Johnson falls short of calling for May to be ousted

BORIS JOHNSON yesterday made a clear pitch for the Tory leadership but fell short of calling for Theresa May to be ousted.

The former Foreign Secretary criticised the Prime Minister’s domestic policies and described her Chequers Brexit plan as undemocratic, while setting out a mini-manifesto of his own.

But he called on Tory members at the party’s conference in Birmingham to persuade Mrs May to “chuck Chequers” and return to the hard Brexit blueprint she first set out in her Lancaster House speech, rather than oust the PM.

Speaking on the fringe of the conference, Mr Johnson, who quit Mrs May’s Cabinet in July in protest at the Chequers plan, won an enthusiastic reaction on a scale not seen so far inside the main hall.

Mr Johnson even won loud applause when he suggested that the PM risked being prosecuted under a 14th Century law saying that “no foreign court or government shall have jurisdiction in this country”.

He rejected as “total fantasy” the idea pushed by some Cabinet Leavers such as Michael Gove that it would be possible to “bodge” Brexit now and then negotiate a better deal later.

And he warned that if a deal based on Chequers was agreed with the EU, it would “embolden” backers of a second referendum – something he said would be “disastrous for trust in politics”.

Mr Johnson said that Mrs May’s blueprint – which ties Britain to a common rulebook with the EU for trade in goods – would be “politically humiliating for a £2tn economy” and would prevent the UK from making its own laws and subject it to the directives of Brussels.

“This is not pragmatic, it is not a compromise.

“It is dangerous and unstable – politically and economically,” he said.

“My fellow Conservatives, this is not democracy. This is not what we voted for. This is an outrage.

“This is not taking back control: This is forfeiting control.”

And he warned: “If we bottle Brexit now – believe me, the people of this country will find it hard to forgive.”

He was loudly clapped and cheered as he said: “For one last time, I urge our friends in Government to deliver what the people voted for, to back Theresa May in the best way possible – by softly, quietly, and sensibly backing her original plan, and in so doing to believe in conservatism and to believe in Britain.

“Because if we get it wrong we will be punished. And if we get it right we can have a glorious future. This Government will then be remembered for having done something brave and right and remarkable and in accordance with the wishes of the people.”

A Lancaster House-style Brexit, fully outside the single market and customs union, would be a “win-win” for both Britain and the EU, he said.

But he warned: “If we cheat the electorate – and Chequers is a cheat – we will escalate the sense of mistrust.

“We will give credence to those who cry betrayal, and I am afraid we will make it more likely that the ultimate beneficiary of the Chequers deal will be the farright in the form of Ukip, and therefore the far-left in the form of Jeremy Corbyn.”