PM comes out fighting as he fires poll starting gun with Trump-style rally
BORIS JOHNSON pledged to “get Parliament working” as he fired the starting gun for his election campaign last night.
Speaking at a Donald Trump-style rally in Birmingham, the Prime Minister said his Brexit deal was “ready to go” as he compared critics of the deal to “candle-sellers at the dawn of the electric light bulb” and “the makers of typewriters beholding their first laptop computer”.
“They have a terrible sense that they are about to lose their market,” he said.
Mr Johnson told hundreds of supporters he had “no choice” but to call an election even though “no PM wants an election when we have so much to do”. He said the Commons was “paralysed, blocked” and as “incapable of digestive function as an anaconda that has swallowed a tapir”.
“This Parliament just refuses to get Brexit done,” he added, comparing the delay to a “bendy-bus jackknifed on a yellow box junction... It’s blocking the traffic in every direction”.
Describing his Brexit deal as ready, he added: “Whack it in the microwave, gas mark 4…” before joking: “I’m not very good at cooking.”
Flanked by the majority of his Cabinet, Mr Johnson was introduced by Andy Street, the West Midlands mayor, Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, and James Cleverly, the party chairman.
The Prime Minister will today travel to Scotland on the first day of the general election campaign trail.
Last night, Tory activists handed out slogan T-shirts to supporters as the crowd gathered in a boxing-style ring under large screens saying: “Get Brexit done. Unleash Britain’s potential.”
Mr Johnson accused Jeremy Corbyn of trying to bring in “Bolivarian revolutionary socialism” and siding “with the mullahs of Tehran rather than Washington”.
Mr Cleverly praised Mr Johnson as a leader who “spooks the Left”. He said Labour’s Brexit position was “as clear as mud” and accused Jo Swinson of trying to “prop up a Marxist government”.
Outside the main hall, a group of protesters were led away after shouting slogans against austerity.
Mr Johnson pledged to introduce an “Australian-style points-based” immigration system to “take back control of our borders”.
His day began with a visit to Buckingham Palace to confirm formally the dissolution of Parliament to the Queen.
Speaking afterwards on the steps of Downing Street, he said: “Imagine waking up on Friday 13 Dec and finding Corbyn at the head of his technicolour yawn of a coalition.” He warned that
Labour would “spend the whole of 2020 having two referendums.
“One on Scotland, because he has done a deal with the Scottish Nationalists to assist the break-up of the Union if they sustain him in power.
“And another referendum on Brexit, which is meant to happen in nine months’ time, after he has renegotiated our exit and renegotiated this deal.”
He said Labour would bring in an “uncontrolled and unlimited immigration system that would put huge pressure on the NHS and other services”.
It came as Ruth Davidson said Mr Johnson was winning over sceptical Scottish voters with his “solid” opposition to Nicola Sturgeon’s independence referendum plans and his Brexit deal.
The former Scottish Tory leader told The Daily Telegraph that “the jury is still out” among many Scots about Mr Johnson but he is getting praise on the doorsteps for being “sound on the Union question”.
Ahead of his visit to Scotland, Mr Johnson said: “Only a vote for the Conservatives will stop the SNP’S plans to break up the UK – the most fantastic and successful political union in the world. I will never give up on our incredible Union.”