Boris Johnson rips into Tony Blair after ex-PM says give Brexit voters chance to ‘rise up’ and reverse ‘wrong’ decision

BORIS Johnson ripped into Tony Blair for his below the belt “contempt” for British voters as the former PM launched a new bid to block Brexit.

The Foreign Secretary accused Mr Blair of “bare-faced effrontery” by insisting Brits were wrong to want to leave the EU and called for a new movement to “rise up” and reverse the decision.

Mr Johnson joined a chorus of furious Brexiteers who blasted Mr Blair for his attempt to “undermine democracy” saying he was “on another planet”.

In a lengthy speech in the City of London yesterday, Mr Blair claimed voters did not know the “true terms of Brexit” and Theresa May does not have a mandate to push through “Brexit at any cost”.

He also insisted voters cared more about non-EU immigration declaring Brexit campaigners won by “hideously abusing” patriotism.

Last night the Foreign Secretary – who led the Brexit campaign – joined the backlash over Mr Blair’s speech, organised by the pro-EU think tank Open Britain.

And he pulled no punches mocking the ex-PM’s “spectacularly wrong” track record on the Iraq War and his desire to drag Britain into the failing Euro.

He said: “I call on the British people to rise up and turn off the TV when Tony Blair next appears with his condescending campaign.

“This is a discussion we had most of last year, it came out very firmly in favour of leaving the EU.

“Everywhere I go I find people who admire UK democracy and very much admire the British people for sticking up for their democracy.

“Everywhere I go I meet people who think Brexit will be a spectacular success, exactly as the Prime Minister has said, and who are queuing up to help us.

“We heard all these arguments last year. Not a thing has changed.

He added: “It is insulting the intelligence of the British people to say they got it wrong. This country has a phenomenal future and people are waking up to that.”

Fellow Leave campaigner and former education secretary Michael Gove said MR Blair must respect the vote and stop “trying to undermine British democracy”.

He said: “People want politicians to get on with the job of making a success of leaving the EU rather than fighting old political battles.

“Tony Blair had his say during the referendum - he should now respect the fact that the British people voted to leave.

“When he won the general election in 2005 he had 9.5 million votes and a 2.8% margin of victory over the Conservatives but he believed then that this mandate was enough to take the EU into the Lisbon Treaty, enough to give an extra £7 billion to Brussels when he agreed to cut our rebate, enough to agree to open our borders to new EU countries with no controls, and enough to hand over power to Gordon Brown.”

Tory MP and former Justice Minister Dominic Raab added: “Tony Blair must live on another planet.

“Reheating Project Fear to try to reverse the referendum isn’t a serious contribution, and isn’t where the country is now.

“He wants to go on putting the question over and over again until he gets a different answer.

“It is the height of arrogance and nothing could be more likely to convince the EU to offer the UK the worst possible deal than his suggestion that the decision could be overturned.”

Brexiteer Iain Duncan Smith said it wasn’t right for Mr Blair to try to “bully” people or allow a “neverendum” to take place.

Mr Blair also launched a blistering attack on the Labour leadership saying the “debilitation of the Labour party was the facilitator of Brexit”.

Despite many Remain campaigners saying they agreed with most of what Mr Blair said, politicians from the SNP, Green Party and Labour said he was the wrong man to say it.