Daily Mail

Brexit is NOT a V-sign from cliffs of Dover, says Boris

- By John Stevens Deputy Political Editor

‘Vital not to treat it as a plague of boils’

BORIS Johnson yesterday told Remainers that Brexit was ‘not some great V-sign from the cliffs of Dover’ as he delivered a stridently upbeat vision of the ‘opportunit­ies’ ahead for the country.

In a landmark speech, the Foreign Secretary said it was vital not to treat Brexit ‘as a plague of boils or a murrain on our cattle’, insisting it was about Britain ‘going global’.

But he warned Brexiteers they must keep remaking their case – not ‘sit in silent self-satisfacti­on’ – as Remain campaigner­s try to thwart the departure.

And, in an olive branch to Cabinet colleagues who want to remain aligned with EU laws, he said he would be willing to let some industries follow Brussels rules.

However, Mr Johnson said it would be wrong to commit ‘forever and a day we are going to remain locked into permanent congruence with the EU’. After his speech, Mr Johnson even raised speculatio­n he could stage a Cabinet walkout if he did not get the Brexit he wanted – apparently refused to rule out resigning.

But a source close to the Foreign Secretary later said: ‘ He definitely won’t be resigning. You’d have to drag him out kicking and screaming.’

After months of negativity about Britain’s EU exit, Mr Johnson declared: ‘ We have got to get over the positive agenda. We cannot expect the case to make itself.

‘This is the country that is once again taking the lead in the shaping of the modern world and it is our stubborn attachment to running ourselves that will end up making our society fairer and more prosperous.’

In a bid to ‘tackle the suggestion that we are somehow going to become more insular’, Mr Johnson argued Brexit was ‘not about shutting ourselves off, it’s about going global’. He said voters chose Leave ‘not because they were hostile to European culture and civilisati­on, but because they wanted to take back control’.

Mr Johnson said: ‘It’s not some great V-sign from the cliffs of Dover. It is the expression of a legitimate and natural desire for self-government of the people, by the people, for the people. That is why it is so vital not to treat Brexit as a plague of boils or a murrain on our cattle, but as an opportunit­y, and above all as an economic opportunit­y.’

Speaking at the Policy Exchange think-tank in London, he said millions of Britons travel the world, with the equivalent of one foreign trip per person last year. He added: ‘If we get the right deal on aviation and on visa-free travel – both of which are in our mutual interest – this expansion of UK tourism will continue, not just beyond the EU, but within the EU itself.

‘And we will continue ever more intensivel­y to go on “cheapo” flights to stag parties in ancient cities, meet interestin­g people, fall in love, struggle amiably to learn the European languages whose decline has been a paradoxica­l feature of EU membership.’ It comes as the Cabinet argues over how closely the UK should be tied to the EU before the PM decides later this month.

The Foreign Secretary warned it would be ‘mad’ to end up with a Brexit that did not allow the UK to enjoy the ‘economic freedoms’ of leaving the European Union.

He said that, post-Brexit, ‘we will be able, if we so choose, to fish our own fish, to ban the traffic in live

animals and payments to some of the richest landowners in Britain’.

Mr Johnson has been at loggerhead­s with Chancellor Philip Hammond, who has said he hopes the UK would diverge only ‘very modestly’ from the EU.

But the Foreign Secretary yesterday signalled he was willing to compromise in some areas.

Mr Johnson said in his speech he wanted to reach out to Remain supporters, but his offer was immediatel­y thrown back in his face.

Conservati­ve MP Anna Soubry told Channel 4 News that Mr Johnson’s speech was ‘pitiful’ and ‘really rather embarrassi­ng’.

The Foreign Secretary also suggested the EU wanted an ‘overarchin­g European state’ – but EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker said the claim was ‘total nonsense’.

 ??  ?? Making a point: Boris Johnson jabs his finger …gestures forcefully with his hands … and throws his arms open wide as he speaks at the Policy Exchange think-tan
Making a point: Boris Johnson jabs his finger …gestures forcefully with his hands … and throws his arms open wide as he speaks at the Policy Exchange think-tan
 ??  ??
 ??  ??
 ??  ?? …before mopping his brow with his cuff
…before mopping his brow with his cuff
 ??  ?? k in London yesterday
k in London yesterday

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