Brexit news: Boris Johnson expected to scrap foreign aid department and extend hostile environment, as BBC faces backlash over role in Tory election win
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Your support makes all the difference.Boris Johnson has addressed his new intake of 109 new Conservative MPs after his landslide victory, and was expected to urge them to vote for his Brexit deal so the UK can leave the EU by the end of January.
Mr Johnson’s reported plans to create a new immigration system, separate from the Home Office, has experts fearing an expansion of the “hostile environment” policy. It comes as senior Tories and more than 100 charities attack the PM’s plan to axe the department delivering Britain’s foreign aid.
The prime minister has also launched a mini-reshuffle of his cabinet, with Simon Hart appointed Welsh secretary and Nicky Morgan - who stepped down as an MP at the election - handed a life peerage to enable her to continue as culture secretary.
With Labour figures jockeying over who should succeed Jeremy Corbyn, shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald accused the BBC of “playing a part” in the party’s defeat. Emily Thornberry said she is taking legal action against Caroline Flint over the claim she called Leave voters “stupid”.
Here's how we covered the day's development as they happened:
John Bercow yells ‘order’ in Italian upon demand
Do you remember the former Commons speaker John Bercow? Of course you do. It’s only been six weeks since he left our lives.
He’s been on the Italian TV programme Che Tempo Che Fa yelling “Ordinaire! (Italian for order) like a performing seal.
Boris Johnson to present Brexit bill to MPs on Friday
The government will seek to introduce its Withdrawal Agreement Bill to the Commons on Friday, Downing Street has said.
The PM’s official spokesman told a Westminster briefing: “We plan to start the process before Christmas and will do so in the proper constitutional way in discussion with the speaker.”
Asked if the legislation would be identical to that introduced in the last parliament, the PM’s spokesman said: “You will have to wait for it to be published but it will reflect the agreement that we made with the EU on our withdrawal.”
Jess Phillips as Labour leader: a gamble worth taking?
Our columnist Matthew Norman thinks Labour members should seriously consider Jess Phillips as Jeremy Corbyn’s successor.
He describes it as a gamble that could well pay off, and argues that opting for a continuity candidate from the party’s left would be a big mistake.
Boris Johnson could have released Russia report ‘before the election was called,’ says Dominic Grieve
Former Tory minister Dominic Grieve, ex-chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee, has responded to No 10’s announcement the report into alleged Russian interference in the UK has been cleared for publication.
Grieve, who lost his seat in Thursday’s election, told The Independent: “If he has done it now, he could have done it before the election was called.”
Our political editor Andrew Woodcock has more:
Defence chiefs – and civil service – braced for Dominic Cummings-led overhaul
Defence mandarins are bracing themselves for an overhaul of the way they operate, after Boris Johnson’s right-hand man Dominic Cummings branded previous major military purchases “a farce”.
Cummings, the brains behind the Vote Leave campaign and a Whitehall critic, used a personal blog in March to accuse the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of squandering “billions of pounds” on warships that were no longer suitable for battle.
The Times reported that Cummings was now expected to examine recent military purchases and costly equipment. In his blog written eight months ago, he said the UK’s two-aircraft carriers, which cost a combined £6.2 billion, could not be used against a “serious enemy”.
Cummings, a former adviser at the Department for Education, has written frequently about Whitehall being ill-equipped to deliver the change the country requires.
The Sunday Times reported that the Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) would be scrapped as soon as this week, with the best staff to join the Cabinet Office to boost numbers in Britain’s EU negotiating team.
Other ideas under consideration include splitting energy and climate change from the business department again and merging the Department for International Trade with the business department.
The Foreign Office and the Department for International Development could also be aligned to shift the aid budget’s focus and ensure it aligns with foreign policy goals.
Dominic Cummings arrives back at No 10 on Monday (AFP)
Nationalisation more popular than ever
Here's some food for thought: YouGov has found that nationalisation and public ownership has got noticeably more popular with the public over the last two years – there's now practically a political consensus in favour of it.
This will make interesting reading for Labour members deciding which way their party should go next.
People of Northern Ireland ‘sick of this standoff,’ says SDLP
Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith has embarked on a round of bilateral meetings with the leaders of the five main parties, in an effort to kick-start a new talks process ahead of a looming deadline in January.
If a devolved executive is not resurrected by January 13, legislation that gives the civil service extra powers to run the region's floundering public services will expire, and Smith will be under a legal duty to call a snap Assembly election.
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said the electorate had delivered a message to the politicians that they needed to get back to work.
“People have made it very clear they are sick of this - they are sick of this standoff, it hasn’t solved anybody’s problems, it hasn't taken anybody off a waiting list, it hasn’t fixed nurses pay, it hasn’t done any of that.
“The only way you do that is by getting into government and taking responsibility.”
After talks with Smith, Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald said any executive formed had to be “inclusive”, with all parties involved. “We need a clear commitment from parties to really show up for work and form an executive,” she said.
Earlier DUP leader Arlene Foster said it was “a shame on all politicians in Northern Ireland that we have not been able to have the institutions up and running again”.
Colum Eastwood with Julian Smith (PA)
Rees-Mogg denies being kept away from Tory campaign
Jacob Rees-Mogg has dismissed the idea he was kept away from the Tory election campaign following his remarks about Grenfell victims (he suggested they had not used “common sense”).
“The election wasn’t about me,” he told the BBC. “It was a choice between the prime minister and Jeremy Corbyn, and the country made their choice and what a wonderful choice they've made.”
According to The Sunday Times, Rees-Mogg is one of the cabinet ministers at risk of being axed at a major reshuffle in February – already dubbed the “Valentine’s Day massacre”.
Asked whether he could be on his way out, the Commons leader said: “You’ll have to ask the prime minister, as you know.”
Jacob Rees-Mogg in Whitehall (EPA)
Top Tories turn on PM over plan to scrap foreign aid department
Senior Tories have attacked the prime minister’s plan to axe the department delivering Britain’s foreign aid.
Two former ministers spoke out as the prime minister ordered a major Whitehall overhaul, expected to see the department for international development (DfID) swallowed up by the foreign office.
Alistair Burt, a former Dfid minister who stood down at the election, said: “My advice would be not to merge DfID and the FCO. DfID as a standalone department has given the UK an outstanding reputation. It runs very well.”
Andrew Mitchell, a former international development secretary, said: “DfID is the most effective and respected engine of development anywhere in the world, and a huge soft power asset for Britain.”
Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick has more details:
‘Weak and incompetent leadership’: Stephen Kinnock attacks Corbyn
Labour MP Stephen Kinnock has set out why he thinks his party lost the election.
“There were three main problems – weak and incompetent leadership, the decision to back a second referendum, which massively alienated millions in our Leave-voting seats, and the manifesto which turned into a Christmas wish-list.
“The economic model is broken in this country – we have the biggest gap between London and south east and the rest of the country that any other country in the industrialised world … so something has to be fixed. But we went much too far. The 2017 manifesto was far more rooted in realism – 2019 was just a wish list.”
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