Boris Johnson says he is serious about 'no-deal' Brexit threat

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Boris Johnson says he is serious about 'no-deal' Brexit threat

By Andy Bruce

 

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Seeking to regain momentum in his bid to become the next prime minister of Britain, BorisJohnson said on Monday he was seriously prepared to take the country out of the European Union in October even if a deal with the bloc had not been reached.

 

The former London mayor is still the frontrunner in the race to succeed Theresa May but his lead had been dented by reports of a heated late-night row with his girlfriend that led to the police being called to their home.

 

His rival, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, on Monday described Johnson as a "coward" for avoiding public head-to-head debates with him.

 

Johnson declined to comment on the argument in an interview with BBC News. He instead doubled down on his promise to deliver Brexit in October without a deal if necessary - a prospect that has sent sterling down sharply against other currencies.

"My pledge is to come out of the EU at Halloween on 31 October," Johnson said.

 

"And the way to get our friends and partners to understand how serious we are is finally, I'm afraid, to abandon the defeatism and negativity that has enfolded us in a great cloud for so long and to prepare confidently and seriously for... a no-deal outcome."

Johnson said he did not want a no-deal Brexit, but that it was necessary to put it on the table so that Britain could get the result it wanted.

 

He again raised doubts over the payment of a previously-agreed 39 billion pound ($49 billion) divorce deal with the EU, something likely to antagonise negotiators in Brussels.

 

"I think there should be creative ambiguity about when and how that gets paid over," Johnson said.

 

On resolving an impasse around the Irish border, Johnson said he thought changing or abandoning the backstop - a guarantee to ensure no return of extensive border checks between EU-member Ireland and British-run Northern Ireland - could be a way forward.

 

"Let me tell you, there are abundant, abundant technical fixes that can be introduced to make sure that you don't have to have checks at the border," Johnson said.

 

Trade experts have expressed scepticism that technology can solve the border problem, at least in the near term.

 

Last week, Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney said the contenders to become Britain's prime minister had offered solutions "simply not based on reality".

 

(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Editing by Peter Cooney and Rosalba O'Brien)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-06-25

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[GeorgeCross]

Quote

Boris Johnson says he is serious about 'no-deal' Brexit threat

 

yeah, until he gets in power then gets the 'tap on the shoulder'..

 

i don't believe him for a second, the moment he's in no.10 he'll bottle it the only question is, how? call an election then do a theresa may and lose it?

 

Edited June 24, 2019 by GeorgeCross

[geoffbezoz]

The only thing that you can rely upon about BJ being serious about is himself.

Edited June 25, 2019 by geoffbezoz

[AlexRich]

The worst Foreign Secretary in living memory is promoted to the top job. A lying charlatan known for “winging it” is not the person to deal with an issue as important as Brexit. A slow motion train crash awaits us. The Boris bandwagon is about to come to a fitting end ... sad for all of us. 

[OneMoreFarang]

By now I hope Boris will be PM. Then he can show everybody his hidden talents. He hides them really well.

Let him do what he promised in 2016 including all the wonderful advantages which the UK will have after they leave the EU.

He promised. When he is in charge he should deliver. And if he can't deliver than it's time for him to step down from public life.

And all the conservative party PMs and members who vote for him should also resign.

It's obvious for everybody with a brain that what Boris promises is impossible. If they still vote for him they deserve everything they get.

I am sorry for the other half of the UK who knows what a disaster Boris will be and who will see the decline of their country. Maybe now would be a good moment to start a powerful opposition.

[sammieuk1]

If he is serious slap it on the side of a bus so people can remember it????

[alant]

This is a bit like the last presidential election in the USA. Trump or Clinton. In the UK it is Boris V Hunt for PM and of course the knives are out for Boris.

I can't vote on this but I believe there is one thing that is important, to remove no deal is just about the best think you can do to weaken your negotiating position. So on that basis his stand on this is correct.

[Bluespunk]

56 minutes ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

Let me tell you, there are abundant, abundant technical fixes that can be introduced to make sure that you don't have to have checks at the border," Johnson said.

Really?

 

Name then?

 

Oh, wait, I forgot, you don’t answer tricky questions, do you johnson. 

 

Avoiding debate (the latest being a Sky TV head to head with hunt), along with spouting trite nonsensical statements, is your specialty. 

Edited June 25, 2019 by Bluespunk

[petemoss]

3 minutes ago, alant said:

I can't vote on this but I believe there is one thing that is important, to remove no deal is just about the best think you can do to weaken your negotiating position. So on that basis his stand on this is correct.

May took exactly the same stance on "no deal" and look where it got her.

[petemoss]

2 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

Really?

 

Name then?

 

Oh, wait, I forgot, you don’t answer tricky questions, do you johnson. 

