- Theresa May is enduring yet another torrid day in politics after just surviving a Brexit rebellion yesterday
- Boris Johnson has made a devastating statement on his resignation to MPs in the House of Commons
- The former foreign secretary condemned Mrs May's 'fog of self doubt' and obsession with soft Irish border
- He avoided calling directly for the Prime Minister to quit but insisted that it is 'not too late to save Brexit'
- Mrs May was not in the chamber as she was facing a grilling on her Chequers plan from senior MPs elsewhere
Theresa May today slapped down Boris Johnson after he made an audacious pitch for her job in a fiery resignation speech in the Commons.
The former Foreign Secretary launched an excoriating attack on the PM's 'dithering' Brexit strategy in his first Commons speech since quitting.
He exploded back into the political fray by lambasting her 'miserable' strategy as the Prime Minister struggles to contain open warfare in the Tory party.
He complained that a 'fog of self doubt' had descended on the government after Mrs May's landmark Lancaster House speech on Brexit last year, and she had allowed negotiations with the EU to be dictated by questions about the Irish border.
But asked about the tongue-lashing Mr Johnson had given her in Parliament, Mrs May said she is too busy getting on with running the country to watch his speech.
But asked about the tongue-lashing Mr Johnson had given her in Parliament, Mrs May (pictured at the liaison committee in the Commons today) said she is too busy getting on with running the country to watch his speech.
Boris Johnson exploded back into the political fray as the Prime Minister struggles to contain open warfare in the Tory party
In a devastating assault, Mr Johnson accused the PM of misleading voters about her intentions and putting the UK 'in limbo' with the Chequers plan she forced through Cabinet.
Making a clear pitch for the top job without directly calling for Mrs May to quit, he added: 'It is not too late to save Brexit.'
The searing assessment - hailed as the 'speech of a statesman' by Jacob Rees-Mogg - could throw Mrs May back into turmoil just as she was hoping to limp into the summer parliamentary break.
Mrs May was not in the chamber for Mr Johnson's statement, as she was struggling to defend her Chequers plan in a stormy encounter with senior MPs on the Liaison Committee on another part of the estate.
She also faced a showdown with restive Tory backbenchers at a private end-of-term meeting tonight pleading with them to 'take the fight to Labour' rather than squabbling among themselves. Extraordinarily, Mrs May was kept waiting by the 1922 committee outside the room where the gathering is held - leaving her at the mercy of lurking journalists.
Asked whether she would be watching Mr Johnson's speech later, she said: 'I think I'll probably be doing my red box.'
She also shrugged off questions about whether she would survive the summer as leader. 'I think you know the answer to that,' she said. 'We all need a break.'
Mr Johnson was flanked by key Brexiteers on the famous green benches, including Iain Duncan Smith, Edward Leigh, Conor Burns, Nadine Dorries and Ben Bradley
The speech was praised on Twitter today by Brexiteers including former Ukip leader Nigel Farage (left) and Tory backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg
Mr Johnson triggered chaos in the government on Monday last week when he resigned days after the summit at the PM's country residence.
Allies of the premier have been braced for him to make a bid to oust her - although sources close to the MP have stressed he will not make a 'personal' assault.
Mr Johnson was flanked by former aide Conor Burns on the famous green benches, as well as Brexiteers Nadine Dorries and Ben Bradley.
David Davis, who also resigned last week, was also nearby.
He positioned himself in the almost exactly the same spot where Geoffrey Howe delivered his 1990 resignation speech that dealt a killer blow to Margaret Thatcher
As Mr Johnson delivered his searing resignation statement, Theresa May was giving evidence to the Liaison Committee in a different part of parliament
Mr Johnson said a 'fog of self doubt' had descended on Mrs May since her Lancaster House speech last year
Tory MPs heaped praise on Boris Johnson's speech on Twitter as they rallied behind the former Foreign Secretary
Tory Brexiteers were quick to back Boris Johnson's words - praising his speech - which was seen as a leadership pitch as as historic online
Tory MP Zac Goldsmith - an ardent Brexiteer who once ran for London Mayor - and Ukip politician Suzanne Evans both praised Boris Johnson and said he had created a glorious vision for Brexit
Historian Mary Beard took a swipe at Boris Johnson as he made the speech. But former Remainer turned Brexiteer Ben Brad;ley ahd only warm words for him
Mr Johnson was flanked by key Brexiteers on the famous green benches, including Iain Duncan Smith, Edward Leigh, Conor Burns, Nadine Dorries and Ben Bradley.
David Davis, who also resigned last week, was also nearby.
Letting loose on the PM's whole approach with a series of carefully calibrated but damning salvos, Mr Johnson said she must heed anger from Eurosceptics.
'The result of accepting the EU's rule books and of our proposals for a fantastical 'Heath Robinson' customs arrangement is that we have much less scope for trade agreements,' he said.
