In-your-face Farrell Jones wants new captain to inspire England

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BORIS JOHNSON has said a “no deal” Brexit should not hold any “terrors” for Britain because the country would “do very well” under World Trade Organisation rules.

The Foreign Secretary insisted that the Government remained “prepared” to walk away from Brexit negotiations if Brussels refused to agree to a good deal, and that no one should be “apprehensive” about such an outcome.

Theresa May came close to suggesting that walking away without a deal was no longer an option in her Mansion House speech last week, saying she would not be “buffeted by the demands to … threaten a walkout”.

But Mr Johnson insisted that prepa- rations for no deal continued, and that it remained an option.

Speaking to an audience of Telegraph subscribers at this newspaper’s One Year To Brexit event last night, Mr Johnson said: “I’ve never been one of those who is apprehensive about the so-called no deal scenario. No deal is better than a bad deal.

“If we have to come out on WTO terms, we will be prepared to do so. It doesn’t hold terrors for me and we will do very well under those circumstances as well.”

However, he said he believed the EU’S reaction to Mrs May’s speech last week suggested that a deal in both parties’ mutual interests was closer than ever. He said he was encouraged by the “relative absence of a strong reaction from the EU”, describing Brussels as “the dog that hasn’t barked”.

He said: “What the Prime Minister has set out – they’ve been rather taken aback, and some of them have thought ‘this is what we thought you were going to propose all along’.

“They thought it was going to be a giant Canada plus plus plus deal and, lo and behold, that’s what we’re arguing for.

“I think we will end up with a very similar outcome to the one we are advocating because it’s so profoundly in the interests of the citizens of Europe.”

Mr Johnson once again defended his claim made during the EU referendum that Brexit would allow Britain to spend an extra £350million per week on the NHS, saying that the actual gross figure of British contributions to Brussels was soon going to be £438million.

“We’re going to need a bigger bus!” he joked.