‘Suicide vest’ comment sparks furor

Former foreign secretary’s Brexit critique criticized.

LONDON — Former British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has compared Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan for Brexit to putting the country’s constitution in a “suicide vest” and handing the detonator to the European Union — remarks that drew condemnation from colleagues on Sunday.

The attack, and Johnson’s choice of metaphor, widened the divide in the governing Conservative Party over Brexit.

Johnson, a strong supporter of Brexit, quit May’s government in July after rejecting her proposal for close economic ties with the bloc after the U.K. leaves next year. His article in the Mail on Sunday ramped up speculation that he plans to challenge her leadership.

Johnson said May’s plan, which would keep the U.K. aligned to EU regulations in return for free trade in goods, was a “humiliation” and amounted to “agreeing to take EU rules, with no say on those rules.”

He also said that by agreeing that the U.K.’s Northern Ireland must effectively remain in a customs union with the bloc in order to avoid a hard border with EU member Ireland, “we have wrapped a suicide vest around the British constitution — and handed the detonator” to the EU.

Foreign Office Minister Alan Duncan tweeted that the comments marked “one of the most disgusting moments in modern British politics” and should be “the political end of Boris Johnson.”

Conservative lawmaker Tom Tugendhat, a former army officer, said on Twitter that he had seen the aftermath of a suicide bombing in Afghanistan, and “comparing the PM to that isn’t funny.” He said that Johnson should “grow up.”

The tousle-headed Johnson is a popular but divisive figure known for Latin quips and verbal blunders that include calling Papua New Guineans cannibals.