Brexit news – live: Boris Johnson’s renegotiation plan shot down by likely new EU chief, as Tories go to war over ambassador to US
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Senior Tories are at war over the appointment of a new ambassador to the US, as one ally of Boris Johnson accused Theresa May of being “in denial” over the fact she must soon give up the reins of power.
Mr Johnson has come under fire after it emerged that Sir Kim Darroch had decided to quit after Mr Johnson refused to support him during a televised leadership debate.
Elsewhere, Labour was plunged into fresh rows after whistleblowers claimed Jeremy Corbyn's team had interfered in the handling of antisemitism complaints.
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Welcome to The Independent's politics liveblog, where we will be bringing you the latest updates throughout the day.
Conservative former leader Lord Howard has said proroguing parliament to allow a no-deal Brexit would be a "very bad idea" and warned Boris Johnson that Tories defy him in a confidence vote.
"I think it's a very bad idea because I think it would set a terrible precedent - we live in very uncertain political times and no-one can exclude the possibility of a Corbyn government," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"And the thought of creating a precedent which Jeremy Corbyn could use to bypass parliament to do all sorts of things which would be seriously damaging for our country is not a thought which really should be entertained for a minute...
"The second reason is that I don't think it would work because I think it would outrage enough Conservative MPs - and it wouldn't need very many of them - to provoke them into supporting a motion of no confidence in the government."
Here is a clip of Lord Howard's interview on the Today programme:
Another story dominating the airwaves today is a furious row over antisemitism in the Labour ranks. The much anticipated documentary by BBC Panorama claimed Jeremy Corbyn’s team repeatedly interfered in disciplinary cases relating to antisemitism, according to revelations made by Labour whistleblowers.
The Labour leader was personally copied into emails in which Jennie Formby, the party’s general secretary, appeared to promise to interfere in a case involving an activist who had claimed Jews were responsible for the slave trade.
In another case, Seumas Milne, Mr Corbyn’s director of communications, told party staff they were “muddling up political disputes with racism” and said Labour needed to “review where and how we’re drawing the line”.
Read our piece here:
Labour deputy leader Tom Watson had the key 8.10 slot on the Today programme, where he was outspoken in his criticism of handling of antisemitism cases in Labour.
He said there is "a growing belief that there was almost a permissive culture" towards antisemitism in the party, as he claimed there was evidence of "some participation" from Jeremy Corbyn's office in disciplinary cases.
"In the last four years, since Jeremy and I were elected leader and deputy leader of the party, there is a growing belief that there is a sickness in our party, that this kind of abuse has been in some way allowed," he said.
"That there's almost a permissive culture that people can use anti-Jewish, racist language both in our meetings and to each other on social media and we've failed to address that properly."
He went on: "It does seem to me that there is obviously some participation in these disciplinary cases from the leader's office, which means they are responsible for dealing with the rebuilding of trust in the Jewish community."
Tom Waton told Today there needed to be a rule change to "auto-exclude" party members who have a "prima facie case to answer of using anti-Semitic behaviours and language".
"I think we need to change the way we investigate these systems," the deputy leader said.
"Not casting aspersions on the current people, but I think we need to take these cases away from them and have a full, independent system of investigating cases of anti-Jewish racism that involves representatives from the Jewish community of Britain of standing...
"I think we need a rule change - and this has been argued by others like Keir Starmer and Gordon Brown - that allows us to auto-exclude from the membership people who have a prima facie case to answer of using anti-Semitic behaviours and language within our own structures."
Mr Watson said he thought Mr Corbyn was the "only one" who could fix the antisemitism issue within the party.
"Not only do I think he can fix it, I think he is the only one who can fix it. And if he adopts some of the proposals that I'm making then these rule changes will go through our party.
"It won't be enough to rebuild trust with the Jewish community but it will be a start of trying to challenge a culture of permissiveness that allows anti-Jewish racism to be casually used in political discussion within one of the two great parties in the United Kingdom."
The chief rabbi has issued a damning statement over the Panorama allegations, accusing the Labour leadership of complicity in antisemitism problems.
Labour has made a complaint to the BBC about the Panorama programme, which it says is one-sided.
Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, is in the Commons to answer questions this morning, followed by an urgent question on the resignation of US ambassador Sir Kim Darroch.
Dr Fox was in Washington this week, where he met with the Trump administration and Sir Kim, so here's hoping he gets asked about it.
Boris Johnson has agreed with Donald Trump that Theresa May's approach to Brexit was "foolish", in a decidedly undiplomatic comment.
The Tory front-runner spoke approvingly of Trump’s tweets about Ms May, telling Politico: “I can’t dissent from that."
“When it comes to the context of what the president has said about the Brexit deal, I find it hard to disagree.
“He has strong views about Brexit and he has strong views about the deal. Probably, from the point of view of those of us who want to get Brexit done and make a great success of it, it would be fair to say this is a debate that’s best conducted within the UK," Johnson added.
"But you know — the president has his style and his approach.”
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