Testy Brexit language OK, says Johnson
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has rebuffed allegations that he is inciting violence by accusing his Brexit opponents of ‘‘surrender’’ and ‘‘betrayal’’, saying the only way to calm the simmering tensions is to stop delaying and leave the European Union.
During raucous, ill-tempered parliamentary debates this week, Johnson said postponing the United Kingdom’s departure would ‘‘betray’’ the British people, referred to an opposition law ordering a Brexit delay as the ‘‘Surrender Act’’, and brushed off concerns that his forceful language might endanger MPs as ‘‘humbug’’.
Opponents said Johnson’s language could incite violence. However, he said yesterday the country’s social tensions were being caused by Britain’s failure to leave the EU more than three years after voting in a referendum to do so.
‘‘Once you do that, then so much of the heat and the anxiety will come out of the debate,’’ he said. ‘‘Get it done, and then we will all be able to move on.’’
Johnson was repeatedly reminded that Labour MP Jo Cox was stabbed and shot to death a week before the 2016 Brexit referendum by a far-right attacker shouting ‘‘Death to traitors!’’. Many British MPs say they routinely receive death threats now.
Yesterday, a 36-year-old man was charged with a public order offence after a disturbance outside the office of Labour MP Jess Phillips, an outspoken critic of Johnson. She said her staff had to be locked inside when a man kicked the door and tried to smash the windows during an attack on Friday.
Amber Rudd, who served in Johnson’s cabinet until she quit three weeks ago, said she was ‘‘disappointed and stunned’’ by Johnson’s dismissal of the concerns. She said the incendiary language used by Johnson and his aides ‘‘does incite violence’’.