Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Boris Johnson says it is ‘not too late to save Brexit’ as he describes PM’s Chequers plan as a ‘miserable, permanent limbo’ Boris Johnson has savaged Theresa May’s “miserable” blueprint for leaving the EU, telling MPs it is “not too late to save Brexit”. In an explosive resignation statement, the former foreign secretary praised the prime minister’s “courage” and “resilience”, but said the government had “dithered” and allowed a “fog of self-doubt” to descend… In his 12-minute speech Mr Johnson advocated a change of policy rather than a change of leader, telling the Commons: “If the PM can fix that vision once again before us then I believe she can deliver a great Brexit for Britain.” … Mr Johnson made the case for Mrs May returning to her original Brexit red lines, saying: “It is not too late to save Brexit. “We have time in these negotiations. We have changed tack once and we can change again. The problem is not that we have failed to make the case for a free trade agreement of the kind spelt out at Lancaster House. We haven’t even tried. We must try now because we will not get another chance to do it right.” – Sky News The former Foreign Secretary said that the Government has spent the past 18 months in “a fog of self-doubt” having “dithered” and “burned through negotiating capital”. He said that “worst of all” the Government had allowed the Northern Irish border issue “to become so politically charged as to dominate the debate”. Mr Johnson said that when he and colleagues proposed technical solutions for customs checks, “they were never even properly examined” and it became “taboo” to even discuss them. He urged the Prime Minister to return to the “glorious” Lancaster House speech she made last year of a “strong, independent self-governing Britain that is genuinely open to the World”. “Not the miserable, permanent limbo of Chequers, the democratic disaster of ‘ongoing harmonisation’ with no way out and no say for the UK,” he said as he delivered his resignation statement in the House of Commons… “It is absolute nonsense to imagine – as I fear some of my colleagues do – that we can somehow afford to make a botched Treaty now, and then break and reset the bone later on. We have seen in these talks how the supposedly provisional becomes eternal.” – Telegraph (£) Boris Johnson: It is not too late to save Brexit – BBC News Boris Johnson accuses Theresa May of delivering a ‘Brexit in name only’ as she’s planning a ‘stealthy retreat’ – The Sun Boris Johnson: Chequers Brexit plan should be torn up – Politico Cabinet stays away as Boris Johnson harks back to ‘glorious vision’ – The Times (£) Boris Johnson resignation speech in full – what did the ex-Foreign Secretary say in his Commons statement? – The Sun The pound did soar after Lancaster House Speech – Guido Fawkes Jacob Rees-Mogg backs Boris – Steerpike Boris Johnson has expressed the sense of betrayal felt by ordinary Leavers – Allister Heath for the Telegraph (£) I was wrong about Boris Johnson – Rod Liddle for the Spectator Boris Johnson could have finished Theresa May. He chose to give her one last chance – Michael Deacon for the Telegraph (£) Boris’s speech makes it harder for May to sell her Chequers plan – James Forsyth for the Spectator Boris Johnson’s scathing resignation speech could mean the start of a leadership challenge – Leo McKinstry for the Telegraph (£) > READ: Full text of Boris Johnson’s resignation speech in the House of Commons > WATCH: Boris Johnson’s resignation speech > WATCH: Former Brexit Minister David Jones: Many MPs agree with Boris > Rory Broomfield on BrexitCentral: Remaining tied to EU regulations will make trade deals harder in the world’s fastest-growing markets Immediate threat to Theresa May subsides after ‘warm’ meeting with Conservative MPs… An immediate threat to Theresa May’s premiership appears to be subsiding after a Tory MP withdrew his letter of no confidence in the prime minister. Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Simon Clarke used an end-of-term meeting of the Conservative Party’s 1922 Committee to formally revoke his demand for a new party leader.… However, former Brexit minister Steve Baker, who quit the government in protest at the Chequers plan, sent a warning to Mrs May as he claimed there were substantially more than 40 MPs opposed to her strategy. He said: “A number of 40 has been bandied around in this House in the last few days – I’m sorry to say, it gives me no pleasure to say it, but the thing I have to say is ‘and the rest’. The people who have said the number 40 are not out by a fraction when they come to consider the number of members who don’t like this deal on these benches and are willing to vote in line with that dislike, they are out by a factor. People must face up to the difficult truth that a Brexit which requires a high degree of permanent alignment to the EU will not go through this House of Commons. It will fail.” – Sky News Theresa May’s Brexit relief won’t last long – the clock is still ticking towards catastrophic rupture – Peter Foster for the Telegraph (£) Tory meltdown makes no deal ever more likely – Iain Martin for The Times (£) Humiliation beckons if we cannot unit around a plan for Brexit – Nick Timothy for the Telegraph (£) Theresa May should go home, put her feet up and let her party elect a leader who will take no more c**p from Brussels – Rod Liddle for The Sun Please throw in the towel, Theresa – we need a Brexit champion with real vision – Clare Foges for The Sun The Prime Minister is the right person for the job – Express editorial > WATCH: Steve Baker warns that a high alignment deal will fail > WATCH: Steve Baker on the Brexit White Paper in full > WATCH: Sir Bill Cash: “I’ve heard of rats leaving a sinking ship, but never rats trying to sink a leaving ship.” …as she rejects ‘Brexit means Remain’ accusation in testy final PMQs… Theresa May had to contend with further backbench anger over Brexit at PMQs, as Jeremy Corbyn claimed the government had “sunk into a mire of chaos and division”… And Mrs May was left under no illusions that she would be in for another testing time when Brexiteer MP Andrea Jenkyns rose to ask the first question. The MP for Morley and Outwood in West Yorkshire acidly enquired “at what point it was decided that Brexit means Remain?” – drawing shouts from across the chamber. Mrs May batted away the charge, telling MPs she was focused on getting a “workable” Brexit solution… Mrs May defended her acceptance of Brexiteer amendments to key Brexit legislation and insisted her plan for Britain’s post-exit customs arrangement had not been binned and was being discussed with Brussels. – Sky News Brexit deal must be workable, says Theresa May – BBC News Brexit customs deal will be ready by 2020 insists May in heated showdown with MPs – Express Jacob Rees-Mogg running the country? Brexiteers would only wish that were true – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) > WATCH: Andrea Jenkyns asks the Prime Minister when it was decided “Brexit means Remain” > WATCH: Theresa May says the four Brexiteer amendments to the Customs Bill she accepted on Monday don’t change the Government’s Chequers plan as set out in the Brexit White Paper …while she will embark on a national tour in an attempt to woo grassroots Tories over Brexit deal Theresa May will go on a tour of Britain this summer in an attempt to convince sceptical Tory members to back her plan for Brexit. The scale of unrest among grassroots Conservatives emerged yesterday as Boris Johnson used a resignation speech to galvanise the party’s membership against the prime minister’s Chequers plan. Mrs May appears to have survived the most turbulent period of her leadership after defeating rebellions from the Remain and Brexiteer wings of her party. Details have emerged, however, of a “tense” and “emotionally charged” meeting this week at No 10 between Tory association heads and Brandon Lewis, the party chairman. “A lot of people there were clearly upset,” the Conservative Home website reported… A YouGov poll for The Times taken on Monday and Tuesday suggests that 50 per cent of Conservative voters and 70 per cent of people who voted for Brexit say that the government is making a bad job of negotiating Britain’s exit from the EU. – The Times (£) Rising in the polls undead UKIP terrifies Tories – Guido Fawkes “Very tense”, “a sellout” – Inside the Downing Street charm offensive to try to win Conservative activists’ support for Chequers – Mark Wallace for ConservativeHome After Chequers, the polls are shifting away from the Tories – Matt Singh for CapX Tory members can no longer grin and bear Theresa May’s handling of Brexit – Don Porter for the Telegraph (£) Theresa May tells ministers to start giving out No-Deal Brexit advice… Theresa May has revealed ministers are about to start issuing a raft of advice for Britain to go it alone in a bid to appease revolting Brexiteers. The PM pledged to visibly step up no deal preparations, starting next month with the release of 70 different technical notices to businesses and individuals… Going public on the Government’s no deal plans – long called-for by Leave campaigners – marks a significant sea change in its tactics. Until now, the Treasury Business Department have insisted on keeping a lid on no deal work so as not to scare companies into an exodus… In a bid to harden up her negotiating stand, Mrs May was also challenged by former DexEU minister Steve Baker – who resigned last week – to talk up the no deal planning to show Brussels she is serious. Mrs May responded to call him “absolutely right”, adding: “The EU need to be in no doubt that we are making those preparations and ensuring that, should that be the outcome, we are prepared.” – The Sun ‘Prepare for no deal Brexit’ May warns businesses and homes to get ready – Express Raab to flood businesses with ‘no-deal’ Brexit advice – FT (£) Ministers to start issuing no deal Brexit advice – Express Government planning for no deal driving permits as NAO warns over timing – BBC News > WATCH: Steve Baker challenges May on no deal preparations at PMQs …as European Commission prepares to ramp up warnings over no deal Brexit plans… The European Commission will today urge member states, businesses and private individuals to step up their preparations for no deal, ahead of the first meeting between Michel Barnier and Dominic Raab… In tandem, however, City A.M understands a Brussels taskforce will build on recommendations reached at June’s European Councils that countries, businesses