Parliament is about to start its summer recess on the hottest day of the year.
When it returns in September, who knows what –?if anything –?will have changed in Brexit.
It’s worth reflecting on the fact that Brexit could have happened on March 29, had lawmakers approved Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement (which of course Johnson himself voted in favor of that day).
When the new prime minister announced that he would support May’s deal, he said “I genuinely think that unless this thing gets through, the House of Commons is going to steal Brexit.” His logic was, it’s this Brexit or Brexit might not happen at all.
If nothing changes over summer and Johnson does indeed push for a no-deal Brexit, he might find parliament even more obstructive than they were with Theresa May.
So it might be a September standoff. No deal or no Brexit. Then the key question will be, do Johnson’s rebel MPs have the guts to crash his government and trigger a general election?
Here’s hoping everyone in Westminster gets some rest over summer. They’ll need it.
Boris Johnson is scheduled to have a phone call with the outgoing president of the European Union later today, according to tweet sent by his spokesperson.
While Juncker is approaching the end of his term, he will still be president on October 31, the day Brexit is due to happen.
One of the only things we know for certain about Brexit is this: only a fool would try and predict where all this ends up.
That said, Boris Johnson’s stated policy does on paper make no deal more likely.
If his red lines on only accepting a deal that completely changes the backstop is true then there is not deal to be done, given the EU’s red lines.
If his plans to better prepare the nation for a no deal by giving the civil service extra cash to get ready are executed properly, then he could win over more of his colleagues in parliament to back no deal.
And if his position that the UK will withhold the agree Brexit divorce bill from Brussels, goodwill from the Europeans to even offer small concessions to the UK on the future relationship between London and Europe will collapse.
So is no-deal Brexit more likely? In a word, yes.
Despite the Brexit emergency facing the UK, lawmakers are about to leave Parliament for the summer. They won’t return until September.
That, however, doesn’t mean that politics will take a holiday. The summer will likely be dominated by members of Boris’s new-look cabinet outlining their plans for getting a new deal out of Brussels and, should that fail, doubling down on Johnson’s willingness to leave the EU without a deal.
Most of Europe’s politicians will also be on holiday, but expect the line to be repeated over and over again that there is no negotiation to be had.
Back in the UK, Johnson’s opponents will no doubt spend their summer planning ways to stop him in his tracks and possibly bring down his government.
And when Parliament returns in September, everyone will return to the exact same stalemate that defeated Theresa May for so long.
A summer of noise might be entertaining. But it’s unlikely to change much in the real world.
Boris Johnson said in his first address as Prime Minister in Parliament that he hoped the European Union would rethink its current refusal to make any changes to the Withdrawal Agreement.
He went on to say that if the EU cannot be swayed the UK will of course have to leave without an agreement. The new PM then went on to say that the UK is better prepared for that scenario than many believe but more work for that outcome still needs to be done.
“In the 98 days that remain to us, we must turbocharge our preparations to make sure there is as little disruption as possible to our national life,” Johnson said.
Theresa May, whom Boris Johnson took over from on Wednesday, has chosen to spend her day away from Westminster.
England are currently playing Ireland in a Test match at Lord’s cricket ground. May, a known cricket fan, clearly found it a more attractive option than watching Johnson’s first statement to the Commons.
It looks like her summer holiday has started a day early.
Yvette Cooper, Labour lawmaker and chair of the UK’s Home Affairs Select Committee, asked Boris Johnson about the thorniest Brexit issue: the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
It’s the single most complicated issue in the Brexit negotiations and the “backstop”, a mechanism in the Withdrawal Agreement designed to avoid a hard border, has been used by Euroskeptics as the main reason for voting May’s Brexit deal down.
Cooper asked if Johnson could give specific details about the technology he so often claims will make a border not necessary, or were his claims just more “bluster and guff?” Johnson replied that there are “abundant facilitations,” that would avoid a hard border.
Cooper didn’t look satisfied with his answer.
Ian Blackford, who leads the Scottish National Party in Westminster, welcomed Boris Johnson to his new job as the “last prime minister of the United Kingdom.”
The SNP has long campaigned for Scottish independence, which if successful would bring about the end of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The sanctity of the Union is a key issue for the Conservative Party, formally called the Conservative and Unionist Party. Brexit has made the UK’s future look shakier than ever and suggesting that under Johnson’s watch the Union could collapse is hitting the new prime minister where it hurts.
In a sign of what is to come, Johnson has branded the leader of the opposition Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn, a Euroskeptic who has “turned into a Remainer.”
This comes at the very same time the Labour party’s internal debate over whether or not it should formally become an anti-Brexit party reaches its hottest point.
Despite both parties formally claiming that they don’t want an early election, it’s hard not to raise an eye at these naked attempts to prepare the battleground.
Jeremy Corbyn didn’t waste the chance to tie Boris Johnson to Donald Trump.
He quoted the President’s comments that Johnson was “Britain’s Trump” and said that a failure to “take back control” (Vote Leave’s slogan during the Brexit referendum) would leave the UK “a vassal state of Trump’s America.”
This is the head-to-head we had been waiting for. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour party, opened by saying that while no one underestimates this country, he was concerned that “the new prime minister overestimates himself.”
“People do not trust this prime minister to make the right choices for the people of this country when he’s also giving tax cuts to … his own party’s funders,” Corbyn said.
Addressing Johnson’s controversial Cabinet selection, Corbyn said: “He has hastily thrown together a hard-right Cabinet,” adding that Priti Patel will be the first Home Secretary for a generation to support the death penalty.”
He criticized the selection of Gavin Williamson as Education Secretary, asking if Johnson had seen the details of Williamson’s alleged leaking of state secrets before giving him a Cabinet job
And on Brexit, he reminded the Commons that Johnson backed May’s Withdrawal Agreement on March 29. “Can he explain this flip-flopping?”
