May under pressure to dump Johnson
BRITAIN: Theresa May was coming under mounting pressure yesterday to dismiss Boris Johnson after he put her credibility on the line with his latest public demands on Brexit.
The foreign secretary’s announcement of his ‘‘red lines’’ for any deal that Britain strikes with the EU forced the prime minister on to the back foot as the Conservative Party conference got under way.
She had wanted to use the gathering to start a political fightback with a freeze on university tuition fees and the expansion of subsidies for first-time homebuyers in a package that will cost at least £11 billion. Instead, questions over her leadership dominated the opening day, prompting ministers and backbenchers to demand that she regain control of her cabinet by dismissing Johnson. He stood accused of allowing his personal ambitions to drown out the Tories’ attempts to counteract Labour’s electoral momentum.
‘‘She needs to sack Boris or stand down,’’ a minister said. ‘‘His every utterance is calculated to damage her. It cannot go on.’’ Another minister said that Johnson was a ‘‘constant international humiliation’.
Asked if May would survive if she dismissed him, the source said: ‘‘There would be an initial explosion in parts of the media but most of the parliamentary party would be delighted.’’
As the conference began in Manchester, May was asked whether her foreign secretary was ‘‘unsackable’’. She demurred - and also moved to accommodate his EU demands. She repeatedly declined to say whether she would accept EU laws in a transition deal.
The embattled prime minister was then heard in silence as she apologised to party workers behind closed doors for the bungled snap election that robbed the Conservatives of their parliamentary majority.
Most of yesterday’s anger was directed at Johnston, however. While some of it came from predictable quarters - the pro-eu MP Anna Soubry is understood to have texted him to ‘‘shut up or resign’’ - his latest intervention has alienated formerly supportive MPS. -The Times