How hot will tempers flare at #PMQs ? It will be interesting to see if Boris Johnson is conciliatory or combative. His hair seems to be its usual blond, so it looks like he didn't "dye in a ditch" over extending Brexit.
Rupa Huq: "The PM has, we all know, a long list of shortcomings. So could he do something about one he does have control over, and get rid of Dominic Cummings". Half-decent pun. #PMQs
Patrick McLoughlin congratulates the PM for "getting a Brexit deal through this House" but of course it's only moved past second reading. A long road still to go, and it may get voted down or amended beyond recognition before it *actually* becomes law. #PMQs
Corbyn: "Why did the PM remove commitments on the environment, workers rights etc. from the legally binding Withdrawal Agreement?"
BJ: "Waffle wiffle waffle." (Doesn't answer directly.) #PMQs
BJ: "Waffle wiffle waffle." (Doesn't answer directly.) #PMQs
Oh dear, Corbyn's getting a touch of the Mays. His voice is failing him. Happens to us all, but doubly unfortunate on such a key day.
BJ: "As a result of this Government's commitment, 40 new hospitals will be built in the next 10 years." I thought this nonsense assertion was debunked weeks ago? #PMQs
Corbyn: "Can the PM point to which clause in the WAB prevents the privatisation of the NHS?"
BJ: Attack attack attack. No answer. #PMQs
BJ: Attack attack attack. No answer. #PMQs
BJ: "There will be no checks between NI and GB." I think that assertion may come back to bite him.
Great little shot of Theresa May's wry smile when she heard Corbyn say BJ's deal is even worse than hers. It's true, Boris Johnson is retroactively making her premiership look relatively better, just like Trump did George W Bush's. #PMQs
Boris Johnson: "The Scottish Parliament has no role in approving this deal." That's going to win him a lot of friends.
The danger of course is that the SNP will be goaded into giving BJ the election he wants. The SNP will do well out of it, but the rest of us will suffer as it is likely to seal our Brexit fate.
Boris Johnson: "The fishing communities of Scotland have a fantastic opportunity to take back control of their entire coastal waters." But the issue of fishing is one of the myths I debunked in my book. Brexit will not bring the benefits its boosters claim. #PMQs
Ken Clarke: "Will my Honourable Friend now get over his disappointment, and accept that 31 October is now Halloween." Boris Johnson's grimace could have curdled milk. #PMQs
BJ: "We are awaiting the EU's reaction to Parliament's request for a delay. I think it will be very much in the best interests of this country and of democracy to get Brexit done by 31 October." There speaks a man with an eye nervously on the ballot box. #PMQs
Jonathan Reynolds: "The NFU has reported that 16 million apples have rotted away in the last week for lack of foreign pickers."
BJ: Wiffle waffle wibble. (No real answer).
BJ: Wiffle waffle wibble. (No real answer).
BTW, not just apples. A few weeks ago it was raspberries. Before that it was asparagus. There just aren't the migrant workers. The hostile atmosphere puts them off, and the collapse in the pound means their wages are worth 15%+ less when they take them home compared with 2016.
Boris Johnson keeps saying it's up to the BBC to fund TV licenses for the over 75s.
Boris Johnson: "The HOC has alas voted to delay Brexit again." Ignores a clear statement from an MP who voted *for* BJ's bill yesterday but against the timetable because it was just too compressed to allow for proper scrutiny.
Reminder: any time BJ talks about EU standards, we are *always* free to implement stricter domestic standards than the EU's own. They are a floor, but not a ceiling. The only possible reason to break away from the EU's standards would be to lower our own. #PMQs
