Sunday papers – 23 June 2019

Brexit

Still the country wants to leave the EU without any further delay, reports Westmonster.

Leaving the EU without a deal at the end of October has an 8-point lead over a delay and second referendum, according to the latest Opinium poll.
They find that when given a binary option about what should happen next, 48% of voters think the UK should leave the EU with No Deal on 31st October if Parliament can’t agree a deal, compared to only 40% who want to delay and second referendum.
When it comes to a General Election, the Labour Party are polling in first place with Opinium on 26%, with the Brexit Party second on 23%. The Conservatives are third backed by just 20% of voters.
The poll also has Boris Johnson holding a lead over Jeremy Hunt, with 57% thinking he would be the best to negotiate with the EU compared to 26% who back Hunt on the same question.

Tory leadership

And the leading candidate in the leadership race is being pressed by his own people, reports the Telegraph.

Boris Johnson is facing a public campaign by his own supporters to guarantee to deliver Brexit by October 31 if he becomes prime minister, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.
In a bid to pile pressure on Mr Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, more than a dozen Conservative MPs have pledged to “stand up for Brexit” in a reprisal of a major grassroots campaign that previously foreshadowed the defeat of Theresa May’s deal with the EU in the Commons.
Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, and Priti Patel, the ex International Development Secretary, pledge their support in an article for this newspaper.

The Express claims Boris will get it done.

BORIS Johnson will be “ruthless and focused” in getting Brexit delivered by October 31 if he becomes prime minister, senior aides have revealed.
The Sunday Express has been given details of what the powerful European Research Group believe is Mr Johnson’s blueprint to get Britain out of the EU without further delay. And he will sack civil ­servants and ministers who fail to get the job done, senior members of his team have claimed. According to sources, former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith could be appointed deputy prime minister in charge of an expanded Cabinet Office which will take in the Brexit Department.
Ministers and civil service cabinet secretaries in charge of departments will have their summer holidays cancelled and be expected to report to Mr Johnson each week on no-deal preparations.
In the meantime, sources expect Theresa May’s unsuccessful deal to be ditched.

The Independent says the party won’t survive if the new leader, whoever it is, doesn’t take us out.

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have been warned they risk making the Conservatives unelectable if they take Britain out of the European Union without a deal.
New polling seen by The Independent suggests large swathes of traditional Tory voters have turned away from the party as its membership has become increasingly focused on Brexit, and that more will follow if the new leader opts for a no-deal outcome.

The Sun reports the thoughts of both candidates.

BORIS Johnson has vowed to take Britain out of the EU by Halloween if he becomes Prime Minister – while Jeremy Hunt promised to deliver Brexit before an election.
The Tory heavyweights were grilled onstage in Birmingham as they at the first Conservative Party leadership hustings.
Boris doubled down on his claim that he would be able to waive tariffs on EU goods after a No Deal Brexit – even though the idea has been repeatedly dismissed by officials on both sides of the Channel.
And Jeremy Hunt promised to “deliver Brexit and send Corbyn packing” – before vowing to make the Tories attractive to young people again.

A top Tory has threatened the prospective Prime Minister in the Independent.

A senior Conservative MP has warned Boris Johnson he will not “survive very long” if he pursues a “crash-out” Brexit, because fellow Tories will bring him down.
Dominic Grieve, who supports Britain remaining in the EU, predicted “a large number” of his colleagues would turn on the new prime minister, even joining a vote of no confidence to block a no-deal exit.
“There are a large number of Conservative MPs who will object to that happening and who will do everything possible to prevent it happening. I think the numbers are quite substantial,” the former attorney general said.

And Mr Grieve’s threat is in iNews.

Former attorney general Dominic Grieve has sent a thinly veiled threat to Boris Johnson that MPs would be willing to bring down the government in the event of a no deal Brexit.
Mr Grieve insisted a large number of Tory MPs would mobilise to prevent a no-deal Brexit in the autumn and remove Mr Johnson as prime minister, should he win the Tory leadership contest.

There could be plans afoot to involve the Queen and a no-confidence vote, reports the Times.

Boris Johnson has been warned that he is at high risk of being prime minister for just one day as Tory MPs launched a secret plot to stop the Queen asking him to replace Theresa May.
The Conservative chief whip, Julian Smith, told Johnson campaign chiefs Gavin Williamson and James Wharton on Thursday that there was a high likelihood he would lose a vote of no confidence within 24 hours of taking the job.
Smith revealed that two Tory MPs were on a “high-risk” watch list to defect from the party, destroying its majority in parliament and that a “handful” could jump ship to bring him down.

But Boris is a long way ahead of Hunt, claims the Telegraph.

Boris Johnson is more than 20 points ahead of Jeremy Hunt among grass-roots Conservatives, a new poll suggests.
A ComRes survey for The Sunday Telegraph found that 61 per cent of Tory councillors intended to vote for Mr Johnson in the party’s leadership contest, compared to 39 per cent planning to back the current Foreign Secretary.
The poll also reveals an overwhelming preference for a no-deal exit from the EU if the next Conservative leader fails to secure a better deal with Brussels.

