Boris Johnson prepares to enter No 10 as Hunt ‘refuses cabinet demotion’ – live news | Politics

According to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, Boris Johnson is going to appoint Dominic Cummings as a senior adviser.

This would be a remarkable appointment – depending on how much power Cummings ends up having, perhaps one of the two or three most important of the day. Cummings is an ultra-bright, scruffy iconoclast who worked as a special adviser for Michael Gove before becoming campaign director for Vote Leave. He is credited by some with being the mastermind behind that campaign, which is why the playwright James Graham gave him the central role (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) in his TV drama about Brexit.

The key point about Cummings is that is he not really a conservative; he is a Tory Leninist who believes British government, and especially the civil service (of which he has been very critical) needs fundamental reform. Officials in Number 10 will be horrified at the prospect of his heading their way. Some of Johnson’s allies in the European Research Group, which represents hardline Brexiter Tories, will also be concerned. Cummings has been caustic about them in the past. For example, this is what he said in a blog earlier this year.

Those of you in the narcissist-delusional subset of the ERG who have spent the last three years scrambling for the 8.10 Today slot while spouting gibberish about trade and the law across SW1 – i.e exactly the contemptible behaviour that led to your enforced marginalisation during the referendum and your attempt to destroy Vote Leave – you are also in the pirate category. You were useful idiots for remain during the campaign and with every piece of bullshit from Bill Cash et al you have helped only Remain for three years. Remember how you WELCOMED the backstop as a ‘triumph’ in December 2017 when it was obvious to everybody who knew what was going on – NOT the cabinet obviously – that this effectively ended the ‘negotiations’? Remember how Bernard Jenkin wrote on ConHome that he didn’t have to ‘ruin his weekend’ reading the document to know it was another success for the natural party of government — bringing to mind very clearly how during the referendum so many of you guys were too busy shooting or skiing or chasing girls to do any actual work. You should be treated like a metastasising tumour and excised from the UK body politic.

On the Today programme Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary, confirmed that Labour is talking to Tory MPs opposed to a no-deal Brexit about whether they would support the opposition in a vote of no confidence in Boris Johnson. When asked about these talks, Gardiner said: “Of course those discussions are going on.”

Here is the scene in Downing Street this morning.

Boris Johnson’s unpopularity in Scotland explains why Ian Blackford, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, told the Today programme this morning that Boris Johnson could be the last prime minister of the United Kingdom.

Gordon Brown, the former Labour prime minister, has also been making this argument forcefully.

This is from ITV’s Joe Pike. The fact that the Scottish edition of the Sun can’t bring itself to print a positive splash about Boris Johnson becoming prime minister tells you a lot about how he is seen as an electoral liability for his party in Scotland.

According to the official timetable for today, Boris Johnson will not start his cabinet reshuffle until after he has been appointed prime minister by the Queen this afternoon.

But, in practice, the reshuffle is already under way – and there is a standoff between Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, his main rival for the leadership. Hunt, the current foreign secretary, has reportedly refused a demotion to defence secretary and is refusing to budge unless he gets one of the cabinet’s most senior jobs. Johnson will have to decide whether to give in, or to see him leave the cabinet altogether.

It would not be fatal if Hunt left the cabinet. In 2016 Theresa May sacked Michael Gove, even though he came third in the leadership contest (as he did this time). But it would severely undermine Johnson’s claim to be uniting the party. And it would probably alarm Tory moderates who, despite what Johnson says about being willing to contemplate a no-deal Brexit, want to believe that in reality he would never go for that option.

These are from the Times’ Steven Swinford and the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.

Theresa May views the potential of a no-deal Brexit as a threat to the integrity of the UK, according to the outgoing prime minister’s chief of staff.

Former Tory MP Gavin Barwell told Radio 4’s Today programme:

She is a passionate unionist and she has spent a significant amount of time in Northern Ireland during her premiership.

And every time she visited, that, sort of, sense that the combination of Brexit and what it could mean to the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland and the lack of devolved government in Northern Ireland that there was a real threat.

The secretary of state for Northern Ireland is on a statutory duty to call a border poll if she believes there is evidence to support one. So, that is a real concern to her, yes.

ITV’s Shehab Khan has tweeted Boris Johnson’s comments about the former prime minister Gordon Brown’s accession to Number 10, which he said was “as democratically proper as the transition from Claudius to Nero”.

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has said he is open to an electoral pact with Boris Johnson, so long as the incoming PM upholds his leadership election commitment to leaving the European Union by 31 October.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph (paywall), Farage declared that a general election is required to deliver Brexit and get any deal through the Commons, predicting that a Brexit-Tory alliance would “smash” the Labour party.

He is going to have to risk his longed-for position as PM to ensure Brexit is enacted properly.

There is no prospect of a meaningful Brexit thanks to the views of most sitting MPs. And any attempt to prorogue parliament will lead to the PM being brought down by his own side.

The inescapable truth, therefore, is that he must hold an autumn general election. That is his only way out .. [and] for this strategy to work, he will need the support of the Brexit party.

If he is able to convince us, then together we would electorally smash the Labour party, he would assume a big working majority, and he would go down as one of the great leaders in British history.

However, Johnson has ruled out a deal with the Brexit party and has said he does not want an early election.

Although the chancellor, Philip Hammond, the justice secretary, David Gauke, and the international development secretary, Rory Stewart, have already announced they intend to resign before Johnson takes over the reins of power due to their opposition to a no-deal Brexit, the incoming prime minister is set to enter office with a number of new and returning faces in his cabinet.

The Times is reporting that Brexiter Priti Patel is to become home secretary in a return to the frontbench after she was forced to resign from her previous role in the cabinet over unauthorised contact with Israeli officials.

Remain-voting employment minister Alok Sharma is set for promotion to a full cabinet role, while the business secretary, Greg Clark, who also opposes no-deal, could depart the top table.

Meanwhile, Brexiters including Dominic Raab, Esther McVey and Andrea Leadsom who resigned from May’s government will be eager to return.

And what to do with the defeated candidate for leader Jeremy Hunt? He is said to be resisting attempts to demote him as foreign secretary.

Elsewhere, the home secretary, Sajid Javid, and chief secretary to the Treasury, Liz Truss, have been mooted as potential replacements for Hammond as chancellor.

Of his initial backroom appointments, that of Sky chief financial officer and chief operating officer Andrew Griffith as chief business adviser to Number 10 is most striking.