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| Boris Johnson backs 'steadfast' Theresa May to get 'great Brexit deal' | Boris Johnson backs 'steadfast' Theresa May to get 'great Brexit deal' |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Boris Johnson protested his loyalty to Theresa May in an exuberant speech at the Conservative annual conference after a week in which the foreign secretary has been at the heart of stories about party division. | Boris Johnson protested his loyalty to Theresa May in an exuberant speech at the Conservative annual conference after a week in which the foreign secretary has been at the heart of stories about party division. |
| The Tory MP, who won a short standing ovation for his comments, insisted he was fully behind the prime minister’s Brexit speech, delivered in Florence, and claimed there was no disagreement across the cabinet. | |
| Mocking the buoyant mood of Labour and its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, at their four-day event in Brighton last week, Johnson said: “He didn’t win. You won – we won. Theresa May won. | Mocking the buoyant mood of Labour and its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, at their four-day event in Brighton last week, Johnson said: “He didn’t win. You won – we won. Theresa May won. |
| “She won more votes than any party leader and took this party to its highest share of the vote in any election in the last 25 years and the whole country owes her a debt for her steadfastness in taking Britain forward as she will to a great Brexit deal. | “She won more votes than any party leader and took this party to its highest share of the vote in any election in the last 25 years and the whole country owes her a debt for her steadfastness in taking Britain forward as she will to a great Brexit deal. |
| “Based on that Florence speech on whose every syllable, I can tell you the whole cabinet is united.” | “Based on that Florence speech on whose every syllable, I can tell you the whole cabinet is united.” |
| The speech comes after the foreign secretary irritated Downing Street and cabinet colleagues by publishing a 4,200-word article setting out his vision for Brexit, and carrying out a newspaper interview that was perceived as laying down his red lines for negotiations. | |
| A spokesman tried to hose down the controversy by claiming that Johnson was “100% behind” the prime minister and adding that the words red lines had “never passed his lips”. | A spokesman tried to hose down the controversy by claiming that Johnson was “100% behind” the prime minister and adding that the words red lines had “never passed his lips”. |
| The foreign secretary used the first half of his much anticipated speech to set out broad political argument and lay into Corbyn, whom he called a “Nato-bashing, Trident-scrapping, would-be abolisher of the British army”. | |
| Johnson accused the Labour leader of giving cover to Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. | Johnson accused the Labour leader of giving cover to Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. |
| “It is a disgrace – and I can tell you there are many Labour MPs who feel appalled that their party is still led by this man and his peculiar belief – expressed in glutinous victory-style Chavista rallies up and down the country – that he somehow won the election,” added Johnson, following a string of colleagues in using Venezuela as a means of hitting out at Labour. | “It is a disgrace – and I can tell you there are many Labour MPs who feel appalled that their party is still led by this man and his peculiar belief – expressed in glutinous victory-style Chavista rallies up and down the country – that he somehow won the election,” added Johnson, following a string of colleagues in using Venezuela as a means of hitting out at Labour. |
| Turning to Brexit, he accused Corbyn of talking the country down and of a “ludicrous and vacillating” policy. | Turning to Brexit, he accused Corbyn of talking the country down and of a “ludicrous and vacillating” policy. |
| “In the customs union one week, out the next, in the single market, out the next. In out, in out ... | |
| “It would be disastrous. And in leaving Britain in this limbo – locked in the orbit of the EU but unable to take back control. Unable to do proper free trade deals. Labour would inflict a national humiliation on a par with going cap in hand to the IMF.” | “It would be disastrous. And in leaving Britain in this limbo – locked in the orbit of the EU but unable to take back control. Unable to do proper free trade deals. Labour would inflict a national humiliation on a par with going cap in hand to the IMF.” |
| The speech came after a series of other senior figures addressed the hall: | The speech came after a series of other senior figures addressed the hall: |
| David Davis, the Brexit secretary, said it would be a “dereliction of duty” for Britain not to prepare for the failure to achieve a deal with the EU and warned: “Britain needs us to be ready for the alternative.” | David Davis, the Brexit secretary, said it would be a “dereliction of duty” for Britain not to prepare for the failure to achieve a deal with the EU and warned: “Britain needs us to be ready for the alternative.” |
| Liam Fox, the trade secretary, sounded a similar note to Johnson as he called for people to “be upbeat, positive, optimistic” about Brexit, and stop “the negative, undermining, self-defeating pessimism that is too prevalent in certain quarters”. | Liam Fox, the trade secretary, sounded a similar note to Johnson as he called for people to “be upbeat, positive, optimistic” about Brexit, and stop “the negative, undermining, self-defeating pessimism that is too prevalent in certain quarters”. |
| Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, said the UK would aim to spend more than 2% of national income on defence because “the threats to our country are intensifying”, and claimed that the prime minister was “100% on my page” on the issue | Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, said the UK would aim to spend more than 2% of national income on defence because “the threats to our country are intensifying”, and claimed that the prime minister was “100% on my page” on the issue |
| The foreign secretary hit out at parts of the media during his speech, with a specific attack on the Financial Times for being too pessimistic. | The foreign secretary hit out at parts of the media during his speech, with a specific attack on the Financial Times for being too pessimistic. |
| “Every day a distinguished pink newspaper manages to make Eeyore look positively exuberant, and across the world the impression is being given that this country is not up to it; that we are going to bottle out of Brexit and end up in some dingy ante-room of the EU, pathetically waiting for the scraps but no longer in control of the menu,” he said. | |
| And he claimed that Labour wanted to take the country back to the 1970s, saying people remembered David Bowie, Led Zeppellin and the Rolling Stones, but not three-day weeks, power cuts and “state-made British Rail sandwiches”. | And he claimed that Labour wanted to take the country back to the 1970s, saying people remembered David Bowie, Led Zeppellin and the Rolling Stones, but not three-day weeks, power cuts and “state-made British Rail sandwiches”. |
| He argued for free markets and deregulation, even citing the flat taxes of 20% in Estonia, 16% in Romania and 15% in Hungary in a move that was cheered by the party faithful. | |
| Johnson, who delivered the speech in his usual bumptious and optimistic style, also claimed: “I believe we will eventually find a cure for the psychological contamination of radical Islamist extremism. Just as we have eradicated smallpox and polio.” |