Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

As it happenedended

MPs reject attempt to seize control of Commons agenda in latest attempt to prevent no-deal Brexit

Sajid Javid brands Boris Johnson 'yesterday's man' as rivals launch leadership bids

Ashley Cowburn
Political Correspondent
,Jon Sharman,Lizzy Buchan,Jane Dalton
Wednesday 12 June 2019 14:35 BST
Comments
Boris Johnson dodges question again as he's asked a second time about taking cocaine

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Labour has lost an attempt to block the possibility of any new prime minister forcing through a no-deal Brexit against MPs' wishes.

It came as Sajid Javid had a pointed dig at Boris Johnson as they launched rival Tory leadership campaigns, saying the former foreign secretary was "yesterday's news".

The home secretary positioned himself as a "new kind of leader", after Mr Johnson had pledged to end the Brexit "disillusion and despair" by taking the UK out of the EU on 31 October with or without a deal.

A shock poll suggested the Tory front-runner would win a general election landslide as prime minister.

The ComRes survey for the Daily Telegraph – which pays the former foreign secretary £275,000 for a weekly column – said Mr Johnson’s Tories would win 37 per cent of the vote, which the paper claimed would translate to a 140-seat majority following analysis by the Electoral Calculus website.

Please see what was our live coverage below

Here's the latest from our video team on who could replace Theresa May as leader.

Get to know the candidates...

Jon Sharman12 June 2019 09:47

Another morning TV presenter has cast doubt on Esther McVey's claim that she was promoted over Lorraine Kelly in her GMTV days.

Fiona Phillips, writing in the Mirror, claimed that the Conservative leadership hopeful "didn't have a job at GMTV until she covered my three-month maternity in 1999".

"How could she have been 'promoted', then, from a job she'd never held in the first place?"

Ms Kelly previously said: "I have had my own show since 1992 and I don't actually think she joined until about five years later – and as far as sharing dressing rooms go, it wasn't really like that."

Catch up on the saga with our story below...

Jon Sharman12 June 2019 09:52

Labour and a cross-party alliance are today attempting to seize control of the House of Commons agenda in order to prevent the next Conservative prime minister forcing through a no-deal without the consent of MPs, writes Ashley Cowburn.

Theresa May's former director of legislative affairs, Nikki de Costa, has described the move as "extraordinary".

Jon Sharman12 June 2019 10:02

Rory Stewart has questioned Boris Johnson's ability to lead the country. Hear what he had to say here...

Jon Sharman12 June 2019 10:13

Andrea Leadsom has vowed that "there will be no second referendums on my watch".

That goes for Scottish independence and Brexit, she said in a tweet.

"I respect the result ... of referendums!" she added.

Jon Sharman12 June 2019 10:18

From the big tent home of London’s most famous comedy festival, Rory Stewart launched the only Tory leadership campaign that wasn’t a complete joke, writes our political sketch-writer Tom Peck.

For the first time, toward the end of two long days of madness, he was the first of his kind to stand behind a lectern with his name on, and refuse either to gild the truth, or to flat out lie. And right at the end, it was the truth that finished him off, but we’ll get to that in due course.

What would Rory Stewart do? Well this is what he wouldn’t do.

“I don’t believe in promising things we can’t deliver. I don’t believe in pretending you’re going to get a new deal out of Brussels. I don’t believe in promising £42bn to a single department.” (That’s the defence department, by the way. Jeremy Hunt reckons he’s going to double defence spending. It isn’t going to happen.)

Jon Sharman12 June 2019 10:27

Richmond MP Rishi Sunak has defended Boris Johnson's decision to avoid the public's gaze so far in the leadership race. But all that is about to change in a few short minutes.

Jon Sharman12 June 2019 10:34

With all the leadership goings-on today, remember that it's a Wednesday, which means prime minister's questions at 12pm.

Jon Sharman12 June 2019 10:35

If this Tory leadership election was a fifth-rate spy novel, the double agent would have blown his cover by page three, writes Matthew Norman.

Boris Johnson’s pledge to raise the threshold for top rate income tax to £80,000 would reveal him to the dimmest reader as the mole – a socialist sleeper planted in the Conservative movement long ago, with the mission to propel Labour into power when the time was right.

But it isn’t a fifth-rate espionage novel. It’s a ninth-rate sitcom, twice as broad and archaic as When The Whistle Blows, Ricky Gervais’s pastiche in Extras, and thrice as witless.

Jon Sharman12 June 2019 10:43

People attending Boris Johnson's launch event have been offered "Boris bacon butties'' and "Boris eggs Benedict'' inside the venue.

They were also invited to wear "Back Boris'' badges. 

Jon Sharman12 June 2019 10:43

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in