Daily Mail - 21.08.2019

Page  QQQ Daily Mail, Wednesday, August 21, 2019

BORIS’S EU

BORIS Johnson vowed to inject

‘oomph’ into the Brexit talks last

night as he prepared to warn
Angela Merkel that Britain is ready

to walk away without a deal.
Ahead of a showdown meeting with
the German Chancellor this evening, the
Prime Minister insisted there needed to
be a ‘total backstop-ectomy’ or the UK
would leave on No Deal terms.
Yesterday, Mr Johnson found himself
embroiled in an extraordinary war of words
with Brussels after his demands for the
removal of the backstop were overwhelm-
ingly rejected by the EU.
European Council president Donald
Tusk – who cheekily posted a picture
online of himself lazing on a hammock –
issued an angry rebuttal, accusing the
Prime Minister of secretly agitating for the
return of a hard border by insisting that
the backstop be ditched.
That led to Downing Street accusing Mr
Tusk of over-reacting and warning that
there was ‘no prospect of a deal’ unless the
backstop was abolished.
And last night, Mr Johnson took to the
airwaves himself to accuse Mr Tusk of nega-
tivity and insist he was still confident they
could agree new terms for the UK to leave
the EU with a deal in ten weeks’ time. The

think there is a real sense that
something needs to be done with
this backstop.’
He added: ‘I am going to go at it
with a lot of oomph as you’d
expect and I hope we will be mak-
ing some progress in the course of
the next few weeks.’
The Prime Minister told Sky
News last night: ‘Clearly, one thing
that slightly complicates the pic-
ture is our EU friends still clearly
think there is a possibility that
Parliament will block Brexit, and
as long as they think that there is

a possibility that Parliament will

block Brexit, they are unlikely to

be minded to make the conces-

sions that we need. So it is going

to take a bit of patience.’

It came as the Government con-

tinued its bid to ‘turbocharge’

preparations for the growing pos-

sibility of a No Deal Brexit on

October 31. Meanwhile, in a string

of other developments:

n The Government announced UK

ministers and officials will no longer

attend most European Union meet-

ings from September 1;

n Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay

said: ‘This will free up time for

ministers and their officials to get

on with preparing for our depar-

ture on October 31 and seizing the

opportunities that lie ahead.’

n Chancellor of the Exchequer

Sajid Javid warned there is ‘no

time to delay’ as he unveiled plans

to automatically enrol businesses

onto customs systems in the case

of No Deal;

n Some £9million was allocated

to local authorities to help

ensure that they are staffed to

deal with any issues that may

arise at ports;

n The BBC reported that the

future of the UK’s fuel refineries

could be threatened by a No Deal

Brexit, according to an internal

local authority documents;

n A poll showed the overwhelming

majority of voters do not want

Jeremy Corbyn to take over as a

caretaker prime minister;

n And Sir David Attenborough

waded into the Brexit debate, say-

ing that people are ‘irritated’ with

the EU’s ‘silly’ interference.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister

will today embark on his first for-

eign trip as leader, starting with a

dinner with the German Chancel-

lor this evening in Berlin.

He will then head to Paris for

lunch with French President

Emmanuel Macron tomorrow

ahead of the G7 summit in Biar-

ritz at the weekend.

But the EU yesterday robustly

Attenborough says meddling

by Brussels has ‘irritated’ us

Corbyn as caretaker PM? No

thanks say majority of voters

SIR David Attenborough has waded into
the Brexit debate, saying people are
‘irritated’ with the European Union’s ‘silly’
interference in British affairs.
The broadcaster and natural historian, 93,
said: ‘The ways in which the European
community has interfered with people’s
lives on silly levels or silly issues has irritated
a lot of people.
‘They’re just fed up with somebody over
there who doesn’t speak their language,
telling him how much money they’ve got to
charge for tomatoes or something silly.
‘Maybe the EU didn’t pay enough atten-
tion to what sort of things members care

about and have allowed themselves to do

all sorts of things which irritate.’ Sir David

did not say how he voted in 2016 but when

asked whether he was more Brexiteer or a

Remainer he said: ‘I think there had to be a

change, one way or another.

‘I am old enough to remember the last

war. We had German Jewish refugees living

in our house throughout the war.

‘When I see mobs.. mobs of people are a

very, very ugly sight. And when I see people

losing reason and just becoming enraged,

that’s not a pretty sight.’

By Political Correspondent By Larisa Brown

By John Stevens

Deputy Political Editor

‘It’s true our friends

are a bit negative’

THE overwhelming majority of voters

do not want Jeremy Corbyn as a care-

taker Prime Minister, a poll showed

last night.

A total of 3 per cent of those ques-

tioned said they did not think the Labour

leader would be a good choice – with just

15 per cent backing him.

Mr Corbyn as the alternative PM met

with the most opposition from five

options tested in a YouGov poll. A total of

25 per cent of voters backed veteran Tory

MP Ken Clarke and 19 per cent supported

Labour MP Harriet Harman if Boris John-

son’s government is brought down in a

confidence vote. Lib Dem leader Jo Swin-

son and Green Party MP Caroline Lucas

trailed on 13 per cent.

A high number of people replied ‘don’t

know’ to mention of the three women,

suggesting low name recognition.

A total of 44 per cent of voters oppose a

government of ‘national unity’ that some

have proposed to stop Boris Johnson

going through with a No Deal Brexit; just

37 per cent supported the idea.

Laid-back: European Council President Donald Tusk

÷ PM promises

‘plenty of oomph’

in talks with

Merkel and co

÷fTusk snaps back

...with cheeky pic

of himself lazing

in a hammock

÷fHe warns EU

to ditch Irish

backstop or it

will be No Deal

Prime Minister also took a swipe at Theresa
May for failing to make the case ‘convinc-
ingly’ to the EU to get rid of the Irish back-
stop. And he pointed the finger at rebel
MPs who want to stop No Deal, claiming
Brussels would hold back concessions until
it has seen whether they succeed at block-
ing him in the Commons.
In a typically colourful intervention, Mr
Johnson said: ‘We think there is a big oppor-
tunity now for everybody to come together
[and] take out that backstop.
‘At the moment it is absolutely true that
our friends and partners are a bit negative.
I saw what Donald Tusk had to say – it
wasn’t redolent of a sense of optimism.
‘But I think actually we will get there. I