Boris Johnson refuses to harden Brexit stance in first set-piece campaign speech

Boris Johnson has refused to harden his Brexit stance in a way that might have increased the chance of Nigel Farage giving the Conservative party a firmer electoral endorsement. Farage has already said his Brexit party will not stand candidates in Tory-held seats, and, ahead of the deadline on Thursday for nominations, he has been under pressure to withdraw his candidates in Labour-held marginals to help the Conservatives’ chances.

There was speculation that an explicit commitment by Johnson to have a no-deal Brexit by the end of 2020 if the UK-EU trade deal could not be agreed by then might have been enough to win Farage around.

Johnson has ruled out extending the Brexit transition beyond the end of 2020. But in interviews this morning his ally Michael Gove repeatedly insisted that there was no prospect of a no-deal Brexit at the end of next year.

And, in the Q&A after his speech, Johnson also declined various opportunities to talk up his willingness to countenance a no-deal Brexit in language that might appeal to Farage. Instead he just urged the Brexit party to back the Tories to get Brexit done.

He said: “I just want to say about Nigel Farage and the Brexit party – it is always a very difficult thing for any party leader to withdraw candidates from an election and I understand that.

“But all I can say ... for the avoidance of doubt, to repeat my central message, there is only one way to ensure that we get Brexit done – get this thing finished, get us out, do a fantastic free-trade deal – and that is to vote for us and the Conservatives.”

Farage, having earlier said it might be possible for him to vote Tory in the election, posted a tweet, at around the time Johnson’s Q&A was coming to an end, saying that this was now impossible. This means the Tories are now set to face a Brexit party challenge in many or all of their target seats.

Johnson’s unwillingness to harden up his Brexit stance probably tells little about the Brexit policy he would adopt if he won the election. It is more likely that he is worried that any further pivot towards Faragism would cost him more votes from remain inclined Tories.

Johnson recasts his opponents in the election as the “Sturgeon-Corbyn alliance”

On Tuesday, Jeremy Corbyn argued that the Brexit party decision to stand down in some seats meant Labour was fighting what amounted to a Trump/Farage/Johnson alliance. Johnson hit back on Wednesday by arguing that he too was up against an alliance. In his speech he argued: “One thing is clear: the Sturgeon-Corbyn alliance would consign this country to months, if not years, of dither, delay, discord, division. When every month of pointless delay, insisted on by Corbyn, by the way, is costing this country a billion pounds for nothing.”

This is a rehash of an argument that David Cameron used in 2015 when he argued that an Ed Miliband government would be dependent on SNP support. The argument reflected an assumption that Labour could not win an outright majority, but it also appealed to latent anti-Scottish sentiment among English voters uncomfortable at the idea of Scotland having an undue influence on UK policy.

Johnson also repeated his long standing claim that the “Sturgeon-Corbyn alliance” would hold two referendums in 2020, even though Labour is saying it would not agree to a second Scottish independence poll until after the Scottish parliament elections in 2021.

But as Johnson delivered the speech he did not say the line about how more referendums would amount to “more political self-obsession and onanism”. He joked that this was because the press got hold of a “stray early draft”, but he knows full well the comment was in a text press-released by CCHQ.

Johnson calls Corbyn “naive” for saying Baghdadi should have been detained not killed

Johnson said this in response to Corbyn telling an interviewer that it would have been better if the Islamic State leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had been arrested by US special forces not killed by them. In response to a question that gave a partial account of what Corbyn said, Johnson replied: “Al-Baghdadi was an absolute diabolical foe of this country, of our liberal values, everything we believe in and support. I think [Corbyn’s] approach is naive and it is naive to the point of being dangerous.”

Corbyn did provoke outrage and incredulity in 2015 when he said it was a “tragedy” that Osama bin Laden had been killed by the US not put on trial. But on Wednesday, when asked if he also considered Baghdadi’s death a tragedy, Corbyn avoided that phrase and argued that if it had been possible to put Baghdadi on trial that would have been preferable.

Meanwhile

Johnson said in his speech that, after Brexit, he wanted public procurement projects to prioritise hiring British apprentices. He said: “We will insist that all big public-sector projects must hire British apprentices so that they can learn new skills on the job.”

The former Conservative justice secretary David Gauke has urged people to vote for Liberal Democrat and independent candidates, saying a majority Tory government would lead to a “very hard Brexit” that would be “disastrous” for the UK.

Jeremy Corbyn’s key union supporter, Unite’s Len McCluskey, has told the Labour leader that victory in the general election means winning over the party’s traditional working-class supporters with a tough line on free movement of workers.

Labour’s NHS “rescue package” will be funded by higher income tax rates, at 45p for those earning more than £80,000 a year and 50p for those bringing in over £150,000, John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, has said.

Jo Swinson has sought to quell a mini-rebellion in the Liberal Democrats about whether to stand in highly marginal seats held by Labour over the Conservatives, insisting the party must give voters a genuine remain option in the election.

Sign up here to receive Andrew Sparrow’s election briefing direct to your email inbox every weekday

If you’re using the Guardian app and would like a daily alert to Andrew Sparrow’s election briefing, click here and select “get notifications”.