and citizens begin preparations for a no deal in earnest. It is thought a document may be published setting out what should be carried out to ensure readiness for all eventualities, with particular focus paid to those most affected – namely businesses that trade between the EU27 and the UK. – City A.M. European Commission to warn member states to prepare for no-deal Brexit – PA/AOL …while Dutch reveal they have hired three times as many customs staff as UK in preparation for a ‘no-deal’ Brexit… Ministers were shamed yesterday as the Dutch revealed they had already hired three times as many customs staff as the UK to prepare for a no-deal Brexit. The Dutch Parliament’s Brexit liaison officer said the Netherlands had brought in “almost 1,000 officials just in case Britain crashes out”. The officer, Pieter Omtzigt, revealed he had pushed the button on the hiring spree a year ago – in case of a “chaotic Brexit”. It came as the Home Office admitted it had only so far recruited 300 extra Border Force staff specifically for Brexit. The staff are still being trained and will not be ready to be “deployed” until later this summer, a spokesman said. In contrast, France has announced it will hire an extra 700 customs’ officers to police its ports on the English Channel after Brexit… Brexit-backing MPs said the numbers defied belief and demanded Theresa May and the Chancellor step up their contingency plans. Ex-Brexit Minister David Jones told The Sun: “We need to step it up and make it visible. It would put the fear of God into the EU.” … He added: “The thing is when I was a Minister we had 300 workstreams in place preparing for a No Deal. The Government has never decided to say enough about the planning that has been done.” – The Sun How Europe is bracing for messy Brexit: dogs, drones, do nothing – Bloomberg Varadkar preparing for no deal as Dublin hits out at May ‘turmoil’ – Express Ireland panic over Brexit as Dublin hires 1,000 new customs officers – Express …as EU27 negotiators and MEPs reportedly mull extension to Article 50 over no deal fears An extension to next year’s Article 50 deadline is being discussed in the backrooms of Brussels, as MEPs and officials from member states weigh up plans to avoid a cliff-edge Brexit… One MEP said there had been “serious talk of extending Article 50, and all the EU27 are prepared to do it”. However, they insisted the deadline would only be for a relatively short period of time in order to officially finalise the deal. “They don’t want to stop Brexit,” the MEP said. A second MEP added: “That thought has been going around for some time. It will probably only happen if the negotiations are so advanced that the EU believes a deal can be struck.” While some have said the extension could be as long as two years, a third source suggested it could be as little as six weeks “to give us time to finish the democratic process in the UK – whether that be in [the] commons, [or via] an election or referendum”. The European Parliament does not want to prolong the process indefinitely as it has its own elections next summer. – City A.M. New Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab set for talks with EU today as May heads to Irish border The UK’s new Brexit secretary will hold his first talks with the EU’s chief negotiator in Brussels later. Dominic Raab was appointed when David Davis resigned in protest at Theresa May’s plans for post-Brexit trade. It now falls to Mr Raab – part of the winning Leave campaign in the 2016 EU referendum – to continue negotiations with the EU’s Michel Barnier… On Thursday, Theresa May will be making her first visit to the Irish border since the Brexit referendum. No 10 says the visit will “reaffirm her commitment to a Brexit that avoids a hard border and protects the Belfast Agreement”. – BBC News Theresa May to visit Northern Ireland border for the first time as PM – Sky News Brexit pressure mounts over Northern Ireland border – FT (£) Baptism of fire for UK’s new Brexit minister – Katya Adler for BBC News International Trade Secretary Liam Fox to prioritise Australia, New Zealand and US for post-Brexit trade deals Liam Fox has announced he will prioritise post-Brexit trade deals with Australia, New Zealand and the US – despite Donald Trump slamming on the brakes last week. The International Trade Secretary announced the three English-speaking countries and fellow members of the Five Eyes security partnership would be front of the queue for trade deals after Britain leaves the EU… In a speech in London he announced four new 14-week public consultations to start scoping the the three free trade deals as well as looking into the prospect of joining the multinational Trans-Pacific Partnership that includes Japan, Canada, Chile, Singapore and Mexico – even though the block is on the other side of the world. The consultations will enable formal trade negotiations to open on Brexit Day next March… Mr Fox also stepped up warnings of how a No Deal Brexit would impact EU countries – claiming Ireland’s economy would face an eight per cent fall in GDP, Holland a four per cent and Belgium a three-and-a-half per cent hit to their economies. – The Sun Britain is at a historic crossroads on the path to a global trading future – Liam Fox for CapX David Davis’ former Chief of Staff