Boris Johnson news: Government tells public to ‘get ready’ in £100m advertising blitz amid slew of dire no-deal warnings

Follow how the day in Westminster unfolded

Boris Johnson says MPs can only hinder a new deal

Boris Johnson has called for the UK and EU to “step up the tempo” on Brexit talks, with No 10’s team of negotiators set to meet their counterparts in Brussels twice a week next month as the 31 October deadline looms.

It comes as former prime minister Sir John Major announced he would join a legal bid to block Mr Johnson’s move to suspend parliament for almost five weeks.

As rebel Tory MPs threaten to join opposition efforts to prevent a no-deal Brexit, organisers are hoping “hundreds of thousands” of people will take part in disruptive protests against the prorogation over the weekend.

Key Points

• Johnson calls for UK and EU to 'step up tempo' on talks
• No-deal Brexit likely to interrupt flu vaccine supplies, doctors warn
• Former Tory PM Major launches legal bid to stop Johnson suspending parliament
• Tom Watson and Jo Swinson join legal challenge 
• Johnson 'tearing the country apart', warns Gordon Brown
• Government to tell public to 'get ready' for no-deal Brexit in £100m advertising campaign

[30 August 2019 18:00 · Samuel Osborne]

Boris Johnson has revealed he harboured ambitions to be a rock star and a supermarket tycoon.

The prime minister said he also hoped to work as a kitchen tile designer, but the plan was a "total flop".

Mr Johnson was sharing his early ambitions with a group of budding young journalists during a question and answer session.

Asked if he had always wanted to lead the country, he replied: "I had various ambitions.

"I briefly thought I could be a musician, a rock star, but that didn't get very far.

"Then I thought I would own a chain of multi-brand supermarkets and be a tycoon, but that didn't get very far."

Then came a plan to make tiles, he said, adding: "I wanted to make kitchen tiles and that was a total flop."

"It goes to show you've got to try a lot of things first," the prime minister said.

[30 August 2019 18:27 · Samuel Osborne]

The prime minister has pledged to invest more than £14bn in schools over the next three years, Eleanor Busby writes:

[30 August 2019 18:42 · Samuel Osborne]

Organisers are hoping "hundreds of thousands" of people will take part in disruptive protests across Britain this weekend in response to Boris Johnson's plan to prorogue parliament.

Anti-Brexit campaign group Another Europe Is Possible has organised 32 #StopTheCoup demonstrations to take place in England, Scotland and Wales on Saturday.

Meanwhile, left-wing group Momentum is calling on its members to "occupy bridges and blockade roads" in conjunction with the protests.

Michael Chessum, national organiser for Another Europe Is Possible,said "disruption is the only form of leverage protesters can rely on".

He said the group is not encouraging demonstrators to block roads, but that kind of disruption is "certainly possible".

He added: "We would go further than anticipate (civil disobedience). We would defend it."

[30 August 2019 18:58 · Samuel Osborne]

Jeremy Corbyn has urged MPs to join the demonstrations and oppose the shutdown of parliament.

In a letter to the Parliamentary Labour Party, the Labour leader said: "I am addressing a major rally in Salford on Monday.

"But there are also public protests across the country this Saturday, there will be a rally in Parliament Square on Tuesday evening, and I encourage Labour MPs to be present and to share our message."

Labour MP Clive Lewis also called for people to support the #StopTheCoup protests.

The shadow treasury minister said: "The right to peacefully protest and show your displeasure and anger is a long-held British tradition.

"No one is calling for riots or aggravation. This is about people peacefully demonstrating.

"A peaceful protest can be marching, but it can also be sitting down in roads."

Further mass demonstrations, organised by the People's Assembly Against Austerity, are planned to take place on Tuesday to coincide with MPs returning to Westminster.

[30 August 2019 19:27 · Samuel Osborne]

What would you do if you were offered £30,000 to work for Nigel Farage? Here's what Jamal Ahmed did when he received the offer from the Brexit Party...

[30 August 2019 19:35 · Samuel Osborne]

Ahead of planned protests against Boris Johnson's extended suspension of parliament, John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, has said: "Boris Johnson's attempts to shut down democracy are being resisted by the people.

"Whether you voted for Remain or Leave, the people did not vote for a no deal for which there is no mandate.

"As elected Labour MPs across the country represent their constituents by joining in these protests, I urge other MPs to think of their constituents whose jobs and livelihoods will be put at risk in a no deal Brexit.

"If Boris Johnson wants a mandate, then he should call a general election and put it to the people."

[30 August 2019 19:49 · Samuel Osborne]

Shami Chakrabarti, the shadow attorney general, has announced she has been granted permission to intervene in the judicial review regarding Mr Johnson's extended suspension of parliament.

Ms Chakrabarti said: "I am grateful to the High Court for granting me permission to intervene in these important proceedings on behalf of the official opposition.

"Parliamentary sovereignty remains the foremost and overarching principle of our constitution.

"Whatever far-right play-book No 10 may be copying from, the abusive shutdown of our legislature won't wash under United Kingdom constitutional law."