Brexit: Accept no-deal as option or lose job, Johnson tells cabinet

Boris Johnson threatens to get rid of cabinet ministers who don’t agree with a no-deal Brexit.

Boris Johnson on the hustings at Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre. Picture: Getty Images.

Boris Johnson has said that it would be “folly” to rule out suspending parliament to force through a no-deal Brexit, opening a split within his team.

The frontrunner to take over from Theresa May said the option of proroguing parliament should be kept on the table.

At a hustings in Bournemouth, Mr Johnson said: “I’m not attracted to the idea of a no-deal exit from the EU but it would be absolute folly to rule it out. It’s an essential tool of our negotiation.

“I don’t envisage the circumstances in which it will be necessary to prorogue parliament, nor am I attracted to that expedient.”

Asked if it was still on the table, Mr Johnson replied: “There’s a lot of things on the table. It’s a big table.”

His comments were in contrast to the position of Liz Truss, his close ally and chief secretary to the Treasury. Asked if he had definitely ruled out proroguing parliament, she said: “That’s right.”

Mr Johnson has said that he would select only cabinet ministers who were “reconciled” to the possibility of a no-deal Brexit on October 31.

His stance puts on notice cabinet ministers such as Amber Rudd, the work and pensions secretary, and David Lidington, the de facto deputy prime minister, to drop their opposition to a no-deal Brexit or expect to return to the back benches if he won.

Asked whether every member of his government would have to be committed to leaving the EU on October 31, “deal or no deal”, Mr Johnson said: “Yes, that will be the policy of the government. I want obviously to have a broad range of talent in my government, the government that I will lead, but clearly people must be reconciled to the very, very, very small possibility, and I stress it will be a very, very small possibility, that we would have to leave on those terms.

“I don’t think it will happen but they would have to be reconciled to it,” he told the ConservativeHome website.

David Gauke and Rory Stewart have already all but ruled themselves out of serving under Mr Johnson. If he wins, however, the former foreign secretary would want to appoint some members on the Remain wing as he battles to unify a fractured party with a governing majority of three.

Mr Johnson claimed that he could win round those such as Ms Rudd who have opposed a no-deal exit as the political context changed after his election as leader and a fresh renegotiation.

“I think they also understand, intellectually, that you have to keep no deal on the table. Not only keep no deal on the table but you have to prepare for it actively and with confidence,” he said.

“And it’s very striking in the last couple of weeks, perhaps even the last couple of days, to hear some outbreaks of common sense.”

He added: “I just think we’re in a different political world to March 29 and I think the prime minister’s decision to seek two extensions has done a great deal of damage to the Conservative Party and also to trust in politics.”

Mr Johnson suggested that EU students should be treated in the same way as non-EU students after Brexit, meaning they would have to pay significantly more to attend British universities.

At present EU students attending UK universities pay the same fees as British students as part of a reciprocal arrangement. Ending the agreement could jeopardise Britain’s participation in EU higher education programs such as the Erasmus exchange program.

Mr Johnson said he recognised that international students “contribute massively to the UK higher education economy” but added: “The interesting question actually, the one that really deserves thinking about, is EU students in future, who are currently treated for revenue purposes as UK nationals, we will have to consider treating them obviously now as internationals, and asking them to pay as well, which will bring in more money for universities.”

Mr Johnson criticised Jeremy Hunt’s promise to cancel student debt for some entrepreneurs. “I think people, a lot of people, would automatically be defining themselves as entrepreneurs,” he said to laughter at the hustings.

Mr Johnson will today turn his attention to the state of high streets as he makes his pitch to 160,000 Tory members. He will promise a “bold vision to rejuvenate our high streets” but his recommendations build on, rather than replace, existing policy. He suggests further liberalisation of planning laws to make it easier for premises to change use and to facilitate more than one service being offered at the same site.

With an eye on a more elderly demographic than the general electorate, Mr Johnson will also promise to do more to halt a decline in the number of cash machines. He wants to introduce 100 per cent business rate relief on free-to-use ATMs to keep them in use.

Contactless payments are reducing demand for cash but business groups say that the absence of cash machines can contribute to high streets’ woes.

The Times