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| Foreign Office minister Alan Duncan resigns ahead of Boris Johnson's likely election as next PM - live news | Foreign Office minister Alan Duncan resigns ahead of Boris Johnson's likely election as next PM - live news |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| And here is an extract from Sir Alan Duncan’s resignation letter. He voted remain in the referendum. | |
| The UK does so much good in the world. It is tragic that just when we could have been the dominant intellectual and political force throughout Europe, and beyond, we have had to spend every day working beneath the dark cloud of Brexit. | |
| On a heartfelt personal note, I have known you and Philip for over 40 years, throughout which you have both displayed faultless dignity and an unstinting sense of duty. I am only sorry that your three years as prime minister have been brought to an end. You deserved better, but please take lasting comfort from the knowledge that your self-esteem can, and will forever, far exceed that of your critics. | |
| (Duncan may not have phrased that final sentence quite as intended. Boris Johnson’s self-esteem probably far exceeds Theresa May’s. Duncan seems to have been saying that the esteem in which she is held by others is higher.) | |
| Here is Sir Alan Duncan’s resignation letter. | Here is Sir Alan Duncan’s resignation letter. |
| I resigned as Foreign Office minister this morning. Here is my letter to the Prime Minister. pic.twitter.com/1kpt7rHsF0 | I resigned as Foreign Office minister this morning. Here is my letter to the Prime Minister. pic.twitter.com/1kpt7rHsF0 |
| My colleague Heather Stewart says Boris Johnson now seems be beset by “rolling resignations” - a tactic that was used against Jeremy Corbyn. | My colleague Heather Stewart says Boris Johnson now seems be beset by “rolling resignations” - a tactic that was used against Jeremy Corbyn. |
| Johnson suffering rolling resignations before he’s even made it to Downing Street: natural party of government sure not looking like it right now. | Johnson suffering rolling resignations before he’s even made it to Downing Street: natural party of government sure not looking like it right now. |
| Note to Tories: the “rolling resignations” directed at Corbyn by Labour front benchers did not achieve much in the end; three years on, he’s still there. | Note to Tories: the “rolling resignations” directed at Corbyn by Labour front benchers did not achieve much in the end; three years on, he’s still there. |
| This is from my colleague Patrick Wintour on Alan Duncan’s resignation. | This is from my colleague Patrick Wintour on Alan Duncan’s resignation. |
| Alan Duncan foreign office minister who quit today is currently responsible for Americas, Europe and Asia. In Asia he was substituting for Mark Field who is suspended due to his alleged assault on a protestor. All rectifiable on Weds, but a picture of chaos at time of crisis. | Alan Duncan foreign office minister who quit today is currently responsible for Americas, Europe and Asia. In Asia he was substituting for Mark Field who is suspended due to his alleged assault on a protestor. All rectifiable on Weds, but a picture of chaos at time of crisis. |
| Greg Hands, the former international trade minister, has criticised Sir Alan Duncan, Philip Hammond and David Gauke for announcing pre-emptive resignations. (See 9.48am.) He claims they are damaging the party. | Greg Hands, the former international trade minister, has criticised Sir Alan Duncan, Philip Hammond and David Gauke for announcing pre-emptive resignations. (See 9.48am.) He claims they are damaging the party. |
| In my view, pre-emptive ministerial resignations (If reports are true) in case your own democratically-elected Party Leader is not to your liking are absurd. And I say that as a committed @Jeremy_Hunt supporter. Such moves make a Corbyn Government one step more likely. | In my view, pre-emptive ministerial resignations (If reports are true) in case your own democratically-elected Party Leader is not to your liking are absurd. And I say that as a committed @Jeremy_Hunt supporter. Such moves make a Corbyn Government one step more likely. |
| Sir Alan Duncan, the Foreign Office minister, has resigned today because he is not willing to serve under Boris Johnson, the Times’ Steven Swinford reports. Number 10 has confirmed that Duncan has indeed gone. | Sir Alan Duncan, the Foreign Office minister, has resigned today because he is not willing to serve under Boris Johnson, the Times’ Steven Swinford reports. Number 10 has confirmed that Duncan has indeed gone. |
| Sir Alan Duncan has quit as a foreign ministerHe handed in his resignation letter this morningHe's made clear he can't serve under a Boris Johnson premiership | Sir Alan Duncan has quit as a foreign ministerHe handed in his resignation letter this morningHe's made clear he can't serve under a Boris Johnson premiership |
| That is not especially surprising. Duncan has been fiercely critical of Johnson in public, including recently accusing Johnson of “contemptible negligence” for his failure to back Sir Kim Darroch, at the time the US ambassador to Washington, in the face of attacks from President Trump. If Duncan was not resigning, he would almost certainly be sacked later this week. | That is not especially surprising. Duncan has been fiercely critical of Johnson in public, including recently accusing Johnson of “contemptible negligence” for his failure to back Sir Kim Darroch, at the time the US ambassador to Washington, in the face of attacks from President Trump. If Duncan was not resigning, he would almost certainly be sacked later this week. |
