Conservative leadership race – live: Boris Johnson dodges hustings despite ridicule from Jeremy Hunt for ducking TV debate
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Your support makes all the difference.Boris Johnson is skipping Conservative leadership hustings with political journalists on Monday morning, hours after refusing to attend Channel 4’s televised debate.
His rival candidates are all participating in the event, which began at 11.10am, but the frontrunner's team claim he is too busy doing debate preparation to attend.
Channel 4 marked the Mr Johnson’s absence from Sunday’s debate with an empty podium.
During the event, Rory Stewart, one of the contenders vying to replace Theresa May, claimed up to 100 Conservative MPs would vote with him to stop Boris Johnson carrying out a no-deal Brexit – but ruled out joining with Labour to topple his government.
The Tory leadership outsider refused to echo senior Tories Philip Hammond and Ken Clarke who could potentially back a vote-of-no-confidence, saying: “I'm not going to take down a Conservative government.”
Questioned by The Independent at hustings in Westminster, Mr Stewart said: “We can stop a no-deal Brexit much more easily than that.
“I, and nearly 100 of my colleagues, would vote to prevent a no-deal Brexit without having to bring down a Conservative government.”
Mr Stewart also ruled out backing a Final Say referendum on Brexit, telling journalists it would be “catastrophic and divisive”.
This liveblog has now closed - but you view the day's events in Westminster below
Michael Gove has said he "absolutely won't" take the decision to prorogue parliament.
"I want to strengthen Parliament...I think it would be wrong," he told BBC Radio 4.
"I think if we're going to leave the EU without a deal, then parliament has to vote to support it."
Mr Gove clashed with Dominic Raab, a hardline Brexiteer, over the possibility of suspending the Commons in Sunday's Tory leadership debate.
Read The Independent's analysis of the debate here:
David Gauke, the justice secretary, has mocked Boris Johnson's fiscal policies.
"I'm the last person to want to curtail the leadership race," the South West Hertfordshire MP said.
"But every Telegraph column by Boris Johnson increased the borrowing by [billions].
Mr Gauke is supporting Rory Stewart, who has won praise for his unorthodox campaign. He was responding to the former foreign secretary's latest Telegraph column, in which he pledged to boost the UK's broadband infrastructure.
"If Boris wins, good luck to whoever becomes his chancellor," Mr Gauke added, in a possible veiled reference to Matt Hancock, who has been linked to the post.
"It would be a noble act of self-sacrifice to accept the job. Who'd do it?"
"The political impasse over Brexit threatens to “suffocate” business investment across the UK, with the economy grinding to a halt as a temporary boost from stockpiling comes to an end, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has warned.
"The organisation said firms were putting resources into contingency plans, such as stockpiling, rather than investing in measures aimed at economic growth, which is 'simply not sustainable', " writes Adam Forrest.
"As a result, the economy is expected register zero growth in the second quarter of the year, following a 0.5 per cent expansion in Q1."
Read more here:
"Michael Gove has warned that his rivals' Brexit plans in the Tory leadership contest will result in a general election, and Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street by Christmas," reports Ashley Cowburn.
"The cabinet minister made the remarks after failing to secure the endorsement of Matt Hancock, who dropped out of the race to replace Theresa May last week.
"Instead, Mr Hancock, the health secretary, threw his weight behind the frontrunner Boris Johnson - a candidate committed to taking Britain out of the bloc on 31 October with or without a deal."
Read more here:
Jacob Rees-Mogg has refused to rule out joining a government led by Boris Johnson.
The hardline Brexiteer was asked if he could become chancellor, in the event Mr Johnson becomes prime minister.
"I'll support Boris in any way he wants me to support him," Mr Rees-Mogg said in an interview with Sky News.
"He has my full and unequivocal backing."
"Boris has very wisely not made any promises and I think that is sensible of him," the backbencher said, when asked if he had been offered the role of chancellor.
Mr Johnson is currently the front runner in the race to replace Theresa May.
Jacob Rees-Mogg has defended Boris Johnson, after the Conservative leadership hopeful was mocked for skipping Sunday's debate.
"I think he was right not to go," the hardline Brexiteer said in an interview with Sky News.
"It's the wrong stage for a debate and Boris has said that he will do debates at a later stage.
"Yesterday was too early, too many candidates, too unclear as to where we're going."
Dominic Raab was reportedly nicknamed "The Turnip" in Brussels, while he served as Brexit secretary.
The nickname is a play on raap, the Dutch word for turnip and was conferred due to Mr Raab's poor negotiating strategy, EU sources have said according to The Telegraph.
The newspaper reports that Michel Barnier, the EU's Brexit negotiator, confronted Mr Raab over the Irish border issue in a tense meeting.
Mr Raab, who is standing to become Conservative leader, refuses to rule out a no deal Brexit and suspending parliament to achieve one.
Tom Watson will begin speaking in a few minutes at the Centre for European Reform.
The Labour deputy leader will say the party's members and values have always been pro-European and push for a second referendum, in a keynote speech.
"The core values of the EU are: Internationalism, Solidarity, Freedom. They are British, Labour values," Mr Watson said on Twitter.
"Our future doesn’t need to be Brexit. We can change our future. But only if Labour makes the case for it."
Mr Watson's speech will increase pressure on Jeremy Corbyn to clarify Labour's Brexit stance.
The Labour leader has so far resisted pressure to fully support a second referendum.
Graham Brady has said Theresa May's government was "too pliant" in accepting the EU's argument that the backstop is the only way to protect the Good Friday Agreement.
The new prime minister should recognise that the backstop "is a threat to the Good Friday Agreement, rather than its guarantor", Mr Brady wrote, in the foreword to a report produced by Policy Exchange, a centre-right think tank.
"The election of a new leader now presents an opportunity to return to the negotiations and secure an agreement that is acceptable to both the House of Commons and the EU," Mr Brady wrote.
The influential MP said a new leader "must at once work on alternative arrangements, including the technical solutions, is given (long overdue) priority."
The backstop would keep the UK closely aligned with EU customs rules, in the event the UK leaves the EU without reaching a deal on a future relationship.
Under its terms Northern Ireland would have to obey some of single market regulations in order to avoid a hard border with the Republic of Ireland.
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