Boris Johnson branded a hypocrite after warning Rishi Sunak not to ditch hardline Brexit threats
TOP Tories have accused Boris Johnson of hypocrisy after he warned Rishi Sunak not to ditch hardline Brexit threats – saying BoJo did just that to get his own deal with Brussels.
But pals of the ex-PM branded the attack “nonsense” as a war of words exploded in Westminster.
The UK could agree a deal with the EU as soon as Tuesday to try to solve the problems of goods traded in Northern Ireland.
But Mr Johnson warned his successor this weekend it would be a “great mistake” to drop a proposed law that would allow the UK to unilaterally tear up current trading terms in the province if a deal cannot be agreed.
The Northern Ireland Protocol Bill is currently paused in Parliament while talks with Brussels intensify.
Ministers have hinted it could be dropped for good if EU negotiations go well – with calls from Labour, Brussels and some Tories to ditch the hardline bill.
But Mr Johnson warned this would be a bad idea – sparking an angry backlash tonight from his Tory colleagues.
His critics in Government say that in December 2020 Mr Johnson dropped a similar ruse to unlock his own trade deal talks.
Three weeks before a tariff free trade deal with Brussels was agreed, Mr Johnson ditched controversial clauses of the Internal Markets Bill that would have allowed the UK to break divorce terms agreed the previous year in a “limited and specific way”.
A senior Tory source hit out tonight: “Boris warning the government not to do exactly what he did to get a good deal with the EU is very Boris.”
But pals of Mr Johnson branded the comparison “nonsense.”
A source close to the ex-PM said: “When we got what we wanted we withdrew the clauses.
“This time the risk seems to be that we are scrapping the bill before we have got what we want.”
While publicly Commons leader Penny Morduant yesterday said BoJo’s comments were “not entirely unhelpful”, privately one minister branded him a “confidence trickster”.
Ex-Chancellor and devout Remainer George Osborne urged Mr Johnson to pipe down, accusing him of using Brexit to agitate against Rishi Sunak as part of a comeback plot.
Mr Sunak faces an uphill battle this week to convince Brexit purist Tories and the DUP in Northern Ireland to back his deal that will include limited oversight for European judges on disputes regarding goods travelling into the EU Single Market via the Irish republic.