the Tory ranks and will inevitably spark speculation that Mr Johnson – who sources say supports the Prime Minister and her agenda – may still harbour leadership ambitions, as the Conservative Party prepares to meet at its annual conference next month. – Telegraph (£) The foreign secretary has broken from the emerging cabinet consensus, insisting that Britain should not have to pay to access the EU’s single market after its formal exit in March 2019. He also insisted that the UK, after “settling our accounts”, would regain control of £350 million a week to help fund the NHS, one of the Leave campaign’s most controversial claims.- The Times (£) Boris Johnson’s 10-point plan for a successful Brexit – Telegraph (£) Spend £10bn-a-year EU payments on the NHS instead after 2019, Boris tells Theresa May – The Sun Boris Johnson repeats Leave’s £350m for NHS figure – BBC Boris Johnson: we will claw back £350m a week post-Brexit after all – Guardian Boris Johnson has laid out an exciting, liberal future for Britain. He must challenge Theresa May – Tim Stanley for the Telegraph (£) At last, a positive and bold vision for Brexit – Telegraph editorial (£) With the terror threat level at critical, Johnson launches a leadership bid – or so his critics are bound to claim – Paul Goodman for ConservativeHome Team May hoped to fire Boris. That’s why he’s decided to take the initiative – Iain Martin for Reaction …as a claim is made that the Government ‘has already set aside £27bn’ for a three-year transition… It was claimed that the Government has already set aside the cash hidden in its financial forecasts. Theresa May is likely to request a transition deal of up to three years which will ease the impact of Brexit. It is intended to give businesses time to adjust to life outside the EU while ministers strike trade deals around the world. But Eurocrats plan to use the transition deal as a chance to squeeze even more money out of Britain. One EU official told the Financial Times: “There is a contribution to make for that single market participation which is independent and on top of any debts from the past.” The EU has already demanded a separate one-off payment of as much as £90billion as a condition of striking a trade deal. – The Sun …but Davis says EU divorce bill is now ‘£60bn and falling’ Britain’s EU divorce bill is now presumed to be “£60bn and falling”, the Brexit Secretary told business leaders on Friday, as he offered reassurance about the UK’s future economic relationship with Europe. Sky News has learnt that David Davis told a gathering of bosses at Chevening House that the UK would enjoy a comprehensive free trade agreement with the European Union after Brexit. He is said to have told executives including Xavier Rolet of the London Stock Exchange Group, Steve Varley, who runs accountancy firm EY, and Vittorio Colao of Vodafone that negotiations with Europe had been “scratchy” but that they should not be concerned. – Sky News Burberry’s Christopher Bailey says Brexit is an “enormous” opportunity… Burberry chief creative officer and former CEO Christopher Bailey said this morning that Brexit is an “enormous” opportunity for UK industries. Bailey, who stepped down from his role as chief executive of the British luxury fashion brand this year, told the BBC’s Today Programme that “Britishness resonates globally”, creating worldwide opportunities for growth. *Read more*: Strong Chinese growth sews up improved performance for Burberry But he added that he hoped a climate which was critical of migration would not threaten the UK’s “thriving creative culture”. – City A.M. …as EU governments are accused of letting down businesses by refusing to talk post-Brexit trade… The EU 27 have been accused of adopting a “see no evil, hear no evil speak no evil” attitude because they are refusing to discuss post-Brexit trade despite huge pressure from European businesses. David Thomas, the head of the Council of British Chambers of Commerce in Europe (COBCOE), said fears raised by businesses in the EU have been ignored by some member states who would rather “sit back” and allow the European Commission to dictate the sequencing of the negotiations. With frustrations growing about the slow pace of Brexit negotiations and the huge issues which remain unsettled, uncertainty is threatening the ties between European and British business. – Express …and EU chiefs need to ‘take a wise-up pill’ to avoid economic harm, warns Wetherspoon’s Tim Martin The leaders of the EU need to “take a wise-up pill” to avoid economic damage to the bloc and to prevent British companies deserting their European suppliers, according to JD Wetherspoon founder Tim Martin. The outspoken chairman hit out at European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, Europe’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and MEP Guy Verhofstadt for purposefully obfuscating over a trade deal with the UK. Mr Martin warned that such a move would cause “further economic damage to struggling economies like Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy”. – Telegraph (£) Boss of pub giant JD Wetherspoon threatens to call time on EU-made beers and