May seeks to play down latest Johnson Brexit attack
THERESA May has sought to downplay the latest round of explosive remarks from Boris Johnson as she insisted that, while her Foreign Secretary had strong views on Brexit, “so do I”.
In unguarded comments recorded at a private dinner of the Thatcherite campaign group the Conservative Way Forward, Mr Johnson warned of a Brexit “meltdown” and called for “guts” in the talks with Brussels, noting, if Donald Trump were in charge, he would “go in bloody hard”.
He branded the Treasury the “heart of Remain” and claimed negotiations were approaching a “moment of truth”.
While at the G7 summit in Quebec, Mrs May said: “These are complex negotiations.
“Boris has strong views on Brexit but so do I.
“I want to deliver for the British people, that’s exactly what we are doing as a Government.
“And if you look at the process of these negotiations, nobody ever said it was going to be easy.”
Earlier, No 10 refused to be “pulled into” commenting on the Foreign Secretary’s leaked remarks.
Asked if the PM still had confidence in him, her deputy spokeswoman said: “Of course.”
Asked why, she replied: “We have a long-standing policy of not getting into discussions that are leaked from a recording.
“I’m not going to get into that but, as I said, the PM believes all her Cabinet and her Government are working hard to deliver what people want.”
Friends of Mr Johnson said it was disappointing the private dinner had been covertly recorded but senior Conservative backbencher Sarah Wollaston said dressing up the comments “under the cover of a ‘private’ discussions won’t wash”.
Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister, at the SNP conference in Aberdeen, said Mr Johnson had no credibility whatsoever.
Meanwhile in Berlin, Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, launched a thinly-veiled attack on his colleague, noting: “My experience has been that a collaborative approach is generally more productive than a confrontational approach.”
Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach, also took a swipe at Mr Johnson, saying: “When I want to know what the view of the British Government is, I listen to the Prime Minister.”