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Former minister ‘leaks’ screenshot of snap general election email

TALK of a snap general election intensified today when former education secretary Damian Hinds mistakenly leaked a screenshot of an email chain titled “GE2019 team thoughts” on social media.

His Instagram story had displayed the image for 19 hours at the time the screenshot was taken.

It shows that he had been emailing activists including Debbie Curnow-Ford, a Tory volunteer in his constituency, about a possible general election.

Mr Hinds told ITV News that the post, that has since been deleted, was the result of a “a little techno snafu” and insisted there is “nothing to see here.”

It comes after it was revealed that Labour MPs have had their early September travel suspended so that the party can plan how to take down Boris Johnson’s government.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is widely expected to table a vote of no confidence in the Tory government when MPs return to Westminster.

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott has said Mr Johnson is “clearing the ground” for a general election by having announced a series of “pre-election” spending plans for police and prisons.

Mr Johnson is intent on continuing on the Brexit path regardless of whether the no confidence vote is successful, according to his senior adviser Dominic Cummings.  

Downing Street has also indicated that the PM will refuse to resign and instead attempt to call a general election after the Brexit deadline of October 31.

Several Tory MPs have hit out at Mr Johnson’s plan to leave the EU without a deal, which could destabilise his government further.

He currently is on shaky ground with a Commons majority of just one.

But a bigger proportion of people want Brexit to take place regardless of whether Britain has an agreement with the EU or not, according to a poll.

Some 44 per cent of 2,011 people surveyed by ComRes over the weekend said that the government should “deliver Brexit by any means, including by suspending Parliament if necessary,” compared with 37 per cent who were opposed to the idea.

The question was criticised on social media for being “leading” and for referring to the PM as simply “Boris.”

In another development, a judge said today that he would fast-track a legal challenge against a no-deal Brexit and hear arguments in September.

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