Boris inflammatory in article

– Britain’s ruling Conservative party was locked in a new row over Brexit yesterday after Boris Johnson said the government’s strategy put the country in a “suicide vest”, with Brussels holding the detonator.

The former foreign minister’s remarks ramp up his criticism of Prime Minister Theresa May’s approach to leaving the European Union (EU), amid speculation he is positioning to replace her.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday newspaper, Johnson repeated that May’s plan to follow EU rules on trade in goods after Brexit – a plan over which he quit his job in protest in July – were a “humiliation”.

And he condemned her vow to do whatever it took to avoid border checks in Ireland, saying it was “insanity” and left Britain open to “perpetual political blackmail”.

“We have wrapped a suicide vest around the British constitution – and handed the detonator to (EU Brexit negotiator) Michel Barnier,” he wrote.

“We have given him a jemmy (crowbar) with which Brussels can choose – at any time – to crack apart the union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.”

The EU has suggested that if no other way was found to avoid physical border checks between Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland, the latter should stay aligned with the bloc’s trade rules.

May has rejected this as unacceptable, but the two sides are deadlocked as time runs out. –