Reports:
Johnson brands Prime Minister’s Brexit plan ‘outrageous’ and says it will fuel Ukip and Corbyn
THERESA MAY must ditch her “outrageous” Chequers plan or the Tories will be “punished” by voters, Boris Johnson has warned.
The former foreign secretary accused the Prime Minister of trying to “cheat the electorate” as he said that her plan will lead to the rise of the far-right and far-left.
He rejected claims that Chequers could be changed by a future prime minister as a “fantasy” and even suggested its authors could face prosecution under 14th-century law for giving a foreign power jurisdiction in the UK.
The speech at a fringe event in Birmingham was attended by more than 1,400 Tory activists and received a rapturous standing ovation at the start and the end. A leaked document suggested that 23 Tory MPS had signed up to attend.
Mr Johnson also outlined his own priorities for the Conservative Party, including cutting taxes, backing the power of businesses to do good and increasing the “disgraceful” levels of home ownership among young people.
He attempted to dispel claims that his speech represented a leadership pitch, highlighting Philip Hammond’s assertion he will never be Tory leader. He said it was the “first Treasury forecast for a long time to have a distinct ring of truth”.
Chequers will give credence to those who cry betrayal
Mr Johnson issued a stark warning to Tory delegates that Chequers will fuel a Ukip resurgence that could ultimately lead to the election of Jeremy Corbyn. “If we cheat the electorate – and Chequers is a cheat – we will escalate the sense of mistrust,” he said. “We will give credence to those who cry betrayal, and I am afraid we will make it more likely that the ultimate beneficiary of the Chequers deal will be the far-right in the form of Ukip and therefore the Left in Jeremy Corbyn.”
He urged the Prime Minister to revert “to her original plan” and in doing so “believe in Conservatism and believe in Britain. Because if we get it wrong we will be punished,” he said.
“And if we get it right we can have a glorious future. This Government will then be remembered for having done something brave and right and remarkable and in accordance with the wishes of the people.”
Mr Johnson said that the authors of Chequers should be prosecuted under the 14th-century Statute of Praemunire, which made it illegal to appeal a decision by an English court to Rome.
“This is not pragmatic, it is not a compromise. It is dangerous and unstable – politically and economically.”
A broadside at Michael Gove
In one of his more pointed attacks, Mr Johnson warned that the Government cannot “bodge” Chequers now and then fix it later. Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary who ended Mr Johnson’s leadership bid in 2016, has suggested a future prime minister would be free to change the terms of the deal. “Do not believe that we can
‘If we cheat the electorate – and Chequers is a cheat – we will escalate the sense of mistrust’
somehow get it wrong now and fix it later – get out properly next year, or the year after,” Mr Johnson said.
“Total fantasy. The opposite will happen. I have been watching the EU professionally for 30 years and every time a referendum goes against the federalist movement, I have seen how the centripetal forces lock on and slowly, slowly the offending country is winched back into place.
“Indeed, by its manifest democratic injustice, Chequers provides the perfect logic and argument for those who want Britain to return to the EU, and is therefore a recipe for continued acrimony.”
Second referendum danger
Chequers, Mr Johnson warned, will only “embolden” those who are pushing for a second referendum on Brexit. “These are the same people, incidentally, who explicitly told the electorate that there was no going back, that voting leave meant leaving the customs union and the single market, and that there was no way they would be asked again.”
He went on to highlight a warning by Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives and one of his most prominent critics, that a second referendum on Brexit could break up the Union. “As Ruth Davidson has rightly pointed out, we cannot tell the Scots that they have made a decision to reject independence for a generation – and then ask the UK electorate to vote again on the EU,” he argued.
The Tories need to rediscover self-belief
Mr Johnson said he viewed his “function” as “to try, with all humility, to put some lead in the collective pencil”. He said it was time to put a stop to “a ridiculous seeping away of our self-belief and return to ‘basic Conservative ideas and values’”.
“I know that we can’t use too many references from the 1970s or 1980s, but surely to goodness we can take this Tony Benn tribute act and wallop it for six,” he said in reference to Mr Corbyn’s Labour Party. “We cannot, must not and will not let this weaselly cabal of superannuated Marxists and Hugo Chavez-admiring anti-semitismcondoning Kremlin apologists anywhere near the government of this country. And that means, instead of apeing Corbyn, we have to take our basic Conservative ideas and fit them to the problems of today.”
The housing challenge
The low rates of home ownership among young people are “disgraceful” and will only serve to boost Mr Corbyn, Mr Johnson said.
“That reflects the failure of governments for the last 30 years to build enough housing,” he added. “But it is also a massive opportunity for us Tories. If we get it right, it is an open goal, because this is one of those critical issues where in the phrase of Chris Patten, the facts of life do always turn out to be Conservative.”
Mr Corbyn, he said, “hates” the instinct of home ownership. “Although they live themselves in posh Islington townhouses they would much rather that the electorate stayed in social rented accommodation, passed by hereditary right – as, incredibly, these state-owned dwellings are – from one generation to the next,” he said
He suggested that councils should be able to retain council tax, business rates and stamp duty to “give them a motive for growth”. He also said that the Tories should “celebrate its power to do good”.
And in a direct criticism of the Prime Minister during her time as home secretary, he called for the return of stop-and-search to tackle rising crime in London.