| But what is unusual is the way Duncan, along with the cabinet ministers Philip Hammond and David Gauke, have decided to resign pre-emptively rather than let Johnson dismiss them. This is unusual, and illustrates quite how strong the opposition to Johnson is in some parts of the parliamentary Conservative party. | But what is unusual is the way Duncan, along with the cabinet ministers Philip Hammond and David Gauke, have decided to resign pre-emptively rather than let Johnson dismiss them. This is unusual, and illustrates quite how strong the opposition to Johnson is in some parts of the parliamentary Conservative party. |
| Unless everything we know about the Conservative party turns out to be wrong, there are only about 60 hours to go before Boris Johnson becomes prime minister, and he has used what will probably be his final column in the Daily Telegraph (paywall) to reveal his long-awaited solution to Brexit, and in particular the Irish backstop problem. Johnson has been watching the TV over the weekend and he has decided that, if humans can land a man on the moon, they can construct a mechanism for allowing frictionless trade at the Ireland/Northern Ireland border without the UK having to be in the the customs union. | Unless everything we know about the Conservative party turns out to be wrong, there are only about 60 hours to go before Boris Johnson becomes prime minister, and he has used what will probably be his final column in the Daily Telegraph (paywall) to reveal his long-awaited solution to Brexit, and in particular the Irish backstop problem. Johnson has been watching the TV over the weekend and he has decided that, if humans can land a man on the moon, they can construct a mechanism for allowing frictionless trade at the Ireland/Northern Ireland border without the UK having to be in the the customs union. |
| Here’s an extract from his column. | Here’s an extract from his column. |
| Think of that achievement [the moon landing], and then think of the current debate about actually leaving the EU – which has been going on for so long that we are in danger of believing that we are incapable of finding our way out; like someone who has lost their car in a vast multi-storey car park, and is beginning to despair of ever leaving at all. | Think of that achievement [the moon landing], and then think of the current debate about actually leaving the EU – which has been going on for so long that we are in danger of believing that we are incapable of finding our way out; like someone who has lost their car in a vast multi-storey car park, and is beginning to despair of ever leaving at all. |
| At its core, the problem with leaving the EU is technical and logistical. In order to come out of the EU customs union, and to maintain frictionless trade across the border in Northern Ireland (and indeed at Calais and elsewhere) we will need ways of checking goods for rules of origin, and whether they conform to the right standards, and whether or not they have been smuggled – but we have to do it away from the border, because no one can accept border controls in Northern Ireland. | At its core, the problem with leaving the EU is technical and logistical. In order to come out of the EU customs union, and to maintain frictionless trade across the border in Northern Ireland (and indeed at Calais and elsewhere) we will need ways of checking goods for rules of origin, and whether they conform to the right standards, and whether or not they have been smuggled – but we have to do it away from the border, because no one can accept border controls in Northern Ireland. |
| And I am afraid that there are technological pessimists – some of them apparently in London – who seem genuinely to think that such technical solutions are impossible, that they are a kind of logical contradiction, a mythological species that we will never see in this universe. Are they right? Of course not. There is abundant scope to find the solutions necessary – and they can and will be found, in the context of the Free Trade Agreement that we will negotiate with the EU (and this is common to both candidates in the current leadership contest) after we have left on October 31. | And I am afraid that there are technological pessimists – some of them apparently in London – who seem genuinely to think that such technical solutions are impossible, that they are a kind of logical contradiction, a mythological species that we will never see in this universe. Are they right? Of course not. There is abundant scope to find the solutions necessary – and they can and will be found, in the context of the Free Trade Agreement that we will negotiate with the EU (and this is common to both candidates in the current leadership contest) after we have left on October 31. |
| It is absurd that we have even allowed ourselves to be momentarily delayed by these technical issues. If they could use hand-knitted computer code to make a frictionless re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere in 1969, we can solve the problem of frictionless trade at the Northern Irish border ... | It is absurd that we have even allowed ourselves to be momentarily delayed by these technical issues. If they could use hand-knitted computer code to make a frictionless re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere in 1969, we can solve the problem of frictionless trade at the Northern Irish border ... |
| It is time this country recovered some its can-do spirit. We can come out of the EU on October 31, and yes, we certainly have the technology to do so. What we need now is the will and the drive. | It is time this country recovered some its can-do spirit. We can come out of the EU on October 31, and yes, we certainly have the technology to do so. What we need now is the will and the drive. |