Stewart Jackson accuses Downing Street of “constitutional impropriety” The Chequers Brexit plan raises “very serious questions of constitutional propriety” because it was drawn up by officials in the Europe Unit in Downing Street who made “undertakings to Brussels” without proper political oversight, according to Stewart Jackson, who was Chief of Staff to the Brexit Secretary, David Davis. Jackson describes how he and others in the Brexit Department attributed the delays in publishing the Brexit White Paper to incompetence: “We made the mistake of assuming that what was happening was cock-up when it was conspiracy.” … “We should have been aware – in February, they tried to bounce David Davis and the department to what I call Chequers 1.0, exactly what they wanted to do at that stage. And David Davis pushed back on that, said I don’t accept it, I don’t believe it’s the right approach, it’s not in keeping with the Florence speech, it’s not in keeping with the undertakings we’ve made in the general election and at Lancaster House, and it’s not acceptable – it won’t pass the Cabinet and it won’t pass Parliament. And whereas we thought that was the end of the matter, it was clear at that stage that there was a decision in the Europe Unit at Number Ten, at the highest level, to circumvent the department. And the imperative they had was to stop us holding the pen and producing the White Paper, because once we’d produced it, and it was really more or less ready to go in April, early May, that became our de facto UK policy and would be accepted by the EU.” – ConservativeHome Peter Foster: Theresa May’s Brexit relief won’t last long – the clock is still ticking towards catastrophic rupture The UK Brexit white paper was always viewed as a fundamentally tactical and political document in Brussels, designed to open the door to further negotiations (and concessions) rather than a serious blueprint for the future… The entire conceit of the Chequers document and the white paper – designed as it was to temporarily reconcile the irreconcilable – now lies in tatters… With the Chequers white paper the political equivalent of nitroglycerine, it seems the EU have decided not to try and move such an unstable political compound for fear that one false move might blow the whole thing up. Instead, sources say, they will focus on delivering the Withdrawal Agreement, which is a much narrower treaty that just includes the £40bn Brexit bill, guarantees EU and UK citizens’ rights and tidies up ‘housekeeping’ issues like continuity of legal contracts. There is only one problem: the Withdrawal Agreement must also include a ‘backstop’ arrangement that will guarantee an invisible border in Northern Ireland, and here the two sides are still miles apart… For now, the EU is focusing on ‘de-dramatising’ its preferred solution, but no one should be fooled. As Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach, said this week, the amendment “shouldn’t give us any reason to change our position” in negotiations… There is one more big problem with the EU strategy. It assumes Mrs May can sell a narrow divorce deal, including a potentially deeply unpalatable backstop and a whacking great bill, without anything substantial on the future relationship. – Peter Foster for the Telegraph (£) Matt Singh: After Chequers, the polls are shifting away from the Tories A few weeks ago I wrote about how sudden swings in voting intention polls don’t happen very often. But amid the fallout from Chequers, now we have an example of such a move. There have so far been four published polls with fieldwork after the Boris Johnson and David Davis resignations… [T]he reaction to Chequers is strongly negative. Opinium’s Adam Drummond may have hit the nail on the head when he describes the deal’s unpopularity as “structural” – many Leavers see it as a sellout, Remainers dislike it because it’s Brexit… At the same time, UKIP has surged from somewhere around the two per cent in took at last year’s general election to six to eight per cent. And unlike in 2015, when UKIP – contrary to the picture painted by the polls – took substantial votes from Labour, the Brexitisation of the Conservative vote post-referendum leaves the Tories far more electorally vulnerable to a UKIP revival now than in the past. – Matt Singh for CapX Nick Timothy: Humiliation beckons if we cannot unite around a plan for Brexit It was not supposed to be like this. Theresa May’s original Brexit strategy – articulated in her Lancaster House speech in January 2017 – did not envisage anything like the plan agreed at Chequers. The alternative, the draft White Paper prepared by David Davis before he resigned as Brexit Secretary, was more faithful to that original vision. It proposed cooperation on regulation – through mutual recognition of standards – and would have allowed Britain to escape the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice and diverge from European laws. Oliver Robbins, the Government’s Brexit negotiator, no doubt argued that Davis’s approach was not “negotiable”. But little is negotiable when you approach the Brexit talks the way the Government has since the election. Not one of Britain’s negotiating strengths – our exit payment, our contribution to European security, the volume of goods we import, or