Boris Johnson news: Johnson repeatedly refuses to rule out suspending parliament to achieve no-deal Brexit

All the updates from the G7 summit in Biarritz, as it happened

Chair of Melton Mowbray pork pie association accuses Boris Johnson of lying about pie exports

Boris Johnson today said he was prepared to take final Brexit talks down to the last minute, but would then leave without a deal on 31 October, if no deal had been brokered.

This leaves just 68 days for the prime minister to secure a new deal, with neither side currently prepared to compromise on key issues.

The scenario leaves the UK facing a messy exit from the bloc, with food shortages and considerable border disruption expected, which could leave long-lasting economic scars on the country.

“The EU does tend to come to an agreement right at the end,” he said. “Clearly for us the walking away, as it were, would come on 31 October when we would take steps to come out … we would have by then made absolutely colossal extensive and fantastic preparations.”

Mr Johnson said he believed that other EU states, as well as the British public, now wanted to put Brexit behind them and move on.

“I think that it’s the job of everybody in parliament to get this thing done,” he said. “I think it’s what the people want, I also think by the way it’s what our friends and partners on the other side of the Channel want.

“They want this thing done, they want it over.

“You talk to our friends as I have done in the last few weeks and they are very enthusiastic about getting on with the future. They regard Brexit now as an encumbrance, an old argument. They want to talk about the new partnership that we’re going to build.”

The prime minister repeatedly refused to rule out suspending parliament in order to push through a no-deal Brexit.

Key Points

• EU tells Johnson dodging £39bn divorce bill will jeopardise trade deal
• No 10 says MPs cannot 'choose which votes they respect'
• Labour calls PM's £10m pledge to protect Amazon 'PR stunt'
• Johnson's pork pie claims rubbished by pork pie chief
• Swinson urges Corbyn to give up hopes of being caretaker PM

[26 August 2019 09:31 · Adam Forrest]

Boris Johnson used Sunday’s meeting with Donald Trump meeting to raise concerns about a range of US restrictions on UK goods – namechecking Melton Mowbray pork pies as an example of a British product stymied by the trade barrier.

But Matthew O'Callaghan – the chair of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association – has said the prime minister was wrong to claim the pies were in Thailand and Iceland but not the US.

“What he right?” he was asked on Today programme. “Not really...”

[26 August 2019 09:42 · Adam Forrest]

Gordon Brown said a no-deal Brexit would amount to an act of “self-harm” by the UK – and will even put lives at risk.

Andrew Woodcock has more on the former PM’s plan for MPs to force the government to produce an independent report on the impacts.

[26 August 2019 09:48 · Adam Forrest]

Boris Johnson said it was “fantastic” to talk to Australian counterpart Scott Morrison, who “seemed in very high spirits” despite the Ashes test loss.

But they didn’t spend the whole time talking cricket. A Downing Street spokesman said Johnson and Morrison “discussed their enthusiasm for an enhanced and deep trading relationship once the UK leaves the EU”.

“The prime minister set out the increase in the UK’s diplomatic presence in the Pacific, which prime minister Morrison welcomed.

“The two leaders were concerned about the current situation in Hong Kong and agreed that it was paramount for all sides to remain calm and peaceful, and to maintain Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy as guaranteed by the legally-binding Joint Declaration.”

[26 August 2019 09:57 · Adam Forrest]

MPs must stop squabbling and work together to stop Boris Johnson from pushing through a no-deal Brexit, according to the SNP’s Westminster leader.

Ian Blackford warned that the government is “prepared to crash the bus” over Brexit after Johnson said that the chances of securing a deal with the EU are “touch and go”.

Speaking on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Monday, Blackford said MPs must move quickly on their return to the House of Commons in order to seize the order paper in a bid to take the option of a no-deal off the table.

“He needs to be stopped and I’m appealing to parliamentarians this week to recognise the responsibility collectively that we've all got that when we get back to parliament next week, we have to move fast.

“We are up against a government that are prepared to crash the bus and they must be stopped. We will work with anybody and everybody to stop this and it’s not about who becomes prime minister in the short-term - in many respects we don't even need to do that.

“What we need to do is stop no-deal and we need to stop the damage that Boris Johnson will do. We need to bury our differences and we need to recognise the challenge that we face from someone that's prepared to take us out of the European Union on a no-deal basis.

“We all need to work together, that’s what the public would expect from us. It’s about protecting the interests of all our constituents from Brexit.”

[26 August 2019 10:20 · Adam Forrest]

Our chief political commentator John Rentoul has taken a look at the state of play ahead of a week of crucial parliamentary planning by opposition MPs and rebel Tories.

[26 August 2019 10:28 · Adam Forrest]

Boris Johnson claimed at the Biarritz summit that the chances of a new Brexit deal were improving, yet simultaneously claimed it was “touch and go” whether Britain would leave without a deal on 31 October.

If you’re still catching up with all of the prime minister’s G7 shenanigans this bank holiday Monday, here’s a full report from Andrew Woodcock.

[26 August 2019 10:32 · Adam Forrest]

[26 August 2019 10:40 · Adam Forrest]

Donald Trump has been speaking with Angela Merkel this morning. The US president claimed he and the German chancellor had reached agreement on a lot of things, including trade.

Trump asked Merkel if she was holding a press conference today, and told her he’d like to attend “just to watch”.

Despite the expression of interest in her thoughts, the body language did not look great.

Angela Merkel and Donald Trump at the G7 in Biarritz (AFP) 

[26 August 2019 10:53 · Adam Forrest]

Downing Street has responded quickly to pork pie-gate by referring journalists to comments made by Henry Bowles, export executive at Walker & Son, which makes almost 90 per cent of the Melton Mowbray pies.

Bowles' company said “small shipments” were being sent to Iceland and Thailand – the two countries Boris Johnson claimed were selling the pork pies.

Matthew O’Callaghan – the chair of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association – said earlier that “We don’t actually export to Thailand or to Iceland.”

[26 August 2019 11:06 · Adam Forrest]

Downing Street is standing by Boris Johnson’s comments about pork pie exports, according to our political editor Andrew Woodcock in Biarritz.

Officials pointed to published comments from Walker & Son’s export executive Henry Bowles in which he said: “Exports currently account for less than 1 per cent of our annual turnover, with small shipments being sent to Iceland, Thailand, Singapore and the Caribbean. The US has the potential to be a huge exporting opportunity for us and could lead to growth and new jobs at our factory in Leicester.”

A British official said: “The issue that the particular company had faced in the US was around red tape and various food standards particular to the US which made it very, very difficult to get their products in there, but they were able to get them into the other countries that the PM listed.” 

He added that Matthew O’Callaghan – the chair of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association who earlier rejected the PM’s remarks – had himself noted that “the prime minister was talking about a great British product on the world stage and there are going to be a lot more people who are knowledgeable about Melton Mowbray pork pies now”.