Brexit news: Boris Johnson downgrades Tory Islamophobia inquiry and vows to sack ministers against no deal, amid Labour confusion over Corbyn stance
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Boris Johnson appears to have downgraded his promise of support for an independent inquiry into Islamophobia in the Conservative Party.
The frontrunner for the Tory crown said he wanted a probe into all types of discrimination, despite having previously backed calls for an investigation specifically into anti-Muslim prejudice.
His rival, foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt, also faced criticism after claiming the two sides in the Northern Ireland conflict must be treated “the same”.
At a Tory leadership hustings, Mr Johnson said it would be “absolutely folly” to rule out suspending Parliament to force through a no-deal Brexit againast the rule of MPs. He said the controversial measure should remain as “an essential tool in our negotiation”.
Meanwhile, Mr Hunt conceded the winner of the contest could spend the shortest time as prime minister in history, and said he would resign if he failed to deliver Brexit.
Biggest lies told by Boris Johnson
Show all 5Mr Johnson told party members in Bournemouth that he wanted to be the prime minister of a “representative democracy, a great representative democracy in which we believe in our elected representatives to take the right decision”.
“I would rather than confiding in this archaic device to get this thing done at my own behest, I would rather confide in the maturity of common sense of parliamentarians, all of whom are now staring down the barrel of public distrust,” he said.
Mr Hunt told the hustings that he would introduce a “no-deal Bill” in the first Queen’s Speech in the new parliamentary session to ensure the country is “fully” prepared for such an outcome.
And, asked by moderator Hannah Vaughan Jones if he was “concerned by threats it could be the shortest tenure in history”, he replied: “Well, if we get this wrong, it will be.
“And we have got the biggest constitutional crisis in living memory and that is because MPs like me made a promise to the people that we would deliver the outcome of the referendum whatever it was and we failed.”
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Speaker John Bercow announces the Brecon and Radonershire by-election will be held on 1 August - the week after a new PM enters Downing Street.
It follows the successful recall petition in the constituency, removing Chris Davies as the MP in the area - he was convicted of faking invoices earlier this year.
The Conservatives have stood by Davies, and he will be there candidate in the contest in August.
You can read more on the case below
Diane Abbott - a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn - has said she is "beginning to worry" about Labour's Brexit strategy.
Ms Abbott was responding to a Twitter user who said he had so far backed Labour's position but was concerned by the momentum of the Greens and Liberal Democrats - both parties have backed a second referendum.
She said: "Like you I have supported Labour's Brexit strategy so far. But like you I am beginning to worry..."
The Conservative leadership hustings continue this evening at 7pm, as the Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson face the party's membership.
It comes after the party announced today the final head-to-head between the two candidates vying to replace Theresa May will be held on 15 July - the week before the new PM is announced.
The event is being held by the Sun newspaper, and Politico claims the newspaper is branding it the "final showdown" in the Tory leadership contest.
The BBC is currently hosting a hustings event of another leadership contest - this time with the Liberal Democrats' candidates Jo Swinson and Ed Davey.
Davey claims he turned down a job with MI6 in the Nineties to accept one as economic adviser to the then-Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown.
On a second referendum, Swinson says "we do have time" for a People's Vote, and claims the EU is "very clear" that if MPs back it, they will offer an extension.
Both candidates say they would not argue for a third referendum. "That would be too distabalising," says Davey.
Diane Abbott says she is “beginning to worry” about Labour’s Brexit strategy, after the party failed to agree a shift to fully supporting a fresh referendum, writes deputy political editor Rob Merrick.
It is the first time the shadow home secretary – Jeremy Corbyn’s longest-standing political ally – has questioned the cautious approach to the key issue, widely criticised as a fudge.
Many Labour MPs have openly criticised the reluctance to campaign for a Final Say public vote and to guarantee support for Remain if it takes place.
Guy Verhofstadt has launched a broadside against Boris Johnson, accusing him of engaging in a “combination of false promises, pseudo-patriotism, and foreigner bashing”.
The European Parliament’s Brexit chief said the frontrunner to be Britain’s next prime minister was “a man who continues to dissemble, exaggerate, and disinform the public about Brexit”.
“To those of us watching from the outside, the debate between the candidates confirms that they have learned nothing whatsoever from the past two years of negotiations with the EU,” Mr Verhofstadt wrote in a piece for the Project Syndicate website.
This is from my colleague Rob Merrick, who has been keeping an eye on business questions in the Commons. The question from MPs comes amid speculation the government was planning on scrapping the traditional three-week conference recess in the autumn.
One plank of Boris Johnson’s Brexit plan is to threaten to withhold the £39bn exit fee, negotiated by Theresa May, to put pressure on the EU to give him a better deal, explains political commentator John Rentoul.
He told Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC political editor, on Monday: “I think there should be creative ambiguity about when and how that gets paid over.”
This seems unlikely to work, as it would mean unpicking the first phase of the Brexit negotiations, and is certainly unlikely to be resolved by 31 October, by which time Johnson promises the UK will leave, “come what may”.
But it does seem like a lot of money. Donald Trump, for whom the figure is converted to $50bn, said: “If I were them I wouldn’t pay $50bn. That is me. I would not pay, that is a tremendous number.”
Diane Abbott, Labour's shadow home secretary and a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, has told a Twitter user that she is "worried" about the party's policy on Brexit...
Opinion: Chris Williamson's reprieve is a disgraceful step back in Labour's half-baked 'fight' against antisemitism, write the chief executives of the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council
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