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The leading historian pointed out that, similarly to Winston Churchill, Boris Johnson’s Government has a “single purpose”. David Starkey also noted that Mr Johnson used “a group of friends
from two sources” to put together his inner Cabinet, also like Churchill. Speaking at the Edinburgh Fringe festival event ‘Iain Dale: All Talk at The Gilded Balloon’, Mr Starkey said: “The
other thing that I think Boris has done, he has shown, and in this sense there is really a genuine element of his learning from Churchill. “He has shown first of all that the situation we
are in now, you have a Government with a single purpose. “And that is very strikingly what Churchill did when he took over in 1940, he announced in the fashion which in retrospect seems
completely crazy. “That there was a single war aim which was the absolute surrender of Germany. Straight off. And the other thing with comparisons with Churchill which are very powerful is
the business of the inner Cabinet. “The group of friends he has largely put together from two sources, from his time as Mayor, and his time as Vote Leave. READ MORE: JOHN CURTICE WARNS UK
HEADING FOR 'TWO SHOWDOWNS’ “Churchill again was exactly the same except Churchill gets his group together from the process of writing his mega-biography, which at the time was the best
paid book in the world. “He received advances in 1930 of £25,000, at a time when the Prime Minister’s salary was £5,000 and the Prime Minister’s salary was roughly the equivalent of
£500,000 to £700,000 nowadays. “Churchill was paid millions for that book, and he puts together this team and he learns particular working practices which he puts into practice in the war
rooms as Prime Minister.” The English constitutional historian added: “Boris seems to me to be doing very, very much that. Speaking to reporters during a visit to a science centre in
Abingdon, Mr Johnson said: “We are going to leave the European Union on October 31 which is what the people of this country voted for. “It’s what MPs voted for, and that's what I think
parliamentarians of this country should get on and do. "I think that MPs should get on and deliver on what they have promised over and over and over again to the people of this country,
they will deliver on the mandate of 2016 and leave the EU on October 31." Despite facing threats from pro-EU MPs within his own party, Mr Johnson’s team are confident the UK would be
able to leave the EU on October 31, even if they lost a no-confidence vote. His team also believe they will potentially be able to push a future general election until after Britain has
already left the bloc. Rebels have hinted under the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, if the Government lost a vote of no-confidence MPs could seek to put a new government of national unity in its
place - before going to the EU to ask for a further Brexit extension.