Don’t mention the war – Johnson remark attacked

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has been slammed for evoking the Second World War to warn the remaining EU nations not to pursue a punitive approach to the Brexit negotiations.

His outburst came after French President Francois Hollande said Britain should not expect a better trading relationship with Europe from outside the EU.

Mr Johnson said: “If Monsieur Hollande wants to administer punishment beatings to anyone that chooses to escape, rather in the manner of some World War Two movie, then I don’t think that’s the way forward.

“It’s not in the interests of our friends or our partners.”

UK Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: “This is an utterly crass and clueless remark from the man who is supposed to be our chief diplomat.

“I assume Boris Johnson says these things to deflect from the utter shambles this Brexit Government is in over its plans to take Britain out of the single market.”

A spokesman for the Foreign Secretary said: “He was not suggesting anyone was a Nazi and the word never passed his lips.

“He was simply saying what others have already said – that treating Britain harshly for trying to leave the EU makes no sense and won’t deter us.”

Meanwhile, the man who will lead the European Council when negotiations begin, Maltese prime minister Joseph Muscat, has warned the negotiations would be “arduous” and that any deal offered to the UK must be “inferior” to the terms it could have as a member.

“We want a fair deal for the UK but that deal necessarily needs to be inferior to membership,” Mr Muscat told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

“This should not come as a surprise to anyone. Indeed, thinking it can be otherwise would indicate a detachment from reality.”

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has warned the remaining EU nations not to pursue a punitive approach to the Brexit negotiations.