Theresa May delivers brutal slapdown to Boris Johnson saying he has ‘no new ideas’ on Brexit after he slams her Chequers plan
The ex-Foreign Secretary said the PM's proposals were a 'scandal' and spell 'victory' for Europe – but a spokesman for Downing Street said we need ‘serious leadership’
THERESA May has delivered a brutal slapdown to Boris Johnson after he slammed her Chequers plan for Brexit.
The former Foreign Secretary said the Prime Minister’s proposals spelled “victory” for Europe – but a spokesman for Downing Street said we need “serious leadership”.
In a newspaper column this morning Mr Johnson delivered a stinging critique of Mrs May’s negotiating strategy, calling it a “scandal” that we “haven’t even tried to get a good deal”.
But a spokesman for Number 10 strongly rebuked him, saying: “There’s no new ideas in his article to respond to.”
In a briefing for journalists they added: “What we need now is serious leadership and a serious plan.”
And Home Secretary Sajid Javid also laid into his former Cabinet colleague, saying: “Those who think there’s a different way, they need to properly set out what that is.”
However it comes as the chances of the PM’s White Paper on exiting the EU could be thrown out have risen with the news 20 Tory MPs have joined a grassroots campaign to destroy it.
The Conservative politicians have signed up to the Stand Up 4 Brexit group, which has vowed to see her White Paper proposals ripped up.
The group of Tory rebels includes several former ministers and members of the Cabinet including Priti Patel and Iain Duncan Smith.
According to the they have made a joint public commitment to scupper the plans, which are due to be voted on by Parliament this autumn.
With Mrs May only having a slim majority via the support of the DUP, it means it would only take a handful of her MPs to defy her to see her defeated, throwing her entire leadership into turmoil.
The rebel MPs join David Davis in pledging to vote down the current proposition for a close relationship with Brussels once we leave.
The former Brexit Secretary described it as “actually almost worse than being in” the EU.
But in comments this morning he said this should not be used as an opportunity to remove Mrs May and made a veiled sig at Mr Johnson.
Mr Davis told Good Morning Britain now is not the time for “personality politics”, and asked if it would be better if Mrs May stood down he said: “No, we don’t need any more turbulence right now.
“What matters in all of this is not the personality politics, it’s the outcome at the end.”
And Mrs May’s former de facto deputy Damian Green also rejected Mr Johnson’s analysis.
The ex-Cabinet Office minister told BBC Radio 4: “I don’t think using words like surrender and white flags and so on is consummate with the seriousness of the situation.
“Michel Barnier objects to Chequers because it will destroy the European Union. Others object because it gives too much to the European Union.
“They can’t both be right. As it happens, they are both wrong.”
He said the Government was “walking a narrow path with people chucking rocks at us from both sides”, but said Mrs May’s position was “difficult but not impossible” and Chequers would end up winning support.
He added: “Everyone is going to have to face the fact that the British Government has got a plan… no-one else in the EU has suggested a plan that is in any way workable.”
And the Tory party’s deputy chairman James Cleverly said last night that Chequers is a “credible” plan and that it would be impossible to get every Tory MP on board with every form of Brexit.
He said: “It’s never going to be possible to reconcile the full spectrum of the party, but it is a workable document, it gives us a credible plan to move forward.”