TORIES AT WAR OVER BORIS’S MOVE ‘TO OUST PM’

Johnson in open revolt over soft Brexit as he ‘lobs hand grenade into No10’

ALLIES of Theresa May last night accused Boris Johnson of treachery after he staged an open revolt over her plans for a ‘soft’ Brexit. The Prime Minister was said to be furious after the Foreign Secretary said Britain should refuse

to pay the EU a big divorce bill – and did not bother to tell her about his bombshell intervention in advance.

One of Johnson’s most prominent ‘hard Brexit’ Conservative MP supporters boasted: ‘He has just lobbed a hand grenade through Downing Street’s window.’

Fellow Cabinet Ministers claimed Mr Johnson’s Churchillian Brexit manifesto was a blatant attempt to oust Mrs May. And one former Minister said the PM should ‘have the balls’ to fire Mr Johnson for threatening to sabotage her own major Brexit speech in Florence this week.

Downing Street officials denied there was a rift between the two and said Mr Johnson’s job was safe. But Cabinet Ministers loyal to Mrs May privately denounced his ‘hostile’ intervention. One said the PM was ‘deeply disappointed’ – politician’s code for livid.

Another accused Johnson of ‘ attention seeking’. There were claims, denied by the Johnson camp, that he was preparing to resign in anticipation of a ‘ soft Brexit sell-out’ by Mrs May.

Brexit Secretary David Davis was reportedly angry with Johnson for reviving his controversial claim from the EU referendum that Britain would be £350 million a week better off outside the EU.

‘DD’s view is that it was wrong for Boris to make the £350 million claim then and he is wrong to bring it up now,’ said a well-placed source.

A close ally of Johnson’s biggest Cabinet foe, Chancellor Philip Hammond, said: ‘This just confirms suspicions about Boris’s ambitions.

‘It is disloyal and damaging for the Party and for getting a deal with the EU because it suggests division and chaos. His £350 million claim is the most notorious and discredited statistic in modern British history. If his credibility depends on that figure, it doesn’t say much for his credibility.’

One of Mrs May’s close confidants described Johnson’s conduct as ‘extraordinary and hostile,’ adding: ‘It is just attention-seeking. I have given up trying to analyse what Boris says, he is infuriating and just desperate for headlines. If he resigned he would be finished.’

The row flared after Johnson set out his own vision for Brexit in a 4,000-word article in the Daily Telegraph. In an astonishingly open act of defiance, he refused to inform Mrs May until moments before it was published.

Johnson argued Britain should not carry on paying into EU coffers after Brexit in 2019 and said that staying in the single market would make a ‘complete mockery’ of the referendum.

His comments follow reports that Mrs May is preparing to pay up to £40 billion in a Brexit divorce bill to keep access to the single market over a two-year transition.

Johnson won praise from leading Brexiteer Tories. Jacob Rees-Mogg, seen by some as a leadership rival to Johnson, praised ‘brilliant Boris’ while Zac Goldsmith and Nadine Dorries also pledged support.

Most, but significantly not all, pro-Remain MPs savaged Johnson. A leading pro-EU ex-Minister said: ‘Theresa should have the balls to sack Boris. It would be high risk but if she moved quickly – and squared off David Davis about it – she could and should do it.’

The senior figure argued that Johnson had ‘panicked’ because ‘he knows most of the Cabinet realises the only sensible Brexit is a soft Brexit and that we will have to pay a sizeable sum.’

However, Mrs May’s frail grip on power was reflected by the fact Johnson received emphatic backing from a distinguished Tory grandee known for his passionate pro-EU views. He said: ‘Even though I am a strong Remainer I agree with much of what Boris says and don’t believe he is being disloyal. We are crying out for leadership and at least Boris he has got off his a*** and given us some. Brexit is our biggest crisis since 1940 and we won’t get far sitting around looking at our belly buttons.’

With Brexit talks close to breakdown and Mrs May under fire for her botched snap Election, Conservative Party managers fear Johnson’s outburst could trigger a full-scale leadership crisis at the party conference in two weeks.

Davis, Home Secretary Amber Rudd, Rees-Mogg and other Tories have been tipped to throw their hats into the ring if Mrs May resigns.

Some Cabinet Ministers believe Environment Secretary Michael Gove could be in cahoots with Johnson, despite their spectacular fallout last year when Gove sabotaged Johnson’s bid to succeed David Cameron after they had led the Brexit campaign together.

Mr Gove denied any collusion. A spokesman said last night: ‘ The first Michael knew about Boris’s article was when it was published on Friday night.’

After pleas from No 10 to make it clear he was not plotting against Mrs May, Johnson, apparently unconcerned by the furore he had started, tweeted jauntily: ‘Looking forward to PM’s Florence speech. All behind Theresa for a glorious Brexit.’

‘Disappointing, hostile and attention-seeking’