Clean-cut Boris refuses to rule out challenge to Theresa

He wants to take ‘responsibility’ for Brexit – and warns of EU blackmail over PM’s deal

‘We cannot go down that route’

BORIS Johnson made a thinlyveiled public pitch for the Tory leadership yesterday as he savaged Theresa May’s Brexit deal and refused to rule out a challenge for her position.

Sporting a more business- like closely- cropped hairstyle instead of his usual wild mop, he warned the PM’s agreement left the UK open to ‘blackmail’ by Brussels – and stated he was ready to take ‘responsibility’.

Although he insisted it was ‘nonsense’ to suggest he had already begun offering jobs in a future Johnson administration, the former Foreign Secretary sidestepped the opportunity to promise not to stand against the Prime Minister.

And he hinted at his ambition to return to the frontline of government, saying the British people should not ‘underestimate the deep sense of personal responsibility I feel for Brexit’.

At the start of a critical week for the Prime Minister, Mr Johnson said Mrs May’s Brexit deal could get through the Commons if it was stripped of the backstop measure – an insurance policy to pre- vent a hard border with Ireland. Despite EU opposition, he claimed that would be ‘relatively simple’ to achieve. A heavy defeat in tomorrow’s crunch vote in the Commons is likely to lead to fresh pressure on the Prime Minister’s leadership.

Jacob Rees-Mogg – who has already signed a letter of no confidence in Mrs May – called on his party to back a ‘unity’ team of Mr Johnson running alongside Remain supporter Amber Rudd as his deputy. But Brexiteers are understood to be divided between supporting Mr Johnson and the two former Brexit secretaries, David Davis and Dominic Raab.

However, a YouGov survey in the Sunday Times found that all Mrs May’s leadership rivals have negative net approval ratings. Mr Davis is on minus 19 points, Mr Raab on minus 21 points and Mr Johnson on minus 35 points. Potential Remainer rival Sajid Javid is minus 18, while Miss Rudd is minus 23.

There are already reports of a ‘Stop Boris’ campaign under way among Tory MPs at Westminster.

Yesterday, Mr Johnson described the PM’s Brexit deal as ‘diabolical’ and a ‘legal lobster pot’.

Asked to give an ‘absolute, categorical promise’ that he would not stand against the Prime Minister, Mr Johnson said: ‘I will give you an absolute, categorical promise that I will continue to advocate what I think is the most sensible plan.’

Challenged on whether he had already begun speaking to colleagues to offer them roles in his future government, Mr Johnson told BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: ‘I can tell you that’s nonsense.’

Setting out his Brexit plan, Mr Johnson said resolving the Irish border issue should be postponed so it forms part of the talks on a future trade deal and the UK should withhold a ‘substantial chunk’ of the £39billion divorce bill until that deal is done. Preparations should also be stepped up for a no-deal Brexit, he said.

He admitted he would feel personally responsible if people lost their jobs in a no-deal situation. ‘Of course I will,’ he said. ‘Do not underestimate the deep sense of personal responsibility I feel for Brexit and for everything that has happened. Do not underestimate how much I care about this, because this is fundamental to our country and it absolutely breaks my heart to think that – after all that we fought for, all that we campaigned for – we should consign ourselves to a future in which the EU effectively rules us in many respects and yet we have no say round the table in Brussels. That is an absurdity. We cannot go down that route.’

But Mr Johnson later suggested he might accept the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal as long as she removes the backstop. In his Daily Telegraph column he wrote: ‘We should adopt enthusiastically the approach that is supported, by implication, by most MPs on all sides of the House – do this deal, more or less, but with the backstop excised.

‘We need to go back to Brussels and do what they have been expecting all along – and that is finally show some steel and determination.’

THE European Court of Justice is set to rule the UK can cancel Brexit by revoking Article 50 a day before MPs vote on Theresa May’s deal, it was claimed last night.