Boris Johnson vows loyalty to May as U.K. Tories meet

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson assured British Conservatives Tuesday that he supports “every syllable” of Prime Minister Theresa May’s plans for Brexit.

But unity is in short supply in the U.K.’s fractious, anxious governing party — and Johnson’s vow of loyalty did not quell suspicions he covets the leadership.

Johnson told delegates to the Conservative annual conference that “the whole country owes (May) a debt for her steadfastness in taking Britain forward, as she will, to a great Brexit deal.”

May laid out her plans for Britain’s exit from the European Union in a speech last month in Florence — “on whose every syllable I can tell you, the whole Cabinet is united,” Johnson said.

Johnson has spent weeks giving the opposite impression. He has been accused of undermining the prime minister by laying out his own distinct roadmap for Britain’s exit from the European Union.

With EU divorce negotiations proceeding at a snail’s pace, Johnson has positioned himself as a champion of a clean-break “hard Brexit.” He wants the U.K. to adopt a low-tax, low-regulation economy outside the EU’s single market, says Britain must not pay to get tariff-free trade with the EU and insists that any post-Brexit transition period should not last “a second more” than two years.

Johnson told conference delegates that it was time to stop being negative about Brexit and “treating the referendum result as though it were a plague of boils.”