Liberal Democrat bid to strip votes from ‘dictator’ Boris Johnson

Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson will try to woo voters by comparing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to a socialist dictator.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the balcony of the UK ambassador's residence in Luxembourg. Picture: Getty Images

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson will try to woo disaffected Conservative and Labour voters by comparing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to a socialist dictator who has purged his party of dissenters.

In her first speech to the party conference as leader, Ms Swinson will on Wednesday highlight the defection to the Lib Dems of Sam Gyimah, one of the 21 Tory MPs stripped of the Conservative whip by Mr Johnson this month.

With a general election possibly looming, Ms Swinson will ­reiterate that she is a candidate for prime minister and accuse both main parties of vacating the centre ground of politics.

Conservatives have accused Ms Swinson of adopting an ­“extreme” policy, with her party’s new pledge that a Lib Dem government would cancel Brexit.

Ms Swinson needs to win over a huge number of voters who backed the Tories or Labour at the last election if her party is to secure a breakthrough.

On Tuesday, Chuka Umunna, the former Labour MP who defected to the Lib Dems, said that a swing in the polls of 5 per cent to the Lib Dems could leave the party in contention in 200 seats. A swing of 2 per cent could mean that 100 constituencies were in play, he added. About 80 of the seats are thought to be held by Tory MPs.

In her speech, Ms Swinson will attack Mr Johnson for his decision to suspend parliament and strip the whip from Tory MPs including Mr Gyimah and Winston Churchill’s grandson Nicholas Soames.

“There is even now the suggestion that he would break the law and refuse to ask for an extension to article 50,” she will say. “For someone who proclaims to hate socialist dictators, he’s doing a pretty good impression of one.”

Mr Johnson was ambushed by the leader of the EU’s second-smallest state who mocked his Brexit strategy after the British Prime Minister withdrew from a press conference to avoid protesters. In an extraordinary break with protocol, Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel stood next to an empty lectern and berated Mr Johnson to cheers from anti-Brexit campaigners.

Mr Johnson held his first meeting with EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker also in Luxembourg. They agreed to speed up Brexit talks, with the two sides expected to meet daily in Brussels. Mr Johnson told the BBC that he was “cautiously optimistic” about a deal.

Mr Johnson will pursue his case for an Irish backstop alternative at the UN next week as British and EU negotiators prepare for daily talks.

Mr Johnson will speak to European Council president Donald Tusk as well as French, German and other EU leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Despite the positive signals, EU officials have continued to complain that the government has not tabled formal, written proposals — contradicting Mr Johnson’s claim that “papers have been shared”. The EU is not expecting detailed proposals until after Mr Johnson’s speech to the Conservative Party conference next month, which will leave only two weeks to conduct negotiations ­before a summit of European leaders on October 17.

Meanwhile, there were further signs that the Irish government and the Democratic Unionist Party were moving towards trying to reach a compromise. DUP’s chief whip Jeffrey Donaldson, told RTE that there could be “practical solutions” to avoid a hard border, admitting that these could include some checks on goods and produce passing from Britain to Northern Ireland.

“We want to avoid a hard border on the island so we are looking at ways in which we can find practical solutions that address this, in particular in areas like agri-food,” Sir Jeffrey said.

“We’ve had an input and will continue to have an input to the formulation of the proposals of the UK government which I believe are gathering apace, so I believe it is possible to find practical solutions to the concerns that not only we have but that the Irish government have as well.”

Ireland’s Finance Minister said he understood the fears that Unionists had about the backstop.

“The government takes these concerns very seriously, as we do the concerns of everyone who is troubled by Brexit and its potential impacts on both parts of our ­island,” Paschal Donohoe said.

“It (the backstop) represents a compromise, it is not the status quo. It is not the same as Northern Ireland staying in the EU.”

The Times