 

Avoiding the debate, along with spouting trite nonsensical statements, is your specialty. 

With Trump as his mentor what else do you expect. An open border with no customs union is Boris's Mexican wall.

 

I wonder who Boris will get to pay for all this technology? The EU no doubt!

[bannork]

So Johnson thinks the EU will blink when he shows he's willing to play the no deal card. From statements by leading figures in the French, Dutch and Irish governments the last few months that belief seems to be mistaken. In addition, there have been repeated assertions by EU leaders that the deal offered to May was not open to further negotiation.

[geoffbezoz]

1 minute ago, bannork said:

So Johnson thinks the EU will blink when he shows he's willing to play the no deal card. From statements by leading figures in the French, Dutch and Irish governments the last few months that belief seems to be mistaken. In addition, there have been repeated assertions by EU leaders that the deal offered to May was not open to further negotiation.

But giving it a little more thought, then perhaps those European leaders will actually blink. They will blink in amasement that the UK is seriously considering appointing this self opinionated, selfish buffoon as a PM.  In Holland it used to be that the Belgiums were the butt of many jokes. Similarly in England it was the Irish. The great British Tories together with other Brexiteers have finally united all of Europe so that the UK can singularly be the butt of all other European's nations  jokes.

[vogie]

4 minutes ago, bannork said:

So Johnson thinks the EU will blink when he shows he's willing to play the no deal card. From statements by leading figures in the French, Dutch and Irish governments the last few months that belief seems to be mistaken. In addition, there have been repeated assertions by EU leaders that the deal offered to May was not open to further negotiation.

There is one thing for sure, they certainly won't "blink" if we take no deal off the table, we will have to accept anything we are offered, no deal is the only tool left in our armoury, to remove it would be sheer folly. But if we have 'no deal' on the table, we must be prepared to use it and make it clear to the EU that we will indeed use it.

 

there have been repeated assertions by EU leaders that the deal offered to May was not open to further negotiation.

But then they would say that, wouldn't they, Mrs May would have flogged the crown jewels if she thought it would have helped her to get her deal through parliament.

[JonnyF]

The EU won't offer improved terms. They want us to fail as a warning to other EU countries not to leave.

 

So we have 3 choices.

 

1. May's surrender treaty (making us a vassal state).

2. Revoke A50 (a huge affront to democratic process and a massive humiliation).

3. No Deal (trade on WTO terms until trade deals are signed, many of which are lined up already).

 

No Deal honours the referendum result and also allows us to strike trade deals around the world. It puts us back in control of immigration policy and our fishing waters. We answer to our own courts not the ECJ.

 

What's the worst case that happens if there is no hard border with ROI? A small % of missed tariffs? Big deal. There are virtually no tariffs now anyway. It's a red herring to try and keep us locked in. They'll probably get rid of the backstop at the 11th hour as a "concession" to make us sign the treaty. I'd still reject that POS.

 

The EU might see some of their 39 Billion after we've left if they offer us a spectacular trade deal. If not? forget it. Oettinger has already admitted they can't force us to pay it in court so they'll need to offer us something for it, we don't just hand over 39 Billion because we are asked to.

 

Hopefully Barnier is realizing his puppet May has gone now, the party is over. He should have removed the backstop 6 months ago but refused. He wanted everything and now he gets No Deal. In local parlance, Som Nam Naa.

[JonnyF]

29 minutes ago, bannork said:

So Johnson thinks the EU will blink when he shows he's willing to play the no deal card. From statements by leading figures in the French, Dutch and Irish governments the last few months that belief seems to be mistaken. In addition, there have been repeated assertions by EU leaders that the deal offered to May was not open to further negotiation.

No, he doesn't really think they will blink. He's offering an olive branch which he knows full well will be refused. Then when we leave on No Deal he can say "it wasn't my preferred option but what can you do when you're dealing with people who won't even negotiate in good faith?"

 

What else is he going to say? "They can stick their pathetic withdrawal surrender treaty up their jacksie, I'm not interested in paying 39 Billion for Bo Diddley"? That's probably what he's thinking, but maybe he has a tad more diplomacy than you give him credit for.

[Chomper Higgot]

Does Boris getting the PM job suddenly give the government a majority in Parliament?

 

If not, nothing he says about a ‘No-Deal’ should be regarded as anything other than a loud noise trying to out Farage Farage.

 

 

[JonnyF]

7 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Does Boris getting the PM job suddenly give the government a majority in Parliament?

 

If not, nothing he says about a ‘No-Deal’ should be regarded as anything other than a loud noise trying to out Farage Farage.

 

 

Did someone change the legislation already in place that makes it law that we leave on 31 October, deal or no deal? I must have missed that.

[vogie]

4 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Does Boris getting the PM job suddenly give the government a majority in Parliament?

 

If not, nothing he says about a ‘No-Deal’ should be regarded as anything other than a loud noise trying to out Farage Farage.

 

 

No deal is written in law, it is the default option.

[petemoss]

1 minute ago, JonnyF said:

Did someone change the legislation already in place that makes it law that we leave on 31 October, deal or no deal? I must have missed that.

If Boris takes us to the brink of no deal, which parliament has already overwhelmingly voted down, parliament would table a motion to extend the period on the grounds that we would have a confirmatory vote, no deal or remain, or revoke article 50. Either of which would be preferable to MPs than no deal.

[Chomper Higgot]

2 minutes ago, vogie said:

No deal is written in law, it is the default option.

Laws can be changed, or ignored.

 

Parliament has sovereignty and the government doesn’t have a majority.

 

Perhaps Johnson, or Hunt, could try “Government by Executive order”, it didn’t work last time but then neither did anything else in this crock of Brexit.

 

 

 

[grumpy 4680]

     Getting out of Europe is the best thing Britain do, if it means making some deal, we will then be stuck with Europe for ever, then watch Britain suffer.

[evadgib]

1 hour ago, Bluespunk said:

Really?

 

Name then?

 

Oh, wait, I forgot, you don’t answer tricky questions, do you johnson. 

 

Avoiding debate (the latest being a Sky TV head to head with hunt), along with spouting trite nonsensical statements, is your specialty. 

If Sky or any other media outlet were neutral i'd see no reason why candidates shouldn't turn up. Unfortunately the entire shooting match in UK is heavily biased in one direction therefore I cannot blame anyone for not bothering.

 

Doesn't trump do same re CNN?

Edited June 25, 2019 by evadgib

[vogie]

4 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Laws can be changed, or ignored.

 

Parliament has sovereignty and the government doesn’t have a majority.

 

Perhaps Johnson, or Hunt, could try “Government by Executive order”, it didn’t work last time but then neither did anything else in this crock of Brexit.

 

 

 

Nobody knows what is going to happen in a 130 days Chomper, not even you. Suffice to say as it stands the only person that can write a letter to the EU is the PM, should he chose not to, we are out. Let us not forget also that the EU have a say on this, if they say no more extentions, we will be out.

[petemoss]

16 minutes ago, evadgib said:

If Sky or any other media outlet were neutral i'd see no reason why candidates shouldn't turn up. Unfortunately the entire shooting match in UK is heavily biased in one direction therefore I cannot blame anyone for not bothering.

 

Doesn't trump do same re CNN?

Trump had 3 live TV debates with Clinton during the run up to the 2016 election.

 

1st debate was adjudicated by an NBC reporter.

2nd debate was adjudicated jointly by a CNN reporter and an ABC reporter.

3rd debate was adjudicated by a Fox News reporter. 

Edited June 25, 2019 by petemoss

[evadgib]

3 minutes ago, vogie said:

Nobody knows what is going to happen in a 130 days Chomper, not even you. Suffice to say as it stands the only person that can write a letter to the EU is the PM, should he chose not to, we are out. Let us not forget also that the EU have a say on this, if they say no more extentions, we will be out.

130 days from now he'll still be confused! ????

[petemoss]

2 minutes ago, evadgib said:

130 days from now he'll still be confused! ????

I think we all will.

[roquefort]

1 hour ago, alant said:

 

I can't vote on this but I believe there is one thing that is important, to remove no deal is just about the best think you can do to weaken your negotiating position. So on that basis his stand on this is correct.

It's probably too late now. Britain should have made clear from the outset that they were prepared to walk away. Taking no deal off the table is like walking into a shop and telling the shop owner you're not going to leave until you've bought something.

[evadgib]

3 minutes ago, petemoss said:

Trump had 3 live TV debates with Clinton during the run up to the 2016 election.

This isn't an election and they are having some debates, just not quite as many as the propped-up underdog & supporters are trying to engineer.

[nahkit]

4 minutes ago, roquefort said:

It's probably too late now. Britain should have made clear from the outset that they were prepared to walk away. Taking no deal off the table is like walking into a shop and telling the shop owner you're not going to leave until you've bought something.

Along with that, refusing to put a limit on the "temporary" backstop but saying don't worry, we won't keep it in place forever makes about as much sense as me selling someone my house and telling them I intend to keep living in it for a few days but don't worry, I'll move out some time, honestly, I will, trust me.

[AlexRich]

32 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Did someone change the legislation already in place that makes it law that we leave on 31 October, deal or no deal? I must have missed that.

I thought there was a law about leaving on 31 March 2019? What happened to that? You must have missed that too?