coffee as he launches attack on “unelected oligarchs” – Daily Mirror Pound soars to post-Brexit high The pound soared to a post-Brexit high against the dollar today, after hawkish comments from one of the Bank of England’s doves this morning got sterling off to a good start. This continued the gains made yesterday, as Bank policymakers hinted an interest rate hike could come in a matter of months. Meanwhile the US dollar was battered by the effects of a series of hurricanes. Retail sales dropped from 0.3 per cent in July to negative 0.2 per cent in August, with Hurricane Harvey blamed for the decline. The industrial production reading plunged by 0.9 per cent. – City A.M. Pound soars on wings of a dove – The Times (£) Pound hits highest since Brexit vote on rate rise speech – BBC John Redwood: Pound hits $1.36 -because of Brexit? – John Redwood’s Diary Post-Brexit ‘Armageddon’ at Dover could be avoided by diverting ships to the east coast The UK shipping industry could avoid a post-Brexit “Armageddon scenario” by diverting sea cargo from Dover to eastern ports such as Felixstowe, Britain’s largest port operator has said. In a policy paper presented to the government this week, Associated British Ports (ABP) called for the UK to reduce its dependency on Dover and instead invest in ports on the Thames, East Anglia and the Humber, among others. The operator said this would reduce disruption to trade by removing the risk of a bottleneck of traffic in Dover, which handles £120bn in imports and exports per year. – Telegraph (£) Government reveals key new Brexit strategy in job advert Ministers today revealed a key new strategy to help them gain the upper hand in the Brexit negotiations – in a job advert for two new Whitehall communications chiefs. The Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) is setting up two new crack teams to deliver intelligence on how the EU is thinking and help push its message across the bloc. They will work over the next two years on creating a “long term grid of activity across EU Member States” which will keep British relations on the continent in good shape during and after Brexit. However, the plans are likely to raise fears amongst some EU officials that the UK is once more trying to open up splits within the bloc in an attempt to undermine Michel Barnier’s negotiating position. – Express Vince Cable to use Lib Dem conference to spell out Brexit dangers Sir Vince Cable is to use his first Liberal Democrat conference as leader to try and convince voters about the dangers of Brexit. As delegates gather in Bournemouth for the start of the four day event Saturday, the former business secretary insisted only the Lib Dems offered a clear exit from Brexit. Speaking ahead of the conference, Sir Vince said: “This is a critical time in British politics, the country has a weak Government trembling over a cliff edge. “Only the Liberal Democrats have been strong and honest in warning the country about the dangers of Brexit. “The Liberal Democrats will fight to keep Britain in the single market and offer an exit from Brexit – a referendum on the final Brexit deal with the option to remain.” – Times & Star Theresa May like a hostage ‘handcuffed to a radiator in Beirut’ over Brexit, Sir Vince Cable says – Telegraph (£) Britain’s treatment of EU nationals is ‘appalling’, says Cable – FT (£) Nine Tory MPs back a move to ensure ‘Henry VIII powers’ are kept short Ministers could cling to sweeping powers allowing them to change laws without Parliament for many years after Brexit, unless Theresa May re-writes her EU withdrawal Bill. Despite claims the far-reaching powers being granted to ministers will expire two years after Brexit, the bill’s small print allows the Government to effectively choose how long they stay in place. The Prime Minster faces a push from Tory MPs demanding a clearer date for the termination of the “Henry VIII powers” – so called because they allow ministers to rule by proclamation. – Independent David Cameron turns on Juncker Despite the former Prime Minister, who stepped down after the referendum result in 2016, being staunchly Remain, he insisted the approach by the European Parliament president is fundamentally wrong. Juncker delivered his “State of the Union” speech in Strasbourg this week, in which he claimed the UK – and the EU – would regret Brexit. Outlining what he claimed is a multitude of successes for the bloc, Juncker said Brussels has the “wind back in our sails”. Juncker unashamedly called for closer ties in defence, budget and strategies throughout Europe, insisting with the recent wave of elections behind them, the EU is safe. – Express Emmanuel Macron’s right-hand men circling the City You know things are serious when one of President Macron’s boys arrives in town. Worried that France was losing the race to lure City financiers to the Continent as Britain prepares to withdraw from Europe, the French leader sent one of his right-hand men across the Channel this week to promote Paris as the new London. Benjamin Griveaux, 39, may only be a junior economy minister, but he was serving as the personal envoy of Jupiter, as Mr Macron is known, because