Johnson warns of ‘surrender’ to the EU

Boris Johnson has claimed Theresa May is on the brink of “total surrender” to the EU over Brexit as he urged the cabinet to mutiny against the Prime Minister’s withdrawal agenda.

The former foreign secretary suggested that if Mrs May’s plans for a backstop customs deal with the EU went through the UK could be reduced to the status of a colony.

In a stinging attack on the PM’s proposals ahead of a Cabinet meeting today, Mr Johnson said Mrs May’s agenda would see the UK “remain in captivity”.

Mr Johnson said plans for a backstop, which would keep the UK in a customs union with the EU if a solution to the Irish border issue could not be found, would be worse than remaining in the EU.

Mrs May is under fire from both wings of the Tory party after the shock resignation from the government of Mr Johnson’s pro-European brother Jo, who also delivered a withering attack on the PM’s stance.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Johnson said: “Even if we agree with the EU that the UK must have a unilateral break clause, so that we can go our own sweet way at a time of our own choosing, it is irrelevant because the programme and ambition of the government is to remain in captivity, to stay in our cell, even if we are given the theoretical key to escape.”

Mr Johnson said the PM would try to “bludgeon MPs into voting for surrender” by framing the argument as accepting her proposals or the “chaos of no deal”.

Hope of getting the Cabinet to sign off on Brexit proposals today is rapidly receding, as it was reported the EU had rejected London’s plans for an independent arbitration clause that could allow the UK to quit a backstop deal on the Northern Ireland border.

Boris Johnson has warned against “total surrender”.