Section:GDN 1N PaGe:10 Edition Date:190815 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 14/8/2019 21:00 cYanmaGentaYellowb
- The Guardian Thursday 15 Aug ust 2019
(^10) National
Politics
Johnson’s ‘collaboration’
remark triggers angry
cross-party backlash
Rowena Mason
Peter Walker
Boris Johnson has labelled MPs seek-
ing to block a no-deal Brexit as being
engaged in a “terrible collaboration”
with the European Union, prompting
immediate cross-party condemnation,
with one Tory ex-minister saying such
language could endanger politicians
and their staff.
Speaking live on Facebook, where
he answered pre-selected questions
from the public in an event billed as a
“people’s prime minister’s questions”,
Johnson argued that eff orts to block
no deal would increase its likelihood,
as it would make the EU less keen to
off er new concessions.
“There’s a terrible collaboration,
as it were, going on between people
who think they can block Brexit in
parliament and our European friends,”
Johnson said.
“And our European friends are not
moving in their willingness to com-
promise, they’re not compromising
at all on the withdrawal agreement
even though it’s been thrown out
three times, they’re sticking to every
letter, every comma of the withdrawal
agreement – including the backstop
- because they still think Brexit can
be blocked in parliament.
“The awful thing is the longer that
goes on, the more likely it is of course
that we will be forced to leave with a
no-deal Brexit.”
Guto Bebb, a Conservative MP and
former junior minister, called the com-
ments “absolutely disgraceful”. Bebb
said the use of a word like collabora-
tion was “toxic”, and reminiscent of
the rhetoric surrounding the murder
of the Labour MP Jo Cox in 2016.
“I knew Jo Cox and I think Boris
Johnson should refl ect very carefully
on the fact he is using language about
us collaborating with the EU when he
knows full well of the threats people
are facing,” Bebb said.
“My offi ce staff are not able to do
their work without security. My fam-
ily home has had a security system
put in place. And for Boris Johnson to
Exiting the EU
Unilateral step dismissedA senior Conservative MP has raised
the idea that Boris Johnson could
unilaterally withdraw the UK from
the EU in the next 10 days to try to
avoid attempts by parliament to
block a no-deal Brexit.
Tom Tugendhat , who chairs the
Commons foreign aff airs committee,
presented a possible chronology of a
unilateral withdrawal by 24 August
followed by a general election,
the Irish border issue solved by a
Northern Ireland-only backstop.
A Downing Street source said
that idea was not being considered ,
and one expert in EU law said the
withdrawal date could only be
changed with Brussels’ consent.
A unilateral withdrawal without
warning followed by an election
would seem hugely risky politically.
Steve Peers , a professor of EU
law, at Essex university, said he did
not think this plan feasible. While
altering the withdrawal date could
be done via “secondary legislation” ,
the EU Withdrawal A ct stated it
had to happen “in accordance
with article 50(3) of the Treaty on
European Union”, which sets out the
constitutional basis, he said. Peers
wrote: “ Unilateral change of date is
therefore illegal.” Peter Walkeraccuse people like myself of collab-
oration is disgraceful language from
a man who should know better. It is
unworthy of the position he holds and
it proves again the man is not fi t to be
prime minister.”
The former Labour MP Luciana
Berger, now an independent, who
has previously received death threats ,
said the choice of language would
have been decided by Johnson and
his advisers in advance.
“It is dangerous, deeply off ensive
to many and it fans the fl ames of divi-
sion,” she tweeted.
Jacqui Smith, the former Labour
home secretary who chairs the foun-
dation set up in Cox’s name, said :
“Our prime minister is very well edu-
cated and has an interest in history.
He totally understands the resonance
of using the word ‘collaboration’.
Language matters. Please be better.”
The comments by Johnson came
amid a live-streamed session lasting
just under 12 minutes in which the
prime minister also refused to rule out
shutting down parliament and hold-
ing a general election after leaving on
31 October.
The hostile language from John-
son comes in the wake of an equally
robust anonymous briefi ng against
Philip Hammond who had warned
against the apparent likelihood of no
deal, with No 10 sources accusing the
former chancellor of wanting to frus-
trate Brexit. Boris Johnson
holding his
fi rst ‘people’s
PMQs’, in which
he accused
opponents of no
deal of ‘terrible
collaboration’
with the EU
PHOTOGRAPH:
DOWNING STREET/PA▲ The former home secretary Jacqui
Smith urged the PM to ‘be better’РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS