get a response. In response, Beyak said neither Scheer nor anyone from his office contacted her to take down a letter. A senior Conservative source supported Beyak's accusation. Scheer travelled to the United Kingdom in March 2018 to "lay the groundwork" for a Canada–UK trade agreement, should he become prime minister after the 2019 election. In London, he met with Prime Minister Theresa May, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, and other UK ministers including Liam Fox and Sajid Javid. Scheer's trip faced minor criticism from The Globe and Mail and the Ottawa Citizen. The Citizen editorial commented that the trip was "undiplomatic" and "not statesmanlike", while the Globe editorial pointed out that a Canada–UK trade agreement had already been announced the prior year by Prime Minister Trudeau. Toward the end of March 2018, the Opposition held a filibuster over the government's India trip, which was intended to persuade the governing Liberals to answer questions in the House of Commons about the apparent scandal, and provide open and transparent information to the Canadian public; the filibuster lasted 21 hours costing taxpayers $50,000 per hour in overtime fees. It was revealed that a few days before commencing the filibuster to demand information, Scheer's office was offered a briefing by the Privy Council Office regarding the trip. A spokesperson of Scheer's responded to these claims by stating "Has the government offered Andrew a briefing? The answer is 'no, and "This [is] fake news." A day later, Andrew Scheer called the allegation "completely false" and stated he would accept an offer if it were made to all members of Parliament. It was later revealed that the clerk of the Privy Council, Michael Wernick approached Scheer's chief of staff and Conservative MP Tony Clement to brief Scheer on any information the Privy Council may have. Clement responded that he would not confirm or deny it. A couple of weeks later, Scheer accepted a briefing on the matter. After the Conservative Convention in August 2018, Scheer denied an allegation that the Dairy Farmers of Canada worked with his office to block a motion to change the party's position on supply management after a page from the briefing book was already made public on Twitter by a Conservative delegate. 2019 federal election At the 2019 election, Scheer led the Conservatives to a gain of 26 seats for a total of 121, up from 95 at the time of