Johnson will wait for US election result before no-deal Brexit decision

Ivan Rogers, former UK ambassador to the EU, says prime minister will think history was going his way' if Donald Trump is re-elected

Senior figures in European governments believe Boris Johnson is waiting for the result of the US presidential election before finally deciding whether to risk plunging the UK into a no-deal Brexit, according to a former British ambassador to the EU.

Ivan Rogers, who was the UK's permanent representative in Brussels from 2013 to 2017, told the Observer that a view shared by ministers and officials he has talked to in recent weeks in several European capitals, is that Johnson is biding his time - and is much more likely to opt for no deal if his friend and Brexit supporter Donald Trump prevails over the Democratic challenger, Joe Biden.