Bojo: I’m backing PM May
‘Rebel’ Johnson’s rallying cry
BORIS Johnson swore loyalty to Theresa May at the Tory party conference yesterday – and insisted her government would make a success of Brexit, led by the “roar” of the British people.
BORIS Johnson swore loyalty to Theresa May yesterday and insisted the Cabinet was united behind her.
The Foreign Secretary backed the PM’s approach to Brexit, which she outlined last week in Italy.
And he guaranteed her the support of the entire cabinet, following calls for him to be sacked for disloyalty.
In a fierce defence of Mrs May, he told the Tory Party conference: “She won more votes than any party leader and took this party to its highest share of the vote in any election in the last 25 years. The whole country owes her a debt for her steadfastness in taking Britain forward as she will, to a great Brexit deal based on that Florence speech on whose every syllable, I can tell you, the whole Cabinet is united.”
Mr Johnson also criticised Jeremy Corbyn, describing the Labour leader as a ‘Nato-bashing, Trident-scrapping, would-be abolisher of the British army’.
The former London Mayor said the Tories would make a success of Brexit, led by the “roar” of the British people. He said: “There is a huge desire out there for us to engage with the world more emphatically than ever before.
“And after Brexit that is what our partners are going to get.”
Earlier, the PM defended her decision to not sack him, saying she did not want a “Cabinet full of yes men”. The under-fire leader’s aides had urged her not to make popular Boris a martyr by giving him the boot.
Mrs May’s own keynote speech today is expected to echo the Foreign Secretary’s call for party unity, and call for ministers to “go forward together”.
After a conference overshadowed by party in-fighting, she will say: “Let us do our duty by Britain. Let us shape up and give the country the government it needs.” Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt unveiled plans for an extra 5,000 nurses in the next three years to ease a recruitment crisis. He said: “Our NHS is nothing without its nurses.”