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Eurocrats attack ‘ horror scenario of Johnson as PM’
SENIOR Eurocrats yesterday launched a series of co-ordinated and personal attacks on Boris Johnson – saying the prospect of him running Britain was a ‘horror scenario’.
The leading Brexit campaigner was compared to Donald Trump, accused of populism and told to return to Brussels for re-education.
It came as David Cameron announced that the EU was on the verge of clinching a trade deal with Japan that will be worth £5 billion to Britain. He said: ‘This agreement underlines once again why we are stronger, safer and better off in a reformed EU.’
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker savaged Mr Johnson for comparing the EU’s ambitions to Adolf Hitler.
Speaking at the G7 summit in Japan, Mr Juncker also said the ‘atmosphere would be better’ if Britain stayed inside the EU.
He added: ‘Boris Johnson spent part of his life in Brussels. It’s time for him to come back to Brussels, in order to check in Brussels if everything he’s telling British people is in line with reality.
‘I don’t think so, so he would be welcome in Brussels at any time.’
Mr Johnson, who spent several years in Brussels as a journalist, last night accepted Mr Juncker’s invitation – and challenged the Eurocrat to visit the UK to meet businesses and families ‘damaged by our EU membership’.
In a letter to the Brussels chief, Mr Johnson said: ‘We should develop a more harmonious and practical relationship between Britain and other European countries, and this should be done on the basis of free trade and intensive inter-governmental co-operation.
‘ I would much welcome the chance to explain how this would be of benefit both to this country and the rest of the EU.
‘I would also like to extend an in- vitation to you. Many parts of Britain – many families and small businesses – have been damaged by our EU membership.
‘It would be wonderful if you could visit some of these places and meet some of those people with me. I have no doubt it will help inform the debate and give you a better understanding as you attempt to reform the machinery of the EU.’
Martin Selmayr, who is Mr Juncker’s chief of staff, then tweeted: ‘ 2017 with Trump, Le Pen, Boris Johnson, Beppe Grillo? A horror scenario that shows well why it is worth fighting populism.’
A row has been raging for two weeks over an interview given by Mr Johnson in which he drew comparisons between the expansionist aims of the EU and Hitler.
He said: The history of the last couple of thousand years has been broadly repeated attempts by various people or institutions... to rediscover the lost childhood of Europe, this golden age of peace and prosperity under the Romans, by trying to unify it.
‘Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically. The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods.’
Leave campaigners have dismissed the row over Mr Johnson’s remarks. They say it has been manufactured to detract from the campaign.
Asked whether the European institutions would be able to work with Mr Johnson if he became Prime Minister, in light of his remarks, Mr Juncker said: ‘The atmosphere of our talks would be better if Britain is staying in the European Union.’
Mr Johnson dismissed Mr Juncker’s jibe that he had lied about the EU’s motives, saying his comments were ‘in line with reality’.
He told Sky News: ‘If we vote to Remain they will go on with measures to take us further into a federal European superstate.’
‘Come back to Brussels’