Section:GDN 1N PaGe:1 Edition Date:190808 Edition:01 Zone:S Sent at 7/8/2019 21:05 cYanmaGentaYellowbl
New rebel bid
to halt no deal
amid fury at
PM’s enforcer
advisers that No 10 stands ready to do
whatever is necessary to bring about
Brexit on 31 October – deal or no
deal. This could include proroguing
parliament, or ignoring the result of
any no confi dence vote in Johnson and
calling a “people v politicians” general
election – to be held after Britain had
left the EU.
However, it is understood that alarm
is mounting within No 10 among some
special advisers and Tory MPs about
the scale of Cummings’s infl uence and
willingness to defy parliament.
A Conservative insider told the
Guardian Cummings had, in eff ect,
demanded total control over John-
son’s operation as his price for entering
government, and proceeded to side-
line more moderate advisers, such as
the former City Hall stalwart Sir Eddie
Lister, while installing a team of “true
believers” in hard Brexit largely from
the former Vote Leave campaign.
He said Cummings’s grip over No 10
was a “reign of terror”, with advisers
petrifi ed about keeping their jobs and
told they were expected to be working
fl at out to deliver Brexit on 31 October.
Lister was initially briefed to the
media as Johnson’s newly
appointed chief of staff andJasper JollyBritish Airways was facing passenger
anger yesterday as more than 500
fl ights were cancelled or delayed as a
result of systems failure.
In the latest in a series of operationalproblems to hit the airline, and the
travel plans of tens of thousands with
holiday and business plans, London’s
Heathrow, Gatwick and City were the
airports most aff ected by the com-
puter failure. BA refused to reveal
the exact number of fl ights aff ected ,
but according to Flightstats.com,
which tracks arrivals and departures,by 5.30pm yesterday the airline had
cancelled 140 fl ights and a further 370
had been delayed.
BA said the systems failures
aff ected only the London airports but
the disruption had knock-on eff ects
elsewhere , including at Edinburgh,
Glasgow and Belfast and in many
European destinations when incom-
ing fl ights failed to arrive.
Customers experienced diffi culties
checking in online. Queues formed in
airport departure areas as the airline
moved to the back-up manual systems
to keep fl ights operating.
Some social media users alsoreported that the food and drink
service was aff ected on fl ights that
did take off.
Air travel experts said the airline
may be liable to pay compensation
to affected passengers, on top of
refunding the ticket price. Under EU
law, some passengers whose fl ights
are cancelled or delayed by two hours
or more can be given compensation.
BA said it was off ering custom-
ers the chance to move bookings to
another travel day between 8 and 13
August.
About half of the BA
fl ights scheduled to depart
5 (^2)
Rowena Mason
Jessica Elgot
Rebel MPs are working on a new plan
to stop Boris Johnson pursuing a no-
deal Brexit on 31 October that involves
forcing parliament to sit through the
autumn recess, amid growing outrage
about the power and infl uence of his
aide Dominic Cummings.
The cross-party group of MPs is
looking at legislative options with
urgency because of the hardline tactics
of Cummings, who was described by
one Tory insider as running a “reign
of terror” in No 10 aimed at achieving
Brexit on 31 October at any cost.
Three MPs have told the Guardian
that one method under discussion is
for MPs to amend the motion needed
for parliament to break for party
conferences in mid-September.
This could give MPs another three
weeks to stop no deal and potentially
open the door to days being set aside
for rebels to control parliamentary
business. The ultimate aim would be
to pass a bill forcing the government
to request an extension to article 50.
Since joining Johnson’s administ-
ration, Cummings has told government
Larry Elliott
Globalisation
as we know it
is now over –
and that’s a
good thing
Journal Page 1
Technology meltdown
grounds 500 BA fl ights
The kiss that brought
hope to millions
Thursday
8 August 2019
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Sport
Cillian
Murphy
‘I think
James Bond
should be
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which rules
me out’
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▲ MPs have described Johnson’s senior adviser Dominic Cummings as running a ‘reign of terror’ in No 10 PHOTOGRAPH: REX
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