Boris Johnson and the PM are expected to have showdown face-to-face talks in New York over the next 24 hours
Boris Johnson is facing a fresh backlash over his Brexit outburst today as a minister warned he is damaging crucial negotiations.
The Foreign Secretary has been told it is time for ‘poise, purpose and unity’ rather than infighting after he threw Cabinet divisions back into the spotlight.
The rebuke from defence minister Tobias Ellwood came as Mr Johnson appeared increasingly isolated after fellow Brexiteers distances themselves from his dramatic intervention.
Michael Gove cautioned against ‘refighting the referendum’ – but also suggested a reference by Mr Johnson to claims about £350million weekly contributions to the EU had been misinterpreted.
The Prime Minister and Mr Johnson have not spoken since the bombshell article in the Daily Telegraph emerged on Friday night. It has been widely seen as an effort to tie Theresa May’s hands in talks with the EU and force a harder Brexit.
The pair are expected to have showdown face-to-face talks in New York, where they are attending a UN conference, over the next 24 hours.
Mr Johnson will seek assurances that Mrs May will not sign up to a deal that will hand tens of billions of pounds to the EU after Brexit.
Some senior Tories believe he could even storm out of the Government over the dispute.
But No 10 is furious about Mr Johnson’s decision to go public with his concerns days before Mrs May is due to make a pivotal speech on Brexit in Florence.
Downing Street is also angry that it was told about the article only shortly before it was published on Friday evening, when Mrs May was being briefed by security chiefs on the Parsons Green attack.
Posting on Twitter, Mr Ellwood wrote: ‘PARTY DISCORD: Think many would agree: We are not witnessing our finest hour-at a testing time when poise, purpose and unity are called for.’
The chair of the PM’s policy board, Tory MP George Freeman, also took a swipe at Mr Johnson for making ‘wild promises’.
‘Personally I think the £350million figure is just far too early to be able to make wild promises about what exactly is going to be coming out of the Brexit negotiations,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour.
The Prime Minister (pictured during an interview with ABC News) yesterday sanctioned her closest Cabinet allies to issue a public rebuke to Mr Johnson but backed away from calls to sack him for speaking out
Mr Johnson appeared increasingly isolated in the Cabinet last night as friends of fellow Leave supporters Michael Gove and Priti Patel denied reports that they backed his intervention
Defence minister Tobias Ellwood warned that the infighting was damaging the Brexit process
Fellow Brexiteer Michael Gove suggested Mr Johnson’s comments had been misinterpreted – but also warned against refighting the referendum
‘It’s not a figure I would have repeated, and he’s not the health secretary and it needs to be negotiated.’
Mr Johnson appeared increasingly isolated in the Cabinet today as friends of fellow Leave supporters Michael Gove and Priti Patel denied reports that they backed his intervention.
The Prime Minister, who is due to visit Canada this afternoon before heading on to New York, yesterday sanctioned her closest Cabinet allies to issue a public rebuke to Mr Johnson but backed away from calls to sack him for speaking out.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who has clashed repeatedly with Mr Johnson over Brexit, accused him of behaving like a ‘backseat driver’.
In a scathing intervention, she said she had been ‘too busy’ dealing with the Parsons Green bomb attack on Friday to read the Foreign Secretary’s essay.
The prominent Remain supporter crossed swords with Mr Johnson during the EU referendum campaign, saying he is ‘not the man you want driving you home’.
‘What I meant by that is I don’t want him managing the Brexit process,’ she told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show yesterday.
Miss Rudd said the Prime Minister was ‘driving the car’, and pressed on Mr Johnson’s actions, she replied: ‘You could call it backseat driving.’
She added that Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson ‘has a point’ when she criticised Mr Johnson for submitting his article as London suffered another terror attack.
Miss Rudd said she did not think it was a leadership bid, and that the Foreign Secretary’s contribution to the Government amounted to ‘enthusiasm, energy and sometimes entertainment’.
First Secretary of State Damian Green, another close ally of Mrs May and a prominent Remainer, also weighed in against Mr Johnson, saying: ‘The timing is pretty second order in the big scheme of things, but to pick up from what Amber said, it is absolutely clear to everyone that the driver of the car in this instance is the Prime Minister and it is the job of the rest of us in the Cabinet to agree on a proposal or set of proposals.’
Friends of Mr Gove yesterday denied that he was ‘in cahoots’ with Mr Johnson. A source said the Environment Secretary had been ‘as surprised as anyone’ by the intervention from his former Vote Leave ally.
The two men fell out after the referendum when Mr Gove torpedoed Mr Johnson’s leadership bid by questioning his suitability and trying for the top job himself.
They are now back on cordial terms but unlike Mr Johnson, Mr Gove is said to have accepted the need for a two-year transition during which the UK will have to continue contributing to the EU.
Defence minister Tobias Ellwood warned that the row was harming Brexit talks
Friends of Miss Patel also denied she supported Mr Johnson’s intervention. The International Development Secretary was a close ally during the referendum campaign, but last night friends said she thought he had been ‘wrong’ to go public with his concerns at such a sensitive time.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said: ‘It’s like a school that’s completely out of control and the head teacher is sitting in her office paralysed and impotent.
‘It is complete and absolute loss of authority and the Prime Minister on Monday morning should fire this guy, otherwise her own credibility is reduced to zero.’
But Eurosceptic Tories welcomed Mr Johnson’s intervention as a counterpoint to gloomy assessments by some senior figures, including Chancellor Philip Hammond. Prominent Eurosceptic MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said there was ‘nothing disloyal’ about Mr Johnson’s article.