Boris Johnson attacks Tony Blair’s call to Brexit voters to ‘rise up’ and reverse the decision Boris Johnson ripped into Tony Blair for his below the belt “contempt” for British voters as the former PM launched a new bid to block Brexit. The Foreign Secretary accused Mr Blair of “bare-faced effrontery” by insisting Brits were wrong to want to leave the EU and called for a new movement to “rise up” and reverse the decision. – The Sun Tony Blair’s campaign is attacked by Blairite MPs Tony Blair faced a backlash from some of his own supporters after his call for millions of worried Britons to rise up to halt Brexit. Blairite Labour MPs joined the Conservatives and Ukip in criticising the former Prime Minister for refusing to accept “the result of the referendum”…One unnamed Labour source went further, telling the Press Association: “No wonder we are still trying to recover from Tony Blair’s legacy when he has such contempt for democracy.” – The Independent Farage taunts Blair at Ukip conference He furiously tore into the former Labour leader for suggesting British voters didn’t realise what they were doing when they voted for the UK to leave the European Union. Mr Farage said: “Blair is yesterday’s man. He’s like the heavyweight world champion who needs to come back and make some money but gets knocked out first round.” – Daily Express Watch Blair’s comeback speech – Daily Mirror ‘Yesterday’s man’ may have just united Britain for Brexit – Daily Express Reality Check: Do Tony Blair’s assertions add up? – BBC He is not the right man for the job – Times editorial (£) Tony Blair’s Brexit speech: the message not the messenger – Guardian editorial Fatal flaws in Blair’s Brexit – stop patronising the electorate – Yorkshire Post editorial Blair showcases the confusion in Continuity Remain – Henry Hill for ConservativeHome Could Tony Blair be Labour’s next leader? – City A.M. 68% want government to get on with Brexit A new ICM poll for Change Britain confirms Tony Blair’s delusion. 68% of voters want the government to “get on with implementing the result of the referendum”, compared to just 15% who disagree. Even more Remain voters (42%) agree with the statement than disagree (33%). When this question was last polled in December, 26% of Remainers wanted the government to get on with the job compared to 40% who disagreed. The Blairite / Open Britain talk of Leave voters changing their minds is fantasy – it is Remainers who are changing their minds and now want the government to deliver Brexit – Guido Fawkes Boris Johnson warns against erection of commercial barriers The election of Donald Trump, who was swept to power on a wave of protectionist rhetoric and has vowed to tear up trade deals he views as bad for the US, and the Brexit vote have been viewed as reactions to globalisation. But the Foreign Secretary, a prominent Brexiteer, insisted: “This is not the moment for us to turn our backs on globalisation.” Speaking at the Munich Security Conference he said: “Let’s not let globalisation become a bad word, let’s defend it, let’s exalt it, indeed defend global free trade.” – Belfast Telegraph Theresa May stresses importance of early deal on EU citizens’ rights Theresa May stressed the importance of an early deal on EU citizens’ rights after Brexit during talks with the French prime minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, at Downing Street. The prime minister said she was “delighted” to welcome Cazeneuve and that they had “worked so well together” when she was home secretary and he was France’s interior minister… “But there are many issues on which the UK and France have been working very well and our bilateral relationship is very strong and I look forward to being able to develop that across a number of areas, including, of course, our defence and security.” – The Guardian Boris Johnson refuses to withdraw description of Brexit as a ‘liberation’ The U.K. foreign secretary was responding to a challenge by a European Union lawmaker at the Munich Security Conference that he shouldn’t have used the term “liberation” to describe Britain’s exit from the bloc. It has too much of a loaded meaning in a continent that’s not forgotten its experience of war and occupation, she told him, to a round of applause. “Come on,” retorted Johnson, who was participating in a debate entitled “The future of the West”. “I have to say, I hesitate to accuse you of pomposity, but the word liberation clearly means… it’s etymologically equivalent to being freed, and it’s an undeniable fact that we, the U.K., has been unable to do, to run it’s own trade policy for 44 years.” – Bloomberg The House of Lords will water down the historic Brexit Bill, vows Labour’s Baroness Chakrabarti The Labour frontbencher said she believed the upper chamber would take the ‘opportunity’ to amend the legislation. The new laws are due to be considered by peers for the first time on Monday at the start of detailed scrutiny a fortnight after the Bill was agreed by a landslide in the Commons. Amendments on the rights of EU citizens currently living in Britain after Brexit and the timing of Parliamentary votes on Brexit deal are expected to be the focus of any rebellion. – Daily Mail Return of pounds and ounces? Britain might allow firms to use imperial measures after Brexit British food manufacturers could be able to sell goods in pounds and ounces once laws are repatriated from Brussels after Brexit, Andrea Leadsom, the Environment Food and Rural Affairs secretary has said. Mrs Leadsom also suggested that after the UK leaves the European Union in 2019 food manufacturers could be allowed to use teaspoons to demonstrate how much sugar is in food products. – Daily Telegraph Paris won’t replace London post-Brexit because French less financially minded says French finance boss French people are not financially minded, the boss of a $60bn French private equity fund said on Wednesday. Speaking at the Cass Business School in London, the Financial Times reported Dominique Senequier as saying: “London has always been the number one financial city in Europe. It may no longer be in Europe [after Brexit] but for me it won’t change the situation. It will still be London, and not only London, but people who are financially minded.- The Independent Henry Hill: The DUP’s mainland campaigning on Brexit is no mystery This week, Open Democracy ran an article on the so-called “dark money that paid for Brexit“. The supposedly-sinister funds referred to were those that the Democratic Unionist Party contributed to Vote Leave. Now, the reason they call it “dark money” is because political donations are still secret in Northern Ireland…But rather than confining themselves to that, the authors at Open Democracy go to some length to try to persuade us that the DUP’s actual campaigning activity was also deeply suspicious. – Henry Hill for ConservativeHome Shanker Singham and Molly Kiniry: Should Britain set sail for an EFTA trade deal? It is in this EFTA group that some of the quickest wins may come. But should this group should be pursued as a bloc or individually? And if individually, what should our priorities be? One solution is for Britain to simply rejoining EFTA. But opposition to this may come from the EFTA counties themselves. Norway’s prime minister, Erna Solberg, has already expressed scepticism about the prospect of the UK joining. Shanker Singham and Molly Kiniry for CapX Paul Waugh: How the former PM started his comeback tour For the rapt audience in Bloomberg’s hi-tech conference room, this was as close as it gets to political Nirvana. And like fans of an ageing rock star kicking off his comeback tour, the Labour, Lib Dem and City slicker Remainers couldn’t take their eyes off their hero. The feeling of getting the band back together again was evident from the gaggle of former Downing Street aides gathered for the big gig. – Paul Waugh for the Huffington Post In brief Inside the British Asian Brexit vote – and why it contains a few surprises – Rakib Ehsan for UK in a Changing Europe Post-Brexit UK economy demands a new type of Robin Hood tax – Avinash Persaud for The Guardian Morgan Stanley: The pound is actually undervalued since the Brexit vote – BusinessInsider The Leaver reaching out to immigrants – BBC Medical research organisation claims access to life-saving clinical trials ‘at risk’ after Brexit – Independent