Mr Johnson accused the PM of 'saying one thing to the EU.. and another thing to the electorate'.
'It's not too late to save Brexit. We have changed tack once in these negotiations, and we can change tack again.'
In a rallying cry to Eurosceptics, Mr Johnson said that Mrs May had not even attempted to take a tough line with the EU.
'We never actually turned that vision into a negotiating position in Brussels and we never made it into a negotiating offer.
'Instead we dithered and we burned through our negotiating capital. We agreed to hand over a £40billion exit fee with no discussion of our future economic relationship.'
He said despite what some former Cabinet colleagues thought it was not possible to do a 'botched treaty now' and then 'break and reset the bone later on'.
'We haven't even tried. We must try now because we will not get another chance to get it right,' Mr Johnson added.
Mr Johnson said the Chequers deal would leave Britain in 'limbo' and the government must 'believe' in the country.
He told the Commons: 'We are volunteering for economic vassalage.'
Mr Johnson insisted that checks away from the Northern Irish border and technical solutions were possible.
He cited concerns raised by himself and former Brexit secretary David Davis, saying: 'When I and other colleagues... proposed further technical solutions to make customs and regulatory checks remotely, those proposals were never properly examined, as if such solutions had become intellectually undesirable in the context of the argument.'
Mr Johnson said: 'We need to take one decision now before all others and that is to believe in this country and what it can do.'
Mr Johnson said it became 'taboo to even discuss technical fixes' regarding the Irish border.
He added: 'After 18 months of stealthy retreat we have come from the bright certainties of Lancaster House to the Chequers agreement.'
Mr Johnson said Britain should be 'great independent actors' on the world stage, not 'rule takers'.
'That was the vision of Brexit that we fought for,' he said.
'That was the vision that the Prime Minister rightly described last year.
'That is the prize that is still attainable. There is time. And, if the Prime Minister can fix that vision once again before us, then I believe she can deliver a great Brexit for Britain with a positive, self-confident approach that will unite this party, unite this House and unite this country as well.'
Earlier, Mrs May was goaded at PMQs by Conservative backbencher Andrea Jenkyns who demanded to know when she had decided that 'Brexit means Remain'.
But amid jeers in the Commons a clearly frustrated Mrs May hit back that she was still committed to leaving the EU and wanted a 'workable' solution.
The clashes, at a raucous last questions session before the summer recess, came after Mrs May narrowly fended off a potentially existential challenge to her negotiating strategy last night.
Amid dramatic scenes at Westminster last night, a dozen Conservative Remainers defied warnings they would collapse the Government by siding with Jeremy Corbyn to demand Britain stays in the EU customs union.
Mrs May has repeatedly insisted that the UK must not be in a customs union, as it would prevent trade deals being struck elsewhere.
But rebels ignored warnings from Tory chief whip Julian Smith that defeat would prompt him to call a vote of confidence in Mrs May today, followed by a possible general election.
Tory insiders said another ten Eurosceptic MPs would have sent in letters of no confidence in Mrs May if she had lost last night's vote - potentially pushing the total over the 48 needed to spark a leadership challenge.
Rebels inflicted an early defeat on the Government when they voted to keep Britain tied into the European Medicines Agency after Brexit by 305 votes to 301.
But, minutes later, the tables were reversed as MPs voted by 307 to 301 to reject an amendment to the Trade Bill ordering the PM to pursue a continuation of the customs union.
Five Labour MPs voted with the Government: former ministers Frank Field and Kate Hoey and backbenchers John Mann, Graham Stringer and Kelvin Hopkins, who is currently sitting as an independent following suspension. If they had voted the other way, the Government would have lost by four votes.
Mr Johnson's speech was careful to avoid directly calling for Mrs May to quit - but insisted she had to change course to deliver a clean Brexit
Mr Johnson was positioned in almost exactly the same spot where Geoffrey Howe delivered his 1990 resignation speech dealing a devastating blow to Margaret Thatcher (pictured)
At PMQs at lunchtime, Mrs May was goaded by backbencher Andrea Jenkyns over when she decided that 'Brexit means Remain'
Brexiteer Ms Jenkyns has become a thorn in the side of the PM, calling her premiership 'over'
Mr Johnson triggered chaos in the government on Monday last week when he resigned days after Mrs May forced her Chequers Brexit plan through Cabinet.
Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson was in the chamber for PMQs earlier - positioned close to the seat where Geoffrey Howe delivered his famous attack on Margaret Thatcher after quitting as chancellor in 1990
Attacking her leader at PMQs, Ms Jenkyns - who has already urged Mrs May to quit - asked: 'Could the Prime Minister inform the House at what point it was decided that Brexit means Remain?'
Mrs May insisted that her mantra of 'Brexit means Brexit' still stood.
'At absolutely no point, because Brexit continues to mean Brexit,' she replied.