| In the past, in response to a complaint about an inaccuracy about Brexit in one of Johnson’s columns, the Daily Telegraph told the Independent Press Standards Organisation that the column in question was “clearly comically polemical, and could not be reasonably read as a serious, empirical, in-depth analysis of hard factual matters.” That does not seem to be the paper’s take on this article, although one can never be entirely sure. | In the past, in response to a complaint about an inaccuracy about Brexit in one of Johnson’s columns, the Daily Telegraph told the Independent Press Standards Organisation that the column in question was “clearly comically polemical, and could not be reasonably read as a serious, empirical, in-depth analysis of hard factual matters.” That does not seem to be the paper’s take on this article, although one can never be entirely sure. |
| But the objections to Johnson’s argument are numerous, including: 1) This is what people say about almost any insuperable problem, normally ones that never do get solved (like abolishing poverty); 2) Putting a man on the moon took the Americans the best part of a decade, while Johnson is committed to delivering Brexit in just 100 days; 3) If it were that easy, the UK and the EU would probably have found a solution within the last three years; 4) There is no example in the world of an entirely frictionless border between two countries with different customs arrangements; and 5) the Americans never had to worry about smuggling being a problem, or sanitary and phytosanitary regulations, or lunar paramilitaries, when they established their own border crossing on the surface of the moon. | But the objections to Johnson’s argument are numerous, including: 1) This is what people say about almost any insuperable problem, normally ones that never do get solved (like abolishing poverty); 2) Putting a man on the moon took the Americans the best part of a decade, while Johnson is committed to delivering Brexit in just 100 days; 3) If it were that easy, the UK and the EU would probably have found a solution within the last three years; 4) There is no example in the world of an entirely frictionless border between two countries with different customs arrangements; and 5) the Americans never had to worry about smuggling being a problem, or sanitary and phytosanitary regulations, or lunar paramilitaries, when they established their own border crossing on the surface of the moon. |
| On the Today programme this Tony Blair, the Labour former prime minister, came up with another specific objection, as well as dismissing Johnson’s entire stance. He said: | On the Today programme this Tony Blair, the Labour former prime minister, came up with another specific objection, as well as dismissing Johnson’s entire stance. He said: |
| It’s a very Boris Johnson approach to thing which is to say ‘Look, never mind the detail, but if we only believe in ourselves, we can do it’. I found the article this morning - it’s one of these things where essentially he was saying was, look, the Americans put a man on the moon, and therefore surely we can find a way round the Irish border problem. To which the obvious response of the Europeans will be, ‘Well, if it’s that simple, why are you opposed to the backstop?’ But in any event the two things are obviously rather technically different. | It’s a very Boris Johnson approach to thing which is to say ‘Look, never mind the detail, but if we only believe in ourselves, we can do it’. I found the article this morning - it’s one of these things where essentially he was saying was, look, the Americans put a man on the moon, and therefore surely we can find a way round the Irish border problem. To which the obvious response of the Europeans will be, ‘Well, if it’s that simple, why are you opposed to the backstop?’ But in any event the two things are obviously rather technically different. |
| Here is the agenda for the day. | Here is the agenda for the day. |
| 9.30am: The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) publishes its latest economic forecast for the economy. | 9.30am: The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) publishes its latest economic forecast for the economy. |
| 11am: Gordon Brown, the former Labour prime minister, gives a speech on Brexit. As he writes in a Guardian article, he is urging MPs to reject no-deal as an option. | 11am: Gordon Brown, the former Labour prime minister, gives a speech on Brexit. As he writes in a Guardian article, he is urging MPs to reject no-deal as an option. |
| 2pm: Sajid Javid, the home secretary, gives evidence to the Commons home affairs committee. | 2pm: Sajid Javid, the home secretary, gives evidence to the Commons home affairs committee. |
| After 3.30pm: Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, is expected to make a statement in the Commons on Iran’s seizure of a British-flagged tanker. | After 3.30pm: Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, is expected to make a statement in the Commons on Iran’s seizure of a British-flagged tanker. |
| 4pm: The Liberal Democrats announce the winner of their leadership contest. | 4pm: The Liberal Democrats announce the winner of their leadership contest. |
| And at some point Jeremy Corbyn will chair a shadow cabinet meeting devoted to the subject of how Labour should address its antisemitism problem. | And at some point Jeremy Corbyn will chair a shadow cabinet meeting devoted to the subject of how Labour should address its antisemitism problem. |
| As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I plan to publish a summary when I wrap up. | As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I plan to publish a summary when I wrap up. |
| You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe roundup of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads. | You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe roundup of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads. |
| If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow. | If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow. |
| I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone. | I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone. |
| If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. | If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. |