GE

And if the new leader can team up with Nigel, they could decide to go to the country, says the Express.

BORIS JOHNSON could call an early election if he becomes Prime Minister, it has emerged, after a shock poll suggested almost two-thirds of Conservative members would welcome a coalition with the Brexit Party.
Mr Johnson’s allies are gearing up for a general election in late 2019 if he wins the Tory leadership contest. Tories close to the former Foreign Secretary declared an early vote is not his favourite option, but something that may need to happen to end the Brexit chaos. They said the country may be forced to cast an early ballot if Parliament refuses to accept a no deal Brexit. One key figure told The Times: “You will need to get the party in fighting shape as early as possible.

Labour Party

The official opposition is being pushed towards a second referendum, says the Guardian.

Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, has warned MPs and peers that an analysis of the party’s losses in recent local and European elections that was presented to the shadow cabinet last week dangerously underestimated the crisis it will face if it fails to back another Brexit referendum.
In a briefing document circulated to more than 100 Labour MPs and peers yesterday, Watson says sections of the analysis leaked to the media have “skewed” understanding of the party’s plight. He warns that if Labour does not face the actual lessons and become a Remain party, it risks electoral disaster.

The Guardian reports another Labour MP’s call.

The Labour MP Hilary Benn has called on his party to come out “loud and clear” in support of a second referendum, describing Brexit as a “complete and utter mess”.
Speaking during a People’s Vote rally at New Dock Hall in Leeds on Saturday, he said: “We know, to use the technical term, that Brexit is a complete and utter mess. I have never spoken on a People’s Vote platform before, but I too have come to the conclusion that the only way out of this mess is now to give the people a final say.
“So let’s say it clearly, let the party that I joined at 17 years of age say it loud and clear – we want a People’s Vote.”

Sky News also reports the call.

Hilary Benn has urged the Labour Party to come out “loud and clear” in support of a second referendum.
Speaking at the launch of People’s Vote North, Mr Benn described the Brexit campaign as a “fantasy” and said the UK’s withdrawal has been a “complete and utter mess”.
The pro-Remain Labour MP joined celebrities, sports stars and other politicians at a rally at New Dock Hall in Leeds, the first of 15 similar events planned across Britain this summer.

And the Express says Corbyn should ‘burst Johnson’s bubble’.

LABOUR leader Jeremy Corbyn is being called on to “burst” Boris Johnson’s Brexit bubble by an array of angry Remainers.
Hilary Benn has called on the party to come out “loud and clear” in support of a second referendum, describing Brexit as a “complete and utter mess”. Speaking during a People’s Vote rally in Leeds today, he said: “We know, to use the technical term, that Brexit is a complete and utter mess.
“I have never spoken on a People’s Vote platform before, but I too have come to the conclusion that the only way out of this mess is now to give the people a final say.
“So let’s say it clearly, let the party that I joined at 17 years of age say it loud and clear – we want a People’s Vote.”

EU

Breitbart quotes a telling comment from the French president.

French president Emmanuel Macron has indicated he does not care who succeeds Theresa May as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, provided they are as “loyal and respectful” to the European Union as she has been.
“All the way through the negotiations she’s been incredibly loyal and respectful, she never stood in the way, we sometimes disagreed but she never took the discussions or Europe hostage,” President Macron said, in comments reported by The Times.
“I do not know who will come next, and I certainly do not want to interfere but I hope it will be the same sense of respect and seriousness that she had.”

Daniel Hannan MEP writes for the Telegraph.

Look what Brexit is doing to you,” a German MEP told me this week. “You’re in crisis, your system is breaking down, everyone is looking for a way out”. I get this a lot in Brussels. “Brexit is making you poorer.” “Brexit is making you angrier.” “Brexit is making you more xenophobic”.
Sheesh, guys, do I really need to spell this out? Brexit hasn’t happened. The thing that is causing a crisis, making us angrier etc is not Brexit, but its precise opposite – the refusal of our leaders, despite their promises, to deliver Brexit.
I have almost given up trying to explain this in the EU. Pretty much every interview with continental media begins from the assumption that Britain is collapsing, that we’re scrambling for European passports and the leaders of the Leave campaign are ashamed to show their faces.

But I think Carly Read of the Express has misread Hannan’s column.  It reports:

BRUSSELS is blocking post-Brexit trade deals offered to the UK from the US, Australia, China and South America, Tory MEP Daniel Hannan has sensationally revealed.
Mr Hannan said Theresa May’s relentless and blinkered pursuit of a trade deal with the EU has shelved more than half a dozen other offers from huge nations that are quite literally queuing round the block to trade with Britain. He said that because Mrs May’s pursuit of a trade deal with the bloc could then rub-off on the next Tory leader and Prime Minister, it means Britain – and the long list of such nations – could remain in limbo until the no deal-withdrawal agreement stalemate is finally over.

Breitbart claims the bloc is calling for free speech to be curtailed.

