Boris Johnson news: Corbyn urges Tory MPs to help block no-deal Brexit after opposition leaders agree plan at crunch meeting
Follow how the day at Westminster unfolded
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK
Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight
Jeremy Corbyn and other opposition leaders have agreed to try to stop a no-deal Brexit through legislation after efforts to install a caretaker prime minister floundered.
Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer has said it was time to “put aside fantasy politics” and find a strategy to enact “straight away” when parliament returns.
It comes as Boris Johnson prepares to create half a dozen new pro-Brexit peers to redress perceived Remain bias in the House of Lords.
The PM is sending his “sherpa” David Frost to Brussels this week to try to negotiate an alternative to the backstop with the EU.
Mr Johnson also told Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, that Britain will leave without a deal unless the backstop is “abolished”.
Conservative party chairman James Cleverly is not impressed by Keir Starmer’s pledge to stop a no-deal Brexit in parliament.
Nigel Farage is now unveiling the 635 men and women who have “passed their assessments” and will stand as Brexit Party candidates whenever the next vote takes place.
Welcomed to the stage by the sound of tolling bells, Farage has made the highly contentious claim that: “A clean-break Brexit on 31 October is now by the far the most popular option in this country.”
Nigel Farage, having claimed a no-deal Brexit is now the most popular option with the country, has attacked Boris Johnson in his address to party candidates: “A few weeks into his premiership Boris is already going off the rails”.
“I'm pleased Boris Johnson has brought some energy and optimism to that job. I'm pleased he has said we will leave 'do or die' on October 31. The trouble is we have heard it all before."
“In his letter to Donald Tusk, he said a deal is his biggest priority. He said getting rid of the backstop would make the Withdrawal Agreement satisfactory. He voted for the Withdrawal Agreement the third time it came back to Parliament.
“Can you trust Boris Johnson, can you trust the Conservative Party? With or without the backstop, this is still the worst deal in history.”
Farage said the Brexit Party was ready for an election, adding: “My guess is I think there is a greater than 50% chance that we will face a general election in the autumn.”
Plenty of people pointing out that recent poll evidence does not bear out Nigel Farage’s claim that a no-deal Brexit is now the most popular option.
The latest BMG poll shows only 34 per cent of voters want the prime minister to carry out a no-deal Brexit on 31 October if necessary.
A poll of more than 20,000 Times and Sunday Times readers found only 23 per cent back a no-deal exit.
And the latest Survation poll shows only 19 per cent favour leaving the EU without a deal.
Political commentator Sam Bright is among the many people deriding Nigel Farage’s claim a no-deal Brexit has become the country’s most popular option, calling it “totally and utterly false”.
But the 635 people at his Westminster rally who have “passed their assessments” and will stand as Brexit Party candidates lapped it up.
The process of getting those candidates has not been plain sailing.
Earlier this month the Brexit Party listed Mark Nash as a candidate for the Moray constituency, before The National revealed he had written Islamophobic blogs under the pseudonym “Moraymint” describing Islam as a “cancer” that had to be “crushed out of existence”.
Farage’s party then claimed Nash had failed vetting and was added to a press release “in error”.
Other candidates include former lads’ mag editor Martin Daubney and Dominic Frisby, a stand-up comedian whose current Edinburgh Festival Fringe show is advertised with the blurb: “No entry to statists, crony capitalists or the metropolitan liberal elite.”
It has emerged the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will not be attending this afternoon’s Church House meeting.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell will stand in for him instead. The reason is reportedly a “diary clash”.
But he is meeting opposition leaders right now in parliament.
The “Church House” meeting later this afternoon is expected to see cross-party MPs gather to sign a declaration opposing any suspension of parliament and promising to form an alternative Commons if Boris Johnson attempt to prorogue.
But the more important meeting – the strategy session hosted by Jeremy Corbyn – is taking place right now in the Houses of Parliament. Here’s the man himself with Labour MPs, preparing to talk tactics with the opposition.
Corbyn prepares for meeting with opposition leaders alongside Labour MPs (Getty)
Anna Soubry has become the first opposition MP attending today’s big meeting to tweet about it, describing the session as “excellent”.
It seems today’s big session to block no-deal has been productive.
Jeremy Corbyn has reportedly agreed with opposition MPs that legislation is the first priority before any vote of no-confidence. Anna Soubry MPs says they settled upon a route “by legislation”.
So. A breakthrough. Jeremy Corbyn and the opposition leaders have agreed to try to stop no-deal through legislation in parliament.
Plaid Cymru Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts told The Independent meeting had a “very positive spirit”.
“What we agreed upon is we will work upon a legislative approach and that we will be implementing that as soon as we can [next week].”
Our political correspondent Lizzy Buchan has more details.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies