Brexit Party MEP Alexandra Philips has warned that “we can’t believe Boris” on his pledges to deliver Brexit.
Speaking on this week’s BrexBox podcast, Martin Daubney, Brexit Party MEP for the West Midlands, joked that his colleagues should keep count of how many times Prime Minister Johnson pledges to take the UK out of the EU on October 31st, after his predecessor Theresa May stated 108 times that the UK would leave on March 29th.
Ms Philips remarked: “No, we can’t believe Boris because this is the man who first of all reportedly wrote two different versions of his columns to The Telegraph on whether we should Remain or Leave.”
Mr Johnson has u-turned on a number of positions in the past, including having voted for Mrs May’s withdrawal treaty on its third vote in the House of Commons, despite having voted it down twice before on grounds that it would reduce the United Kingdom to a “vassal state” or “colony” of the EU.
“Yes, he keeps having to repeat: ‘we will be out do or die’ — he has to do that, frankly, to keep his own party together and keep the voters on his side,” the Philips added.
Fellow South East MEP Robert Roland agreed, adding that if Johnson presents to the Commons the same deal and a political declaration “with a few tweaks”, then the Brexit Party will hold the Tories to account.
“We’re going to call it out and will declare it loud and clear to the British public that this is really a rehash of Theresa May’s deal and he’ll suffer as a consequence,” Mr Roland said.
Show host Martin Daubney revived the possibility of a Nigel Farage-Boris Johnson election pact, saying that if the Tory fails to deliver Brexit and is forced to call a snap election, a political alliance is “where it’s going”.
On Wednesday, the day Mr Johnson was formally confirmed as Prime Minister, Mr Farage told the BBC that while there had not been formal discussions of a political alliance in the event of a snap election with Boris Johnson’s team, “there are lots of MPs sitting in Parliament quite openly chatting and speculating, saying, ‘look, if Boris does decide to go for no deal, we simply have to get together’.”
On Mr Johnson’s reluctance to openly discuss a partnership, he added: “He thus far has said that he would not do a deal of any kind with us and I understand that because if he was to contemplate it, it would lead to resignations from the Conservative Party.”
However, Mr Farage also shared his colleague’s scepticism that the Tory government under Johnson would deliver Brexit, saying: “I don’t believe a single word the Conservative Party tell us… Theresa May told us 108 times we were leaving on March 29th and we didn’t, so just because Boris says we’re leaving on the 31st of October doesn’t mean we’re going to.”
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.