Johnson claims his Brexit plan is better than May’s
AHEAD OF CONSERVATIVE PARTY CONFERENCE, FORMER FOREIGN SECRETARY OUTLINES VISION
Former British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has urged the prime minister to abandon her Chequers plan and “change the course of the negotiation” on Brexit, in a 4,000word intervention aiming to recapture the narrative ahead of Conservative party conference.
The piece sought to put to bed criticisms that the Brexiters such as Johnson who oppose Theresa May’s plans for a common UKEU rulebook on goods have no alternative of their own.
“The single greatest failing has been the government’s appalling and inexplicable delay in setting out a vision for what Brexit is,” he said.
The former foreign secretary, who conceded his alternative approach may need an extension of a transition period beyond 2020, accused May of a “pretty invertebrate performance”.
“There has been a collective failure of government, and a collapse of will by the British establishment, to deliver on the mandate of the people,” he wrote in an article for the Telegraph.
Johnson said it was now “widely accepted the UK is now in a weak position in the Brexit negotiations,” a tacit criticism of the prime minister’s negotiating approach, which he said was defined by a “basic nervousness” and a “lack of conviction”.
He said May’s premiership had been “in the grip of a fatal uncertainty about whether or not to leave the customs union”.
The piece does not challenge May’s leadership directly, but is likely to fuel speculation that Johnson may move against the prime minister before the negotiations are concluded.
Johnson is set to be the star turn at a rally on the eve of May’s speech at the conference in Birmingham, an appearance that will likely dominate any preview of the prime minister’s address.
In the article, he said Brussels and Dublin had detected a reticence, particularly from the Treasury, about a clean break with the EU, which they had exploited. In turn, May and the chancellor, Philip Hammond, had lacked the will to investigate technological solutions to the Irish border, he said.
Instead, he said the UK should seek what he termed a “Super Canada” deal which he said would involve UK and EU regulatory bodies ensuring conformity of goods with each other’s standards, as well as zero tariffs or quotas on imports and exports and investment in technological support for customs controls.
Johnson said there was “no need for a hard border” and said checks could be carried out away from the border crossing. May has insisted that a Canada-style free trade agreement would not comply with the need to avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland, forcing the UK to rely on the backstop agreed in December.
Boris Johnson | Ex-Foreign Secretary