Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
May on back foot as Johnson urges ‘chuck Chequers’
THERESA May battles to save her Chequers Brexit plan today after Boris Johnson’s latest savaging of her exit strategy.
The croaky Prime Minister addresses Tory activists in Birmingham less than 24 hours after the former Foreign Secretary branded her blueprint a “constitutional outrage”.
He told delighted supporters it was the moment to “chuck Chequers”.
In a speech where he also mocked Environment Secretary Michael Gove and Chancellor Philip Hammond, Johnson said: “This is not democracy, this is not what we voted for. This is an outrage.
“This is not taking back control, this is forfeiting control.”
But Mrs May hit back and admitted elements of
Johnson’s speech “made her cross”. She added
“One thing we all know about Boris is he’ll put on a good show.
“But what we’ve been doing here at conference, and I think what matters to people out there, is what the Government does and what we focus on in terms of their day to day lives and what really matters.”
In a fresh slap down to the man she made a senior Cabinet minister, she added: “Of course Boris when he was Foreign Secretary signed up to the Chequers plan and then a few days later resigned from the Cabinet.”
Mrs May will today tell activists the Tories are “a party not for the few, not even for the many, but for everyone who is willing to work hard and do their best”.