WATCH Top Tories take aim at 'irrelevant and offensive' Boris Johnson after latest Brexit jibe
3 min read
Boris Johnson was branded “irrelevant and offensive” at the Conservative conference today as senior party figures lined up to criticise him over his latest broadside at the Prime Minister.
Mr Johnson said the Brexit plan put forward by Theresa May was "deranged" in a Sunday Times interview, and accused her of aping Labour policy instead of sending out a positive message about Conservatism.
But in a sign of the deep splits within the party, a succession of top Tories lined up to hit back at him.
Lord Digby Jones received a standing ovation - including from the Prime Minister herself - for a conference hall speech in which he took aim at Mr Johnson for reportedly saying "f*** business" over the private sector's worries about Brexit.
Elsewhere, Business Secretary Greg Clark attacked Mr Johnson's call for the HS2 rail project to be scrapped, telling a fringe event: “That would be completely the wrong thing to do.”
Another idea floated by the ex-Cabinet heavyweight - to build a bridge to Northern Ireland - was meanwhile mocked by Home Secretary Sajid Javid.
And fellow pro-Brexit MP David Davis - who quit the Cabinet with Mr Johnson in July in protest at the Chequers plan for Brexit put forward by the PM - said many of his proposals were “good headlines; not necessarily good policies”.
Elsewhere, Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson took at pop at Mr Johnson over his claim to have been misled about the Irish backstop plan the Government agreed in December.
"This is someone who was praising what the Prime Minister brought home in terms of moving on to the next stage last December,” she told the Sophy Ridge on Sunday show on Sky News.
“Someone who was in one of the great offices of state, who was sitting round the Cabinet table who now says that he was in some way deceived."
She added: "Now, I don't sit around the Cabinet table, I'm not in government... but I knew what was being said in December. I'm not quite sure how the former Foreign Secretary didn't."
'I CAMPAIGNED FOR BREXIT'
In an interview with the Sunday Times this morning, Mr Johnson said: "Unlike the Prime Minister I campaigned for Brexit.”
"Unlike the Prime Minister I fought for this, I believe in it, I think it’s the right thing for our country and I think that what is happening now is, alas, not what people were promised in 2016."
He added: "There will be economic and political damage to the UK if we go with Chequers. It surrenders control."
And he said of the Conservative pitch to the country: "I think we need to make the case for markets. I don’t think we should caper insincerely on socialist territory. You can’t beat Corbyn by becoming Corbyn."
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