Boris Johnson blisters May over Brexit at Tory meeting

BIRMINGHAM, England — Former British foreign secretary Boris Johnson on Tuesday excoriated Prime Minister Theresa May’s road map to exiting the European Union as a sad, weak and dangerous mistake.

In a speech at the annual Conservative Party conference, Johnson blasted his fellow Tory, saying her approach is not only “politically humiliating” but “a cheat” against everyone who voted for Brexit.

The loquacious Etonian famous for his blond bird’s nest of hair almost ran out of words to condemn May’s strategy for the divorce deal of the decade.

“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.”

The flamboyant Johnson was the face of the Brexit campaign in the summer 2016, when citizens voted 52 to 48 percent to split from the EU.

Back then, Johnson and his allies promised that leaving the world’s biggest free-trade zone would be easy, allowing London to “take back control” from faceless bureaucrats in Brussels, while slashing the number of immigrants and providing a windfall of cash to save Britain’s financially strapped universal health care service.

But Brexit has been chaotic and costly as economists say uncertainty over future relations with Europe has slowed growth.

May’s plan seeks to protect as much as possible frictionless, tariff-free trade of goods with the bloc by agreeing to follow a “common rule book” with EU regulations for safety and standards for goods, while Britain goes its own way on financial services.