Boris Johnson: I have not been disloyal on Brexit because the Government does not have a policy
2 min read
Boris Johnson has denied being disloyal for describing Theresa May preferred post-Brexit customs plan as "crazy" - because the Government still does not have a policy on the issue.
The Foreign Secretary this week became the most prominent Cabinet Brexiteer to break cover and condemn the 'customs partnership' being backed by Number 10, saying it would create “a whole new web of bureaucracy” and betray promises to "take back control" after Brexit.
He told the Daily Mail: "If you have the new customs partnership, you have a crazy system whereby you end up collecting the tariffs on behalf of the EU at the UK frontier."
Mr Johnson's outspoken intervention earned him a slapdown from Number 10, with Mrs May's spokesman pointing out that the customs partnership plan had featured in a speech she made that the "entire Cabinet was signed up to".
Tory ex-Cabinet ministers and Dominic Grieve and Ken Clarke also laid into Mr Johnson, with Mr Clarke saying the Foreign Secretary "would have been sacked" in normal circumstances for making the "totally irresponsible" comments.
Mr Clarke took a fresh potshot at Mr Johnson in the Commons today, as he answered questions on Donald Trump's axing of the Iran nuclear deal.
The arch-Remainer and former Justice Secretary said: "May I first of all congratulate the Foreign Secretary for his unswerving loyalty to collective government policy at the despatch box this afternoon?"
Blasting back, Mr Johnson denied being disloyal over the customs union - but he appeared to take a fresh dig at Mrs May by pointing out that the battle over post-Brexit trade policy had yet to be resolved by the Cabinet.
He told Mr Clarke: "I thank my Right Honourable Friend, and I remember getting a lot of wonderful copy when I was a reporter... from the displays of unswerving loyalty to government policy on the matter that [he] used to display.
"And by the way - I am completely in conformity with government policy on the matter I believe to which he is referring - since that policy is yet to be decided."
The comment, which came after a stormy Prime Minister's Questions in which Theresa May was pressed on the Government's customs plans, drew laughter from MPs in the chamber.
Mr Johnson is among those in the so-called Brexit 'war Cabinet' urging the Prime Minister to come down in favour of the alterative 'maximum facilitation' customs option.
Eurosceptics believe Number 10's preferred option will hobble future trade deals with countries outside the UK and leave Britain collecting tariffs on behalf of Brussels. Both plans have received a frosty reception from the European Union.
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