02 October 2018

Bloomberg: Boris Johnson tells Tories to back May but chuck her Brexit plan

Boris Johnson won cheers at the UK Conservative Party’s annual conference with an attack on Theresa May’s Brexit plan, but stopped short of calling for her to be removed as prime minister.

The former foreign secretary stole the limelight from the main conference agenda and laid into May’s strategy to extricate the U.K. from the European Union. But his decision not to move in for the kill comes as Brexit hardliners privately acknowledge that they would struggle to muster the numbers to oust her. [...]

The main body of the speech, delivered to a packed 1,500-seat hall, was devoted to denouncing May’s plan as not a proper Brexit. “If we cheat the electorate -- and Chequers is a cheat -- we’ll escalate the level of mistrust.”

But rather than giving May her marching orders -- something the audience was anticipating might happen -- he instead urged her to return to the Brexit vision she had originally articulated in her 2017 Lancaster House speech. That means leaving the EU’s single market and customs union without any ambiguity.

‘Not Democracy’

“This is not democracy,” he said of May’s current plan. “That is not what we voted for. It’s not taking back control. It’s forfeiting control.”

Johnson and other Brexiteers have called for a free-trade agreement with the EU, similar to the type Canada has. But critics say it wouldn’t solve the problem of how to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic after Brexit -- a key sticking point in talks.

In an interview with the BBC Tuesday, May said hers is the only Brexit plan that solves the issue.

“There are one or two things that Boris said that I’m cross about,” May said. “He wants to tear up our guarantee to the people of Northern Ireland. We have a guarantee for the people of Northern Ireland and we are upholding that.”

Still Available

With his speech, Johnson reminded delegates that he remains available should May be pushed overboard. Andrew Bridgen, a Tory lawmaker who has called for May to go, said “there is no vacancy at the moment but I tell you now if there was Boris would get my support -- 100 percent.” [...]

Full article on Bloomberg

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