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Foreign Office minister Alan Duncan resigns ahead of Boris Johnson's likely election as next PM - live news
'Britain deserves better than Boris Johnson', says new Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson - live news
(about 4 hours later)
This is from the Press Association.
Swinson says this is a time for working together.
Charlie Elphicke, the Conservative MP for Dover, has been charged with three counts of sexual assault against two women, the Crown Prosecution Service said.
And she says she has a message for MPs in other parties: if you want to stop Brexit and Corbyn, work with the Lib Dems. My door is always open, she says.
Elphicke was suspended from the Conservative party for just over a year after allegations of sexual offences were made against him, but he had his suspension lifted so that he could take part in the no confidence vote in Theresa May in December. He has strongly denied any criminal wrongdoing.
And she says she has a message for people at home. If you want change, it is not enough to shout at the TV. Join us, she says.
Gordon Brown, the former Labour prime minister, has been speaking at an event this morning organised by the IPPR thinktank and Hope not Hate, which campaigns against fascism and the far-right. Here are the main points, based on the text of the speech sent out in advance.
She winds up saying we should change politics so we can change the country.
Brown says most voters oppose a no-deal Brexit, with millions of leave supporters saying it would be bad for Britain. He is referring to some polling released by Hope not Hate today which shows that, by a margin of more than two to one, people are more likely to think leaving the EU without a deal will be bad for Britain than good for Britain. Brown says:
Jo Swinson is still giving her victory speech.
Elected by a smaller electorate than voted for Ed Balls on Strictly Come Dancing, [Boris Johnson] will have to come face to face with a very hard truth [if he becomes PM on Wednesday]: Millions of Brexit voters do not support a no-deal Brexit.
She says in 2017 she knew she had to stand in East Dunbartonshire again to try to win back her seat.
According to the poll by Hope Not Hate, who are, to their credit, launching this community No To No-Deal campaign today, three million of those who voted leave in 2016 say that exiting the EU without a deal would be bad for Britain.
The 2017 campaign was ugly, she says. But she says she had seen this already in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. That campaign was marked by Twitter trolls and rows about fake news.
While the Conservative party has been talking to itself, Johnson’s ’do or die’ plan to leave on October 31 with or without a deal is losing support.
She says she felt sick in 2016 when Nigel Farage said leave won without a shot being filed. Just a week before Jo Cox had been murdered. But Farage did not seem to care, she says.
Perhaps the most revealing figure of all is that 40 per cent of Labour Brexit voters have been changing their minds.
She says the Lib Dems champion freedom. But Brexit means the next generation will be less free to work, live and love across Europe.
And I believe dissent about Brexit will grow as people find what a no-deal really means.
She talks about a rise in the number of hate crimes, and Islamophobia and antisemitism at the heart of politics. And she condemns President Trump. Ilhan Omar is a strong woman, she says. But because of what Trump says migrant women feel less safe.
He says a no-deal Brexit would be a betrayal of what people were promised in the Brexit referendum and in the 2017 Tory election manifesto. He says:
Turning to Boris Johnson, she says he only cares about himself. Ask Kim Darroch. “Britain deserves better than Boris Johnson,” she says.
In the run-up to the referendum the official Vote Leave campaign ruled out a no-deal Brexit, one of their publications stating: ‘Taking back control is a careful change, not a sudden stop. We will negotiate the terms of a new deal before we start any legal process to leave’.
And, on Labour, she says any party that cannot decide on the biggest issue of our time does not deserve her time or her vote.
Another briefing paper stressed that if the country voted to leave, it would be on the basis of ‘a new UK-EU treaty based on free trade and friendly co-operation’.
Swinson says she stands her today not just as Lib Dem leader, but as a candidate for PM.
And although Mr Johnson now insists on a hard deadline of Halloween, Vote Leave argued at the time of the referendum that ‘our guiding principle should be ‘safety first and flexibility’. Is a no-deal safety first?
