Call for May to fire Boris over Brexit challenge
Fury over Johnson’s article as opponents interpret it as a leadership bid ahead of Tory party conference
THERESA MAY has been urged to sack Boris Johnson after he challenged her authority by publishing a 4,000 word treatise setting out his demands from the Brexit negotiations.
The Foreign Secretary has infuriated some of his Cabinet colleagues, including Chancellor Philip Hammond, with his wide ranging demands in the article for The Daily Telegraph.
Downing Street was only given a few hours notice of publication of the arti- cle, which was interpreted by MPs and Westminster watchers as a bid to reignite his leadership campaign.
The Sunday Telegraph has learned that aides to Mrs May phoned Mr Johnson yesterday to seek reassurances that his intervention days ahead of her key speech on Britain’s future after the EU in Florence was not a leadership bid.
Mr Johnson’s friends vehemently denied that the article was a leadership bid or was intended to be critical of Mrs May.
Mr Johnson – who republished his article on his Facebook page yesterday – wrote on Twitter: “Looking forward to PM’s Florence speech. All behind Theresa for a glorious Brexit.”
But critics noted Mr Johnson’s article did not offer any praise to David Davis and Liam Fox, the two Cabinet ministers who Mrs May has trusted with delivering Brexit. The article was also lukewarm about Mr Hammond, noting coolly that the Treasury “has not so far sought to punish the British people with an emergency budget”.
Mr Hammond was said by friends to be prepared “to sit tight” but was “very angry” about the article.
Another senior minister who backed Remain in the EU referendum said Mrs May could sack Mr Johnson and give him the NHS to run so he can spend the £350million himself.
He said: “If he can’t settle into his job as Foreign Secretary then he needs to go and do something else.
“If he is interested in health he could volunteer to be the Secretary of State for Health. Jeremy Hunt has done a long stint of five years – perhaps Boris would like to go and run the health service if he has all these ideas of funding it?
“There is a strong worry that he is lining himself up to get sacked – and that is the last thing we need. Why doesn’t he just concentrate on the serious stuff and stop bringing back this nonsense about the £350million.
“It just p----- us off because we don’t want to be reminded about that nonsense. It is all about tone and timing. Resurrecting the £350million? It is not government policy. No one is saying that, leave or remain, in the Government.
“I thought we’d settled down and grown up and then we get this? The silly season is over. It is a bizarre and illjudged intervention.”
Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives who is close to Mrs May, wrote on Twitter: “On the day of a terror attack where Britons were maimed, just hours after the threat level is raised, our only thoughts should be on service.”
A former Conservative minister said that Mr Johnson was now “sailing within an inch of being thrown out of the Government”.
The ex-minister said: “He has lit a fuse under the whole bloody thing. He is effectively saying that she is not handling Brexit properly and that he is being kept on a leash, and he now needs to be let off the leash.
“One should not discount completely that Boris thinks the party conference could undermine the Prime Minister. She should be safe for two years but that could change [at the Conservative party conference] in Manchester if there is a concerted effort to get rid of her.
“She is basically serving at the pleasure of Conservative MPs who could move tomorrow to get rid of her. She is in an incredibly weak position.”
Allies of Mr Johnson made clear that the Foreign Secretary backed Mrs May and repeatedly made this clear in pub- lic and in private. But they made clear she would be making a mistake to fire Mr Johnson over his intervention, which he had hoped would support the Prime Minister.
One source said: “It would take a very brave Prime Minister in the circumstances they are in to sack the Foreign Secretary.”
His friends are not expecting – and nor does Mr Johnson want to take part in – a Conservative party leadership campaign until after the UK leaves the EU in March 2019.
One friend said: “No one wants a leadership election in the prism of Brexit in the middle of talks.”
No 10 attempted to downplay any rift with Mr Johnson. One Downing Street source said: “These are Boris’s well-
‘I thought we’d settled down and grown up and then we get this? It is a bizarre and ill-judged intervention’
known, well-publicised views. He is restating his position and is very clearly backing the PM. We see it as trying to make sure his views are reflected in the Florence speech.”
On the £350million, the Downing Street source pointed out that the Tories had already committed to spending £8billion on the National Health Service between now and 2022.