BORIS DIGS IN FOR N0 10 BID
EMBATTLED PM MULLING GENERAL ELECTION
BY BEN GLAZE and MIKEY SMITH TREACHEROUS Boris Johnson yesterday refused to say he would back Theresa May if she calls a general election.
As talk grew the Prime Minister would opt for a snap poll to smash the Brexit deadlock, the former foreign secretary shamelessly furthered his own leadership ambitions.
As he stood in front of a digger at the JCB HQ in Staffordshire, the arch Brexiteer seemed intent on burying his Tory leader.
Asked if would support her, he swerved answering, saying: “Most people in this country feel that they’ve had quite enough elections, and I certainly do.”
However, at least nine ministers, including three in Cabinet, have told their constituency associations to prepare for an early poll, the New Statesman claims. Four named February 28 as the date.
Johnson then insisted: “I’m not someone who deprecates other countries and cultures”, despite a history of outrageous remarks about other nations.
BoJo went on to call for Brexit to be used to create “cohesion” in Britain, as leadership hopefuls jostle for position.
He is among the favourites to succeed May, who has vowed not to fight the next general election, due in 2022.
Figurehead of Vote Leave in the 2016 referendum, he tried to paint himself as a “champion of immigration”. But he was tackled over the Leave campaign’s claims about immigration from Turkey.
Adverts read “Turkey is joining the EU” and “Britain’s new border is with Syria and Iraq”. Challenged over them, Johnson claimed: “I didn’t say anything about Turkey in the referendum.”
Labour MP Virendra Sharma, of the Best for Britain campaign, said: “Boris puts the ‘moron’ in ‘oxymoron’.
“He’s now trying to act the great liberal by championing migration, after shamelessly pushing anti-Turkish messages as a leader of Vote Leave.”
No10 insists May has ruled out a snap election. DIG PLAN Focusing on himself