She says there is no limit to her ambition. She is ready to take her party into a general election and win it, she says.
Nor were the voters asked to sign up to a no-deal Brexit even as a last resort at the 2017 general election. The Tory manifesto promised ‘the best possible deal for Britain as we leave the European Union delivered by a smooth, orderly Brexit’.
Here is my colleague Peter Walker’s story on Jo Swinson’s election.
Smooth and orderly? A phrase that rings as hollow as Mrs May’s promise of a government that would be ‘strong and stable’.
Jo Swinson elected new Lib Dem leader
He says a no-deal Brexit would be unprecedented as a “peacetime act of self-harm”.
Swinson says, when she decided to stand, she thought the challenge would be different. The Lib Dems were only on around 8% in the poll. New parties (ie Change UK) were after their vote.
When future historians look back, they will be shocked to discover how such an act of economic self-harm that runs wholly counter to the national interest could ever be portrayed by Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson as the height of patriotism and criticism from any quarter be dismissed as a betrayal of Britain and all we stand for.
But now there has been a turnaround, she says. She says Liberal Democrats are winning again.
Even if some of the immediate chaos forecast by officials is averted on the day, the long-term economic impact of no-deal Brexit is where the calamity lies. British history includes self-inflicted wounds – military disasters such as the Charge of the Light Brigade and the fiasco of Gallipoli – but no peacetime act of self-harm can rival a no-deal Brexit for which we are so woefully unprepared and from which even now the new European Commission president is offering to deliver us – and we are refusing the help.
She pays tribute to her two predecessors: to Tim Farron for saying after the referendum that the Lib Dems would be the party of remain, and to Sir Vince Cable for overseeing a transformation in the party’s fortunes.
He says the risk of a no-deal Brexit to the union means Johnson could be “fated to be remembered not as the 55th prime minister of the UK but as the first prime minister of England”.
Jo Swinson is speaking now.
.@OfficeGSBrown: 'I fear for the cohesion or our community and country.' Gordon Brown on the impact #Brexit has had in Britian pic.twitter.com/tpIG8hyvMk
She says she is “over the moon” to be elected leader.
And here is an extract from Sir Alan Duncan’s resignation letter. He voted remain in the referendum.
The Liberal Democrats are like a family to her, she says.
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.
She says liberalism is alive and thriving. And she will do whatever she can to stop Brexit, she says.
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.
She says the Lib Dems will lead the revive the country needs.
(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.)
She thanks her husband, the former Lib Dem MP Duncan Hames, and her mum, and says her two young children have brought her pure joy.
Here is Sir Alan Duncan’s resignation letter.
And she thanks Sir Ed Davey. She says he has carried himself in the campaign with grace. She has huge respect for him, and they agree on most things, she says. She says this did not make for an interesting contest. She is proud to call him a friend, and he will be central to her team, she says.
I resigned as Foreign Office minister this morning. Here is my letter to the Prime Minister. pic.twitter.com/1kpt7rHsF0
Brinton reads out the results
My colleague Heather Stewart says Boris Johnson now seems be beset by “rolling resignations” - a tactic that was used against Jeremy Corbyn.
Ed Davey: 28,021
Johnson suffering rolling resignations before he’s even made it to Downing Street: natural party of government sure not looking like it right now.
Jo Swinson: 47,XXX
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.
(We could not hear the rest of Swinson’s tally because there was so much cheering.)
This is from my colleague Patrick Wintour on Alan Duncan’s resignation.
She says Cable has campaigned tirelessly for the Lib Dems’ recovery.
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.
The Lib Dems won more than 700 council seats this year, and the party is now running at about 20% in the polls.
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.
She says the Lib Dem leadership contest has been unlike the Tories’. Ed Davey and Jo Swinson have fought a courteous campaign, and they have respected each other.
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.
They have shown that there is a different way of doing politics.
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.
The message from members has been how hard it has been to decide, because both are exceptional candidates, she says.