Johnson has restated his belief that he can improve on Theresa May’s Brexit deal. He told lawmakers that no “self-respecting” country could accept the deal and said several times that with energy and optimism, Brussels could be convinced. “If they do not, we will of course have to leave … without an agreement.”
Boris Johnson is speaking to lawmakers in the House of Commons. His opening gambit? That his government would be focused on “making this country the greatest place on earth.”
It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Boris Johnson is on his way to the Houses of Parliament to speak to the House of Commons for the first time since becoming Prime Minister.
Given that he has installed a Cabinet that will concern both his political opponents and some in his own party, you can expect the reception and any exchanges between Johnson and members of Parliament to be punchy.
On Tuesday, after Johnson’s victory was confirmed, President Trump praised the new Prime Minister.
“They’re saying Britain Trump. They call him Britain Trump and people are saying that’s a good thing. They like me over there. That’s what they wanted. That’s what they need.”
It’s a comparison a number of people have made, but one that Johnson himself will probably loathe.
Politics is a terribly serious business. However, some have noted that the collection of, let’s say unusual characters, Johnson has appointed to the top team could end up being a bit of a banter government.
Let’s take a look at some of them.
Priti Patel, Home Secretary
Priti Patel is an arch Brexiteer and very traditional conservative. So traditional, in fact, that some believe she may have previously supported reintroducing hanging. She was sacked from Theresa May’s Cabinet after holding secret meetings with Israeli government officials while “on holiday” in 2017.
Gavin Williamson, Education Secretary
Gavin Williamson was also sacked by Theresa May for his alleged role in the leaking of state secrets about the UK’s national security while serving as defense secretary. He was previously May’s chief whip and is thought to be a little heavy handed. He has a tarantula called Cronus that some believe was used to intimidate Conservative lawmakers.
Grant Shapps, Transport Secretary
A man who has held many jobs and a man who has held many names. Shapps served under David Cameron as Housing Minister, Minister Without Portfolio, International Development Secretary and co-Chair of the Conservative Party. But he was sacked after a series of embarrassing allegations about edits made to a political rival’s Wikipedia page and writing books about internet marketing under a fake name, Michael Green. Here is a 2015 blog post from the New Statesman on the weirdest things we know about the new Secretary of State.
Not in Cabinet, but…
Johnson has appointed arch Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg as Leader of the House. Mogg is an eccentric conservative who famously went campaigning with his nanny. He is charming and funny but holds many socially conservative views on matters like abortion and gay marriage. Johnson has also appointed as his top adviser a man called Dominic Cummings. Cummings is currently held in contempt of Parliament for failing to give evidence when summoned to a select committee. He was the controversial figure behind the official campaign to leave the European Union and is credited with creating the now-infamous – and false – Vote Leave claim that leaving the EU would give the UK ￡350 million a week extra to spend on the health service.
This government has just 99 days and no majority as of today to pull off what Theresa May found impossible. Strap in, it’s going to be wild.
This post has been updated to correct the spelling of Grant Shapps’ last name.
Boris Johnson’s choice for leader of the House, Jacob Rees-Mogg, is addressing lawmakers in the House of Commons for the first time, outlining what will be happening in Parliament over the coming days.
The answer to that is simple: not much. Parliament is going on its summer holidays later today and will not return until September.
Rees-Mogg is a longstanding Brexiteer and one of the most traditional conservative new faces in team Johnson. His appointment is controversial as it now falls on the Leader of the House to push government business through Parliament. And Rees-Mogg has made it clear that he is not afraid of no-deal Brexit.
Today is predicted to be the hottest day in the history of the UK.
And in Brexit Britain, everything can be politicized. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour party, has just tweeted that if Labour were in power, it would “demand that employers look after their workers during heatwaves like this.”
Unlike Corbyn and other MPs, most of those workers are not on holiday for the summer until September, as of tomorrow.
CNN approached the government for comment on Labour’s heatwave demand, but is yet to receive a reply.
The British press has decided to focus on the brutal Cabinet reshuffle that took place last night. The Brexit-supporting press seems delighted that Johnson has gone for a hardcore Brexit Cabinet, while the papers less inclined to support Johnson have focused on exactly how savage some of the sackings were.
Boris Johnson’s first Cabinet meeting as prime minister has just ended. He laid out to his top team the priorities for his first 100 days in power.
If his first speech to the nation since taking power on Wednesday is anything to go by, it’s going to be pricey. Johnson says he will unite the nation by investing in social care, education, healthcare and police. And he repeated to his Cabinet that this government’s priority was to leave the European Union on October 31, no ifs, no buts.
After Cabinet, Johnson will head over to the House of Commons, where he will address lawmakers for the first time and go head-to-head with the leader of opposition, Jeremy Corbyn.
Shortly after, Parliament will rise for the summer, which seems extraordinary given the circumstances. But while Parliament might be on holiday, it’s very unlikely politics is going to take a break any time soon.
Good morning from London.
Boris Johnson, the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, is holding his first Cabinet meeting.
On Wednesday night, Johnson overhauled the makeup of the government, getting rid of 17 of the ministers who served under his predecessor, Theresa May.
In their place is a top team of serious Brexiteers. The message is clear: Johnson is going to do everything he can to force through Brexit, with or without a deal, by October 31.
However, while the government might look different, the political stalemate Johnson faces hasn’t changed. He inherits May’s lack of majority and in the weeks since May announced her resignation, opponents to Johnson and Brexit generally have been getting more confident.
Confident that they can stop Brexit, confident that they can politically paralyze Johnson and confident that they could try to bring his government down.
It’s day one of the 99-day countdown to Brexit. Whether Johnson makes it that far is still an open question.