he was one of the founding apostles of his initially quixotic quest for the Élysée palace last year. – The Times (£) Matthew Lynn: The Bank of England can’t remain in its Brexit parallel universe forever House prices are in freefall. Unemployment is rising relentlessly. The pound is plunging on the markets, and companies are re-locating to Paris and Frankfurt in droves. In the parallel universe Mark Carney increasingly seems to live in, that is a pretty accurate description of the British economy. In this universe, however, the picture is very different. The economy is doing just fine – and that is making it increasingly hard to understand why interest rates are being held at ‘emergency’ levels to cope with the ‘catastrophe’ of leaving the European Union. – Matthew Lynn for The Spectator Asa Bennett: Theresa May needs to make EU leaders an offer they cannot refuse The Brexit negotiations motored along at the start, but they have been chuntering lately as neither side wants to back down over some persistent points of disagreement. With the prospect looking bleak of trade being allowed by Brussels to come onto the agenda in October, Theresa May has taken it upon herself to try and get the machine going again by delivering a speech next Friday in Florence.Set-piece speeches suit the Prime Minister down to a tee. Her explanation in January at Lancaster House of what Britain wanted in leaving the European Union has been treated since then as Brexit gospel in Government. – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) My Week: Jean-Claude Juncker* Méindeg Bonjour! Guten tag! ¿Hola? Whatever. I am Jean-Claude Juncker and I am Luxembourgish. Admittedly, here in EU HQ we’re all quite Luxembourgish. But I’m really Luxembourgish. Some days, I’m even more Luxembourgish than Nick Clegg. Et aussi, I am El Presidente of the European Somethingorother. Commission? Council? I forget. The bad one. And by “bad”, I mean, “good”! The one that you Brits think doesn’t do very much except enrage Nigel Farage and employ various Kinnocks. ¡Although actually we do loads! ¡Si! And by “we”, I don’t mean “me”. I don’t really do anything. Anyway, you have left, and wir sind vraiment sad. – Hugo Rifkind for The Times (£) Juliet Samuel: When it comes to preparing for Brexit, we need to be a little more French If Britain doesn’t get a trade deal with the EU, there will be no winners. The fear of not getting a deal, however, might be useful. This might be why France has been privately playing it up. Financial firms based in London have held meetings with regulators and central bank officials across the Continent, but I’m told that none of them can match France for ruthlessness. The fear of no deal is a way of drumming up momentum to favour the continent’s lesser financial centres, namely Paris.. – Juliet Samuel for the Telegraph (£) John Redwood: The bizarre state of the European Union Mr Juncker’s speech earlier this week about the state of his Union contains few surprises. He confirms that “the Euro is meant to be the single currency of the Union as a whole” and sets out a way to make it so. The President of the European Commission reasserts the primacy of all EU law and of the European Court of Justice. He wants more majority voting to settle issues. He proposes a European Minister of Economy and Finance. The European Parliament should become the Parliament of the Euro. – John Redwood for The Commentator Allister Heath: The best companies embrace change and will come up with plans to make Brexit work I’ve long had a problem with publicly owned companies doing politics. They can and should do policy, of course: they certainly owe it to their shareholders to try to influence the laws and taxes that affect them directly. They are also perfectly entitled to fight for capitalism in a broad sense: without that, they wouldn’t exist. But there is a line that shouldn’t be crossed. They shouldn’t explicitly back a political party or a particular side in a referendum. That should be the preserve of private individuals and private companies. PLCs should try to make the best of democratic decisions, and they should accept and embrace big social trends. – Allister Heath for the Telegraph (£) Brexit in brief Theresa May won’t need to worry about a second referendum after Jean-Claude Juncker’s EU speech on integration – James Forsyth for The Sun The Brexit bunch are following a decidedly French script – Philip Collins for Prospect The Government would be right to ‘take back control’ of our aid budget – Henry Hill for ConservativeHome Liam Fox has embraced Ricardo’s vision of trade – Marian L. Tupy for CapX ‘Psycho’ Osborne has gone too far this time – Laura Perrins for ConservativeWoman If Parliament is diminished it is not for lack of Opposition Day theatre – Henry Hill for ConservativeHome Turning the key on Locked-in Syndrome – Walter Ellis for Reaction Henry VIII ‘took back control’ but it eventually led to civil war – Peter Frankopan for the Evening Standard Brexit is trivial: Prepare for the tech revolution – Jamie Bartlett for Reaction ‘Auf Wiedersehen, Pret’: London warned of Brexit exodus of EU workers – Evening Standard