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
Sal Brinton, the Lib Dem president, is making the announcement.
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.
She pays tribute to Sir Vince Cable, the outgoing leader.
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.
We’re about to get the announcement.
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.
In the House of Lords peers have just voted to keep the amendment to the Northern Ireland (executive formation) bill passed by MPs last week intended to stop a new prime minister proroguing parliament to stop the Commons blocking a no-deal Brexit.
Here’s an extract from his column.
BREAKING: Govt defeat as Peers vote 260-146 to back Commons bosltering of Lords amendt on #NIExecutiveBill to stop new Prime Minister proroguing #Parliament on a whimOppn Maj 114
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.
The result of the Lib Dem leadership contest will be announced soon.
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 the announcement of the new @LibDems leader. Result at 4pm. @joswinson or @EdwardJDavey? pic.twitter.com/moNVooaCV2
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.
BBC News has just broadcast Laura Kuenssberg’s interview with Sir Alan Duncan. Here are the main points.
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 ...
Sir Alan Duncan, the former Foreign Office minister, said he wanted the Commons to hold an effective confidence vote in Boris Johnson tomorrow to avoid a constitutional crisis. Some people may suspect that Duncan, a longstanding critic of Johnson’s was trying to bring him down before the Queen even had a chance to appoint him as PM on Wednesday afternoon. But Duncan put a more positive gloss on what he was doing. He said that this be the first time in living memory where a minority government changes PM mid-term and he said that, to avoid a “constitutional crisis”, he thought it was important to establish that Johnson had the confidence of the Commons. Speaking to Sky, Duncan said he would have voted to back Johnson. (See 3.40pm.)
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.
Duncan said he did not know why John Bercow, the Speaker, turned down his application for a debate.
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.
He cast doubt on Johnson’s ability to be a good PM, while claiming he was not motivated by animosity. Asked about his views of Johnson, he replied:
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.
When I was his deputy I was totally loyal. We never had an argument. I never bad mouthed him. So I’ve served both foreign secretaries. And I’ve no doubt which of the two is the more capable and more competent. So I have very grave concerns that he flies by the seat of his pants, and it’s all a bit haphazard and ramshackle. But there’s no personal animosity of any sort. I just think he’s going to go smack into a crisis of government.
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:
When asked if he thought Johnson was fit to be PM, Duncan replied:
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.
I will never say that he’s unfit to be prime minister.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Duncan also claimed he wanted Johnson to succeed.
9.30am: The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) publishes its latest economic forecast for the economy.
I’m a Conservative, I’m a patriot. I want him to succeed. My judgment says that it is going to be very, very difficult.
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.
Sky’s Beth Rigby has also been speaking to Sir Alan Duncan.
2pm: Sajid Javid, the home secretary, gives evidence to the Commons home affairs committee.
Just interviewed Sir Alan too: he says he wanted to have an emergency vote to prove the House had confidence in the new PM and he would have been supportive. But also says Johnson administration is already on knife edge. More on @SkyNews imminently https://t.co/83usCpUcEC
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.
I also asked Sir Alan if he would vote against a Johnson govt should he pursue a no deal exit. He said he’d never answer a Q like this but warns that Johnson would be foolish to follow this course
4pm: The Liberal Democrats announce the winner of their leadership contest.
Sir Alan Duncan refuses to rule out voting against Boris Johnson in a no confidence motion to stop a no-deal Brexit.
And at some point Jeremy Corbyn will chair a shadow cabinet meeting devoted to the subject of how Labour should address its antisemitism problem.
Sir Alan: Why resigning now? “I wanted to do it in a polite way but with the ability some nice things about the PM and FCO. Given there might be a little bit of a rush in the middle of week I thought I’d do it before”
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.
Sir Alan on the emergency debate. We’re on the edge of a difficult constitutional moment. PM changing mid-term when minority govt. It should be tested to see if the PM has a majority before the new PM goes to the palace.
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.
