The Spectator

Portrait of the Week – 8 August 2019

issue 10 August 2019

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If the government lost a confidence motion when parliament sits again in September, it could call an election for after 31 October, by which time Britain would have left the European Union, according to a briefing attributed to Dominic Cummings, the special adviser to Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister. Opposition MPs plotted to prevent this. Diplomats from the other 27 EU member states were told by EU officials that the United Kingdom wanted to avoid a no-deal Brexit by their agreeing to substantial changes to the draft withdrawal agreement; the officials told them that there was no basis for ‘meaningful discussions’ with Britain. Michael Gove said he was ‘deeply saddened’ by the EU stance. A strike at Heathrow was called off, but British Airways passengers encountered a computer failure instead.

John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, said that Labour would ‘not block’ another Scottish independence referendum.

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