The former General-Secretary of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has advocated stripping right-wing “extremists” of their fundamental rights to free speech and free assembly.
Mr Tauber, who serves as an MP for the CDU in the German Bundestag, made his statements following the murder of pro-open borders CDU member Walter Lübcke and the arrest of a suspect thought to be linked to far-right extremism.
Writing for German newspaper Die Welt, Tauber  blamed members of the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) for the murder of Lübcke, saying, “the political climate of this republic has changed as well.

Boris

The media are full of the incident at Boris’ flat.  The Telegraph says:

A neighbour of Boris Johnson whose wife swore at the Conservative leadership candidate in the street and declared that “all Tories suck” has admitted recording a row between the MP and his partner  and leaking the tape to a newspaper.
Tom Penn, 29, a playwright, who lives with Eve Leigh in the same building as Mr Johnson and Carrie Symonds, claimed he had made an anonymous call to police in the early hours on Friday after becoming “frightened and concerned” by shouting and banging coming from his neighbours’ home.

The Telegraph quotes a tweet from the neighbour.

At the height of the Conservative leadership battle, Eve Leigh posted a ‘tweet’ about her small contribution to the debate over who will be the next British prime minister.
“Just gave Boris Johnson the finger,” she wrote, referring to her greeting for the prospective Tory leader staying at his girlfriend’s flat in the same block as Ms Leigh’s apartment in south east London.
Ms Leigh, an American theatre producer, director and writer, has now deleted her Twitter account – probably because her influence over the leadership race became immeasurable this weekend.

The Sun has spoken to Boris’ partner.

BORIS Johnson’s furious partner Carrie Symonds tonight claimed she had been “stitched up” after cops dashed to a late-night row between the couple.
Carrie, 31, has told pals she is too scared to return to her £750,000 flat after being subjected to what she believes to be a hate campaign.
A Boris camp insider said: “As far as Carrie is concerned this is a stitch-up.
“Both she and Boris are convinced that this was  politically-motivated.
“It was a row like lots of couples have at the end of a demanding day but suddenly they found the police on their doorstep.”

Scotland

If Boris gets to No. 10, the Scots may well leave the UK, reports the Times.

The prospect of Boris Johnson as prime minister is fuelling public support for Scottish independence, according to a poll that suggests the majority of Scots would vote to leave the UK in a referendum if he enters Downing Street.
A Panelbase survey of 1,024 voters, conducted last week, points to a six-point lead for the “yes” campaign if Johnson replaces Theresa May — confirming the worst fears of allies of the Scots Tory leader, Ruth Davidson.

Health

Breast cancer patients may be helped by an inexpensive drug says the Times.

A diabetes drug that costs as little as 1p a tablet can curb the growth of breast cancer by up to 76%, experts have found.
Scientists discovered that metformin, taken by millions of diabetes patients, dramatically alters the make-up of breast cancer stem cells by forcing them to become addicted to glucose.
This creates a treatment “sweet spot”, enabling cancer drugs to target and kill the stem cells.

And the Times calls for more action over opiates.

The government must declare a public health crisis over the rising number of opioid-related deaths, one of the world’s leading experts has warned.
Professor Sir John Strang, head of the addictions department at King’s College London, demanded urgent action to halt the surge in deaths.
In February, an investigation by this newspaper revealed that opioid-related deaths have soared by 41% in a decade to about 2,000 every year.
“This marked increase in avoidable mortality must be recognised as a public health crisis,” Strang writes in The Lancet Psychiatry journal.
Swansea, Norwich, Worthing, Bournemouth and the Isle of Wight were among the places with the highest opioid-related death rates in the country.

And the NHS is looking at defeating the superbug problem, reports the Sun.

HEALTH boffins will today launch a £32 million blitz on killer superbugs.
They launch a massive research project to find new ways of treating infections which are resistant to antibiotics.
Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies will be appointed global expert to tackle the growing threat to humanity.
The rise of the superbug raises the chilling prospect of a world where routine surgery becomes risky and a simple graze could be potentially life-threatening.

The Gulf

Meanwhile, matters in the Gulf are causing concern, says the Telegraph.

Tensions in the Gulf have escalated following Thursday’s downing of a US drone by Iran, with Donald Trump saying Tehran “made a very big mistake” and revealing he was moments away from launching a retaliatory strike.
Iran claims the unmanned aircraft had been on a spying mission and was within its airspace, with Foreign Minister Javad Zarif saying he would take the complaint that the US “encroaches on our territory” to the United Nations.
Both sides insist they are not looking for military conflict, but are simultaneously talking tough on the damage they could inflict – Mr Trump insisting that the US would “obliterate” Iran, and Iran’s armed forces cautioning that a move against them would ignite a regional “powder keg”.

And a Foreign Office minister has been sent to see if he can do anything, says ITV News.

Foreign Office minister Andrew Murrison will call for “urgent de-escalation” of flared tensions between the US and Iran when he holds talks with the Tehran government on Sunday.
The trip was announced after Donald Trump said the US was “cocked and loaded” to retaliate against Iran for downing an American drone.
The strikes were reportedly called off 10 minutes before they were to be carried out on Thursday after Mr Trump was told 150 people could die.