the different interests of EU member states – has been exploited… So we have the Chequers plan, which requires us to rubber stamp EU laws, follow the rulings of the Court of Justice, and adopt a customs policy that will make it difficult to strike trade deals with other countries. Chequers leaves Britain – the mother of parliaments and the world’s fifth biggest economy – with a democratic deficit that will only get worse as Brussels makes further demands of us. – Nick Timothy for the Telegraph (£) Don Porter: Tory members can no longer grin and bear Theresa May’s handling of Brexit I founded Conservative Voice, a non-affiliated campaigning organisation, to ensure that the concerns of conservative voters and party members were heard in Westminster. For a long time, we have been patient – but our most recent polling shows a breaking point. It’s time for the Prime Minister to heed the warnings of the party outside Westminster. When we asked our followers about the Prime Minister’s latest Brexit proposals – the “Chequers deal” – an overwhelming 70 percent of our members strongly disagreed with it. They also fundamentally disagree with the Prime Minister’s vision for our future relationship with the EU. What’s more, 85 percent believe that it goes against the referendum result two years ago… But what is very troubling is the impact this is now having on voting intention. A third of our followers have said that if there was a General Election tomorrow, they would vote for Ukip. These are not fair-weather Tories, these are lifetime voters who dedicate their free time to the party. I know this is representative of wider feeling in the party and it certainly reflects conversations I have had with members and MPs over the past weeks. This is a message we simply cannot afford to ignore. – Don Porter for the Telegraph (£) David Paton: Theresa May’s white paper, Brexit and free trade: how should the left respond? Free trade has historically been seen as a progressive cause. The campaign against the Corn Laws in Victorian times was led by radical MPs, backed by the liberal economist, David Ricardo. Later on, it was Labour politicians and the unions who opposed Conservative attempts to raise tariffs on trade in the 1920s and 1930s. It is not hard to understand why. Other things equal, tariffs on imports increase the price of goods for consumers both directly, and also by protecting less efficient producers from competition. We may like the idea of restricting competition to protect domestic jobs, but the long run effect is that producers have less incentive to invest in improving productivity, resulting in lower wages and gradual decline… Tariffs and other trade barriers protect large companies and allow them to keep prices higher than necessary. Many EU tariffs are low, but for sectors such as food and clothing tariffs can be as much as 20 or even 40%. These goods take up large proportion of expenditure for those on lower incomes, meaning that it is poorer families who are hardest hit. For the UK to regain the ability to lower tariffs, and other trade barriers with non-EU countries, should be a policy aim for politicians on the left. – Professor David Paton for UK in a Changing Europe Asa Bennett: Jacob Rees-Mogg running the country? Brexiteers would only wish that were true Remainers have been spitting tacks after their attempt to force Theresa May to pursue a customs union was seen off last night. “I don’t think that she’s in charge anymore,” Anna Soubry complained, “I’ve no doubt Jacob Rees-Mogg is running our country”… Labour Remainers, whether it is Chris Leslie, Chuka Umunna, Stephen Kinnock or David Lammy, all echo Ms Soubry in thinking that Mr Rees-Mogg and his ERG colleagues have taken charge… As exciting as that might be for Brexiteers to imagine, Theresa May is likely to snap them out of their reverie this week. As part of a visit around Northern Ireland, the prime minister will speak about Brexit in Belfast on Friday, where she will likely focus on how her Brexit plan will ensure there is no return to a hard border in Ireland… Brexiteers will hold out hope that she will signal a change of tack nevertheless, given that she accepted an amendment they tabled that was designed to neutralise her plan. But Downing Street argues that the amendment is entirely consistent with what was outlined by Mrs May in her White Paper, so she is unlikely to offer a radical change in approach. In fact, the prime minister is more likely to double down on her Chequers plan. – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) Comment in brief And still Remain is attempting to overturn Brexit – Leo McKinstry for the Express In praise of Labour’s Brexit rebels – Brendan O’Neill for the Spectator Brexit – where we are now and what went wrong – Nick Hargrave for Reaction May’s new plan isn’t perfect, but it’s practicable. However, it can only work if treated as her bottom line – Iain Mansfield for ConservativeHome Science and research must not be a casualty of Brexit – Norman Lamb MP for The Times (£) Brussels fines Google as the war continues – Rachel Cunliffe for City A.M. News in brief Inflation lower than predicted – Bloomberg Let more scientists into the UK, MPs demand – Telegraph Macron and Salvini face off over Continent’s future – Politico