Sir Alan: “It was a confidence vote in [Johnson]. I would have voted for him but I think there is doubt so in my view it is very important to get it launched in confidence rather than live with doubt.”
If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
Sir Alan says he thinks Johnson would have won that confidence vote. But now it is launched in doubt: “I think he will be living on a knife edge”
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.
A few words of explanation about the Alan Duncan story.
If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.
Sir Alan Duncan did not try to table a formal motion of no confidence in Boris Johnson. There seem to have been two reasons for this. First, Duncan was pushing for a vote tomorrow - after Johnson’s probable election as Tory leader, but before he gets appointed prime minister (which is due to happen on Wednesday afternoon). And, much more importantly, only the leader of the opposition can table a no confidence motion in the government that has to be debated. (Other MPs can table no confidence motions, but they just get printed as early day motions and then ignored.)
UPDATE: Brutha in the comments says I was wrong in what I said about the moon landings and sanitary and phytosanitary regulations. It just goes to show, you learn something new every day. There is more about the astronauts spending time in quarantine when they returned here.
Instead, Duncan tried to use standing order 24 to hold an emergency debate on a motion that would have effectively amounted to a confidence vote in Johnson.
the Americans never had to worry about........ or sanitary and phytosanitary regulations
SO24 allows MPs to call for emergency debates on topical issues, normally held on the day an MP applies, and lasting for up to three hours.
The astronauts were put in quarantine for 21 days on return in case they bought moon bugs back with them.
But for an SO24 debate to happen, the Speaker has to allow the MP to apply, by making a very short speech in the Commons chamber, and the Speaker then decides whether it should go ahead. John Bercow has blocked this bid at the first hurdle; he is not even allowing Duncan to make his application in the chamber.
These are from the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.
1. This is rather extraordinary - Sir Alan Duncan tells @bbcnews he quit govt so he could push for an emergency vote tomorrow, after the next PM is announced, to test if they can hold a majority
2. Duncan makes plain he has held doubts about Johnson's character for a long time, but angrily dismisses suggestions idea of holding a vote on a hypothetical Johnson govt before it's formed was personal - he says it was the way to avoid a much worse crisis in autumn
3. Sir Alan astonished that Bercow has turned his request down, and fears much bigger meltdown after recess when next PM can't hold a majority in the Commons - his critics may reckon he was trying to kill off a Johnson govt before he's even gone to the Palace
Here’s the motion Duncan wanted a vote on... pic.twitter.com/n1SyeVZtbC
More than 750 people may have missed out on their right to vote because of pilot schemes requiring them to prove their identity, the Press Association reports. Pilot schemes in 10 council areas for the local elections in England left “important questions” unanswered, the Electoral Commission said. Labour claimed the voter ID trials were evidence of a “blatant attempt by the Tories to rig the result of future elections” and called for the programme to be abandoned. But the government insisted the schemes revealed requiring voters to show ID was a “reasonable and proportionate measure” to tackle electoral fraud. The 10 trial areas in May’s elections were Braintree, Broxtowe, Craven, Derby, Mid-Sussex, North Kesteven, North West Leicestershire, Pendle, Watford and Woking.
A review published by the Electoral Commission found up to 2,083 voters were initially refused a ballot paper because they lacked the required ID, and up to 758 of them did not return to cast their vote. Out of all those who went to their polling station in the pilots, the proportion who could not show ID and who did not return to vote ranged from 0.03% to 0.7%.
The Cabinet Office also published its own review, saying the “overwhelming majority” of people were able to cast their vote despite the voter ID rules being piloted.
Charlie Elphicke has been suspended from the Conservative whip, party sources have said, following the news that he has been charged with three counts of sexual assault. His solicitor has said he is confident he will clear his name.
Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that if, as expected, he becomes prime minister on Wednesday, the UK will definitely leave the EU by 31 October. But a majority of voters, and even 50% of leave voters, do not believe that will happen, a YouGov poll has found.
