Johnson’s war camp beating jibe is branded ‘abhorrent’
UK Foreign Secretary slated for comparing Hollande to PoW guard
BORIS Johnson has plunged the UK’s Brexit negotiations into controversy after he compared French President Francois Hollande to a Second World War camp guard administering “punishment beatings”.
Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator, said the Foreign Secretary’s comments were “abhorrent” and called on Prime Minister Theresa May to denounce them.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s spokesman branded them “wild and inappropriate” while Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrats’ leader, described them as “utterly crass”.
Ed Miliband tweeted: “Boris Johnson proves once again he’s not fit to be Foreign Secretary. Showing you can be supremely clever and yet immensely stupid.”
During a visit to India, Mr Johnson responded to comments from an aide to Mr Hollande, who had said Britain should not expect a better trading relationship from outside the EU.
Warning the EU against adopting a punitive approach to the Brexit talks, the Secretary of State said: “If Monsieur Hollande wants to administer punishment beatings to anyone who 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.”
No 10 sought to play down Mr Johnson’s comments, dismissing “hyped-up” media reports, and saying the Foreign Secretary was merely making a “theatrical comparison”.
Brushing aside suggestions he should apologise, the PM’s spokeswoman said she was not aware of any complaint from the Elysee Palace.
“He was making a point. He was in no way suggesting that anyone was a Nazi,” she declared.
Asked whether or not it would be better for Government ministers to avoid wartime comparisons as the UK enters sensitive negotiations with its European neigh- bours, the spokeswoman said: “There is not a Government policy of not mentioning the war.”
She insisted Mr Johnson was not a liability and the Prime Minister retained full confidence in him.
Mrs May will today deliver a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and meet business leaders and other national leaders.
The UK Supreme Court said it would deliver its ruling on whether or not MPs and MSPs should have vote on the UK Government’s Brexit strategy next Tuesday