UK PM’S rhetoric leads to outrage

LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday faced angry backlash from across the political spectrum and from his own sister following a series of angry exchanges in parliament over Brexit.

Tensions boiled over on Wednesday when a defiant Johnson went on the offensive as MPS returned to work after the Supreme Court ruled as unlawful his move to suspend parliament.

Using words such as “surrender”, “capitulation” and “humiliation” to describe the cross-party bill that became law to rule out a no-deal Brexit on October 31, Johnson faced accusations of encouraging a climate in which several MPS and family members on both sides of the Brexit argument have faced death threats.

He prompted fury by appearing unrepentant and describing criticism of his language as “humbug”.

Labour MP Paula Sheriff accused him of inciting hatred towards MPS: “People are really frightened and for him to treat it almost like a joke was horrific.”

His journalist-sister Rachel Johnson said: “I think that is highly reprehensible language to use.”

The real uproar came when Johnson said the best way to honour Jo Cox - an anti-brexit Labour MP who was fatally shot and stabbed by a Nazi sympathiser during the referendum campaign - would be “to get Brexit done”. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “The language that politicians use matters – it has real consequences.”

Johnson refused to apologise for his belligerence, but told a meeting of his party MPS that he would continue to refer to a bill passed to rule out a no-deal Brexit as a ‘’surrender act”, since, according him, it amounts to surrendering to the EU.