Boris: PM must walk away if EU deal is poor
BORIS Johnson warned David Cameron last night that he must be prepared to ‘walk away’ from Europe if he fails to get a good deal for Britain.
He used his maiden speech in the Commons since being reelected as an MP to underline his own Eurosceptic credentials.
The London Mayor spelled out a warning to the Prime Minister that Tory MPs would not accept a cosmetic renegotiation of Britain’s membership of the EU.
Mr Johnson said he wished the Prime Minister luck on his ‘pan-European schmoozathon’.
He added: ‘I believe his efforts will be crowned with success but I remind him… that if you are going to go into a difficult international negotiation of this kind, then you have to be prepared to walk away if you don’t get the result that you want. If we don’t get the deal, either in the interests of this country or Europe, then we should be prepared to strike out and forge an alternative future that could be just as glorious and just as prosperous.’
Mr Johnson, who remains Mayor of London until next May, is seen as a potential future Tory leader. He attends political Cabinet meetings but does not have a ministerial role.
Last night Philip Hammond said the Tories would campaign hard to step up our engagement with the EU if the UK gets a decent package of reforms. The Foreign Secretary said the party would use the 2017 referendum campaign to ‘sell hard’ the advantages of staying in the EU.
He said that, with Britain expected to become the largest economy in Europe at some point over the next two decades, we would be able to use our muscle to make sure the EU was more in tune with our values.
Mr Hammond said it was time to ‘lance the boil’ over Europe following a lessening in the democratic legitimacy of the UK’s relationship with Brussels.
His comments indicate that, if the referendum is run, the UK will seek to become a key player in the European project and not on the sidelines. He said: ‘That is the prize here – to get the British people thinking positively about our engagement with Europe again.’
Speaking at a question and answer session at the Chatham House think tank in London, Mr Hammond said: ‘As for the EU, we have to lance this boil. There is a real thinning of democratic legitimacy, of democratic consent for Britain’s membership of the EU and we have to deal with this issue, we have to get the best deal we can from renegotiation with our partners in Europe and then we have to put it to the British people.
‘The Prime Minister has been very clear we are not neutral observers in this – if we can get a decent package we will be selling hard the advantages not just of staying in the EU but of stepping up.
‘The Brits have spent far too long in my view thinking of the EU as something that is done to them by people over there who are big and powerful and we are insignificant.
‘We are the second biggest economy in the EU. on all the current trends, we are set to become the biggest economy in the EU during the 2030s.
‘We should be thinking of the EU as an organisation that we can shape in an image that we find attractive looking: outward looking, focused on global engagement, doing the things that Europe needs to do to be successful in the future.’
‘Forge an alternative future’
ALL the House wanted to hear was the ‘second maiden’ speech from Boris Johnson (Con, Uxbridge). It would not be quite so maidenish – so virginal – as last time round, but perhaps that was only apt. Anyway, Boris’s re-entry to the Commons is a big event. He never quite got the hang of the Commons before. Could he crack it this time?
The House had met at 2.30pm and the first half hour was wasted by an Urgent Question on Fifa’s corruption controversy. Ridiculous. There had been a similar effort last Thursday. Again we learned nothing save MPs’ ability to spout cliches about ‘the beautiful game’.
The foreign affairs section of the Queen’s Speech debate began at three o’clock with a speech from the Secretary of State, Philip Hammond. Bejaysus, what a bore. He could be a cross between Sir John Major and the late Clement Freud, the delivery both leaden and tinny. Mr Pooter goes to Brussels. Commiserations to the London diplomatic corps and, indeed, to foreign ministers in other lands who will face long meetings with Mr Hammond. But perhaps this is a brilliant ruse. European negotiators may eventually do anything – ‘give that droning maniac what he wants!’ – to bring their meetings with him to a close.
After almost an hour of glacial observations about ‘diplomatic tool sets’ and ‘strategic shrinkage’, the House was stultified. Keith Simpson (Con, Broadlands) was holding a hardback book about Stalin and seemed ready to whack it against his bean to render himself unconscious. Ed Miliband (Lab, Doncaster N) turned up, flashing ‘hellooos’ at one and all. He even waved to the sketchwriters’ corner of the Press gallery. Ed looked cheerful and well. Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn was almost, but not quite, as yarnsome as Gunner Hammond, substituting long-windedness with irritating piety. Soon Speaker Bercow called his best friend Julian Lewis (Con, E). Why? Can it be that dear Julian is campaigning for the Defence select committee chairmanship? Typical Bercow favouritism to call Mr Lewis. Other would-be select committee chairmen such as Richard Graham (Con, Gloucester) and Bob Stewart (Con, the Pig & Whistle) had to settle for time-limited speeches. Col Bob, hearing some rhubarb from the Scots Nats, said ‘will the SDP please keep quiet?’ Er, they’re the SNP, Bob. Boris had made a couple of interventions – one on Mr Hammond about the historic city of Palmyra which is currently at threat from Isis, the second on Mr Benn about the European referendum. Mr Hammond’s response subtly patronised Boris. Time was passing and Speaker Bercow’s batting list for the MPs who wanted to contribute to the debate plainly had no early slot for the biggest blond beast in the Chamber.
It may be that Mr Bercow intends to keep Boris in his place. Envy?
BUTwaiting brought its consolations: good maiden speeches from, among others, Rebecca Pow (Con, Taunton Deane) and Melanie Onn ( Lab, Great Grimsby), a shouty one from Tasmina AhmedSheikh (SNP, Ochil) – she firmly told us how humble she was going to be. And there was an astonishing one from Johnny Mercer (Con, Plymouth Moor View), one of the best I have heard. Ex-Army officer Mercer, in a Commando tie, spoke of mental stress suffered by soldiers and of some of his battlefield experiences. What a belter of a debut.
And Boris? He was finally called at 7.40pm. The staccato delivery and self-parody style does not work so well in the Commons as before the public. MPs see through him. He was ab-dab-dabbing too much. Could such a waffler ever command the House at, say, Prime Minister’s Question Time?
But he did finally get round to saying something noteworthy. He told David Cameron that if he does not get what Britain needs from the EU negotiations, he has ‘got to be prepared to walk away’ and that ‘we should be prepared to strike out and forge a future that could be just as glorious’ outside the EU. Well said, Boris!