Boris Johnson predicts EU ‘victory’ in Brexit dialogue
Sayeed Muhammad: Former foreign secretary of the UK and Brexit hardliner Boris Johnson fanned a renewed attack on the government yesterday, predicting “victory” for the European Union in its negotiations with London.
Ever since quitting in July, Johnson has returned to his old job at the eurosceptic Daily Telegraph newspaper, writing columns regularly bashing Prime Minister Theresa May’s government over Brexit negotiations, reports AFP.
In his latest broadside, he compared talks between the two sides to a rigged wrestling match. “The fix is in,” he wrote in a column published yesterday.
“I am afraid, the inevitable outcome is a victory for the EU, with the UK lying flat on the canvas with 12 stars circling symbolically over our semi-conscious head,” he added.
The former diplomat played a leading role in the Brexit referendum campaign and became foreign secretary in July 2016 as Britain started complex negotiations with Brussels on how it would depart the bloc.
One of the most stridently hardline members of May’s cabinet, he quit alongside Brexit Secretary David Davis after she opted for the so-called “Chequers plan”.
That plan envisage Britain leaving the single market but staying in a free trade area for goods and agri-foods through a customs deal and common rulebook with the EU.
Johnson and his fellow hardliners think it keeps Britain too closely aligned to the bloc, while EU leaders have repeatedly questioned its viability and said further compromises will be needed.
Talks with Brussels are currently deadlocked on key issues, including how to avoid a hard border between EU member Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland, and on the future trading relationship.
Johnson said the issue of Ireland’s border was being used by both London and Brussels “to keep Britain effectively in the customs union and in the single market”.