Boris in 4-letter attack on May
Johnson in ‘polishing a t***’ jibe at Chequers summit
BORIS JOHNSON has opened up an astonishing new Government split with a crude outburst against Theresa May’s new Brexit policy.
The Foreign Secretary stunned fellow Ministers with his fourletter dismissal of the Prime Minister’s plan at Friday’s special Chequers summit designed to unite the Cabinet. His comment risks making him the first victim of Mrs May’s fresh crackdown on dissent.
Mr Johnson – who has been accused of betrayal by Tory Brexiteers for not blocking Mrs May’s ‘soft Brexit’ proposals – spoke out against the plan for the UK to remain in line with Brussels rules in a new free trade zone with the EU.
According to a reliable source, he complained that anyone obliged to defend the proposals would be ‘polishing a turd’.
He added sarcastically: ‘Luckily we have some expert turd polishers’ – shooting a glance at one of Mrs May’s spin doctors.
Challenging the Prime Minister’s new policy to her face, he said that her decision to try to ‘align’ UK trading rules with the EU would reduce Britain to the humiliating status of a ‘vassal state’.
He also took issue with her cherished new customs plan, the Facilitated Customs Arrangement (FCA), claiming it would be a ‘serious inhibitor’ to striking new trade deals with non-EU countries.
His outburst was revealed just hours after Mrs May tried to draw a red line under weeks of open dissent from her Ministers, vowing that from now on she will enforce collective Cabinet responsibility and sack any Ministers who defy her. Some senior Tories believe she may be forced to fire Mr Johnson.
A Mail on Sunday poll today endorses her handling of the Cabinet showdown, with 33 per cent of voters supporting her Brexit plan and 23 per cent opposing it.
The Survation poll, the first survey since the Chequers summit, suggests Mrs May has twice the support of Mr Johnson – although voters do not believe her plan is ‘faithful’ to the EU referendum result.
Last night, Eurosceptic Tories said there was so much anger at the PM’s ‘sell-out’ that some MPs would submit no-confidence letters to force a challenge to her leadership. Jacob Rees-Mogg’s pro-Brexit European Research Group said experts believe the Chequers deal left the UK ‘on course for a “black hole” Brexit’ – meaning we would be sucked into the orbit of EU rules with no hope of escape.
Mr Johnson made clear in the run-up to Friday’s session that he was vehemently against any scheme which left us shackled to EU rules, leading to fears in Downing Street that he and other pro-Brexit Ministers could resign.
But Mrs May launched her own plan to kill off his revolt: signalling in advance she had already lined up ‘talented’ junior Ministers to replace any Cabinet quitters; forcing all those at the summit to hand over their phones to stop them briefing against her under the table; and issuing an official No10 communique declaring victory while her critics were still stuck inside arguing.
This newspaper understands that seven out of the 30 Ministers at the summit spoke out against the plan. Mr Johnson left Chequers after dinner late on Friday evening in the back of a Government car, having chosen not to resign.
His position prompted hardline Brexiteer Andrew Bridgen, writing in today’s Mail on Sunday, to say: ‘We needed Boris to emulate his hero Churchill. Instead, he gave us a modern-day version of Neville Chamberlain.’
No 10 sources claim that Mr Johnson was ‘engaged’ and ‘constructive’ throughout the day. They claimed his comment about ‘polishing a turd’ was light-hearted and denied he said Mrs May risked making the UK a ‘vassal state’ of the EU.
But he is not alone in his denunciation of Mrs May’s FCA plan. One of Brexit Secretary David Davis’s aides said: ‘It is called the FCA because it is a “f*** up”.’
The drama could revive the tension between Mr Johnson and fellow Brexit campaigner Michael Gove, who infamously betrayed Mr Johnson in the 2016 Tory leadership contest. In contrast with Mr Johnson, the Environment Secretary helped swing the Cabinet behind Mrs May’s plan, leaving Boris outgunned.
A source close to Mr Gove said: ‘His view was that, given that the party does not have a Commons majority, and that the EU is playing hardball, her proposal is probably the best on offer.’
After dinner on Friday, the Prime Minister gave a short speech in which she hailed a ‘historic day’ and paid a warm tribute to Mr Davis for leading the negotiations.
‘Serious inhibitor to new trade deals’
Although EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has cautiously welcomed the proposals in public, senior EU figures have privately repeated warnings that the UK cannot ‘cherry-pick’ and stay in the single market for goods without allowing sweeping freedoms for EU citizens to enter the UK.
Last night, Mrs May said that her plan was ‘a good deal for Britain and a good deal for our future’.
She added that her plan would spell an end to free movement of people; the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in the UK; and ‘vast sums’ of money going to Brussels – and Britain taking ‘control of
our money, laws and our borders’. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn challenged her to hold a General Election if she failed to get agreement on the new Brexit plan and said the Chequers agreement ‘might unravel in a few days’.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who has been vocal in calling for the UK to remain part of both the European customs union and single market, said the plan had ‘more realism in it than we’ve seen before from the UK government’ but added: ‘That’s not saying much.’
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson welcomed the Chequers proposals, saying: ‘Now is the time to put differences aside. The UK is leaving the EU. On the table is a pragmatic set of proposals that go a long way to addressing the concerns of those worried about the economic impact of a hard Brexit.’