LET MY PEOPLE GO
Boris Johnson We have blinked. We have baulked. We have bottled it completely. It is time for the PM to channel the spirit of Moses in Exodus, and say to Pharaoh in Brussels –
As May holds a last-ditch Chequers summit, her leadership rival urges PM to embrace no-deal Brexit
THERESA MAY’S government is “chicken” and has “bottled it completely” over Brexit, Boris Johnson says today as he urges the Prime Minister to tell Brussels to “let my people go”.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Mr Johnson says Mrs May must “channel the spirit of Moses” as he calls on the Prime Minister to abandon her deal and “come out of the EU now”.
Mr Johnson said: “We are not leaving this Friday because the Government has chickened out. For almost three years every Tory MP has chirruped the mantra that no deal would be better than a bad deal.
“I believed that the Government was sincere in making that claim, and I believed that the PM genuinely had March 29 inscribed in her heart. I am afraid I misread the Government. We have blinked. We have baulked. We have bottled it completely.”
His intervention comes as Mrs May is facing one of the toughest weeks of her premiership, with MPS poised to seize control of the Brexit process as the Prime Minister comes under intense pressure from her own Cabinet.
Mrs May yesterday invited leading Eurosceptic MPS including Mr Johnson to a summit at Chequers, her country retreat, in a last-ditch attempt to convince them to back her deal.
She faced repeated calls to name a date for her departure but refused to do so, instead warning that failing to back her deal would lead to a softer Brexit.
A Downing Street source indicated the Prime Minister was only prepared to set out a timetable for her departure once she was “confident” that she had the numbers to support her deal.
The Prime Minister is also said to have signalled to MPS at the meeting that no deal would be taken off the table by Parliament.
Mrs May will today hold a Cabinet meeting amid reports that ministers are plotting a coup against her. Michael
‘Go back to Brussels and simply set out the terms that so many on both sides – Remainers and Leavers – now believe are sensible’
Gove, the Environment Secretary, and David Lidington, the Prime Minister’s de facto deputy, were both yesterday named by colleagues as potential “caretaker” prime ministers to replace her.
However both men yesterday gave Mrs May their public backing as support for an imminent overthrow appeared to dissipate.
Mr Johnson today puts further pressure on the Prime Minister as he says that she needs to set out “convincing proofs” of how the next phase of Brexit negotiations will be different.
He says: “Can we really go on with a negotiating team that has so resoundingly failed? If she cannot give that evidence of change, she should drop the deal, and go back to Brussels, and simply set out the terms that so many on both sides – Remainers and Leavers – now believe are sensible.
“Extend the implementation period to the end of 2021 if necessary; use it to negotiate a free-trade deal; pay the fee; but come out of the EU now – without the backstop.
“It is time for the PM to channel the spirit of Moses in Exodus, and say to Pharaoh in Brussels – let my people go”. The Prime Minister is expected to use Cabinet to unveil plans for “indicative votes” on alternative Brexit options later this week, including staying in the customs union, a second referendum and revoking Article 50.
Cabinet will be given an hour in a reading room before the meeting to assess papers detailing the pros and cons of each of the seven options that the Government is proposing.
Some ministers are considering offering indicative votes amid concerns that the Goverment will otherwise be forced to do so by a back-bench amendment which is being tabled today.
However other Cabinet ministers are infuriated by the approach amid concerns it will cement a soft Brexit.
Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, yesterday provoked a backlash from Eurosceptics after saying a second referendum was a “perfectly coherent proposition” that “deserves to be considered”.
The Prime Minister had been planning to hold a third meaningful vote on her deal on Thursday, but it is likely to be delayed amid concerns that another landslide defeat would kill it outright. The plot for a caretaker prime minister yesterday prompted a furious backlash, with one Cabinet minister telling The Daily Telegraph it was a “stupid plan” drawn up by “stupid people”.
Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, said the “ghastly cabal” of ministers behind the alleged plot to oust the Prime Minister should be sacked.
Michael Howard, the former Conservative leader, yesterday said he could not see how it would work.
He told World This Weekend on BBC Radio 4: “Anyone who the Cabinet try to install as prime minister would have to have the confidence of the whole of the Conservative Party and the DUP, otherwise they would face a no-confidence motion in the House of Commons.”
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson says in his article that plans to keep Britain in the single market and customs union will be “catastrophic”.
He says: “To any strong and resolute government, these suggestions would be paper tigers, turnip ghosts. On every side we are being frightened with false fire.”