Theresa May accuses Boris Johnson of planning to 'tear up' union between UK and Northern Ireland
3 min read
Theresa May has accused Boris Johnson of plotting to "tear up" the union between Britain and Northern Ireland by rejecting her Brexit blueprint.
In a further ramping up of the pair's bitter feud, the Prime Minister said she was "cross" about the former Foreign Secretary's rejection of her Chequers agreement.
Mr Johnson received a rapturous ovations at the Tory conference in Birmingham after calling on Mrs May to ditch her Brexit strategy in favour of a Canada-style free trade deal with the EU.
But in a series of interviews ahead of her crunch speech to the Conservative gathering, Mrs May hit back at her former Cabinet colleague.
In particular, she accused him of threatening the future of the United Kingdom by dismissing the so-called "backstop" arrangement designed to maintain an open border between the Republic and Northern Ireland regardless of the outcome of the Brexit negotiations.
Speaking to ITV, Mrs May said: "What I find frustrating about what Boris has said, is (him) talking about this backstop in this way. The backstop is a guarantee for the people of Northern Ireland.
"All of us here, all members of party are members of the Conservative and Unionist Party. We believe in the Union of United Kingdom and I think that guarantee to the people of Northern Ireland is important.
"What he appeared to be saying was he wanted to tear up something which was effectively a guarantee to the people of Northern Ireland. I believe as a Unionist that it is important that we recognise the needs and concerns of people in Northern Ireland.
"They are the one part of the UK that has a land border with another country in the EU and in the future will be the only land border with the EU that the UK has."
In a separate interview with the BBC, the Prime Minister said: "Well there are one or two things that Boris said that I am cross about. He wanted to tear up our guarantee to the people of Northern Ireland.
"Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom. You know we are all, he and I, all members here are members of the Conservative and Unionist Party. That's because we believe in the union of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland is part of that union. And we have a guarantee for the people of Northern Ireland and we are upholding that."
In his speech, which was met with a rapturous ovation by delegates at the Tory conference, Mr Johnson said Mrs May's proposals were a "cheat" and would not deliver on the result of the EU referendum.
He said: "What the Chequers proposals show is that the United Kingdom, for all its power and might and network of influences around the world, for all its venerable parliamentary history, was ultimately unable to take back control.
“And instead of reasserting our ability to make our own laws, the UK will be effectively paraded in manacles down the Rue de la Loi like Caractacus.”
He added: “If we get this right, it can be win-win for both sides of the Channel. If we get it wrong – if we bottle Brexit now – believe me, the people of this country will find it hard to forgive…
“If we cheat the electorate – and Chequers is a cheat – we will escalate the sense of mistrust. We will give credence to those who cry betrayal, and I am afraid we will make it more likely that the ultimate beneficiary of the chequers deal will be the far right in the form of Ukip.”
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