'And if I can say to her, I know she wants us to talk about the positives of Brexit and I agree with her.
'We should be talking about the positive future for this country. I understand she's also criticised me for looking for a solution that is workable.
'No deal Brexit IS better than a bad deal': May defends her Chequers blueprint from attack by Liaison Committee MPs
Theresa May today repeated her warning that 'no deal is better than a bad deal' - as she admitted that some of her Brexit plan might not be ready in time.
The Prime Minister tried to fend off claims that her controversial Brexit proposal is 'baffling' - but she struggled to explain how her customs plans would actually work.
And she revealed her plans for the EU to collect tariffs for the UK and vice versa might not be ready before the UK fully leaves the bloc, after the transition period, in December 2020.
Theresa May says the EU has seen the 'strength of our position' on Brexit as she is grilled on her plans by MPs today.
Mrs May made the admission as she was grilled by senior MPs sitting on the Liaison Committee amid a Tory civil war over her Chequers plans - which are also known as the facilitated customs arrangement
The PM told the hostile committee that 'no deal is better than a bad deal' and that 'preparations for a no deal are being stepped up'.
Her comments came after her International Trade Secretary Liam Fox warned that EU countries could see their GDP - their national income - fall by as much as 8 per cent.
Mrs May told the committee: 'The majority of what is required for this facilitated customs arrangement will definitely - as we have indicated - be in place by December 2020.
'There is a question as to the speed with which the repayment mechanism would be in place.
'So far the suggestion is that could take longer to be put into place. That has yet to be finally determined.'
The PM repeated her warning to Brussels that that 'no deal is better than a bad deal'as she appeared in front of the parliamentary committee.
Full text of Boris Johnson's resignation statement to MPs
'Thank you Mr Speaker for granting me the opportunity to first to pay tribute to the men and women of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office who have done an outstanding job over the last two years.
'I'm very proud that we have rallied the world against Russia's barbaric use of chemical weapons, with an unprecedented 28 countries joining together to expel 153 spies in protest at what happened in Salisbury.
'We have rejuvenated the Commonwealth with a superb summit, that saw Zimbabwe back on the path to membership and Angola now wanting to join.
And as I leave we are leading global campaigns against illegal wildlife trade and in favour of 12 years of quality education for every girl.
'And we have the flag, the Union flag, going up in nine new missions: in the Pacific, the Caribbean, and Africa and more to come, so that we have overtaken France to boast the biggest diplomatic network of any European country.
'None of this, Mr Speaker, would have been possible without the support of my right honourable friend, the Prime Minister. Everyone who has worked with her will recognise her courage and her resilience. And it was my privilege to collaborate with her in promoting Global Britain, a vision for this country that she set out with great clarity at Lancaster House on January 17 last year.
'A country eager, as she said, not just to do a bold, ambitious and comprehensive free trade agreement with the EU out of the customs union, out of the single market, but also to do new free trade deals around the world. I thought it was the right vision then, I think so today. But in the 18 months that have followed it is as though a fog of self-doubt has descended.
'Even though our friends and partners liked the Lancaster House vision, it was what they were expecting from an ambitious partner, what they understood. Even though the commentators liked it, and the markets liked it, my right honourable friend the Chancellor I'm sure observed, the pound soared. We never actually turned that vision into a negotiating position in Brussels and we never made it into a negotiating offer.
A bullish Mr Johnson delivered his dramatic resignation statement to expectant MPs in the House of Commons this afternoon
'Instead we dithered and we burned through our negotiating capital, we agreed to hand over a £40billion exit fee with no discussion of our future economic relationship. We accepted the jurisdiction of the European Court over key aspects of the withdrawal agreement.
'And worst of all we allowed the question of the Northern Irish border, which had hitherto been assumed on all sides to be readily soluble, to become so politically charged as to dominate the debate.
'No one on either side of this house or anywhere wants a hard border. You couldn't construct one if you tried but there certainly can be different rules north and south of the border to reflect the fact that there are two different jurisdictions, in fact there already are.
'There can be checks away from the border and technical solutions as the Prime Minister rightly described at Mansion House, in fact there already are. But when I and other colleagues, and I single out my right honourable friend the honourable member for Haltemprice and Howden, proposed further technical solutions to make customs and regulatory checks remotely those proposals were never even properly examined as if such solutions had become intellectually undesirable in the context of the argument.
'And somehow after the December joint report whose backstop arrangement we were all told was entirely provisional never to be invoked it became taboo even to discuss technical fixes.
'So Mr Speaker after 18 months of stealthy retreat we have come from the bright certainties of Lancaster House to the Chequers agreement. You put them side-by-side.
'Lancaster House said laws will once again be made in Westminster. Chequers says there will be an ongoing harmonisation with a common EU rule book. Lancaster House said it would be wrong to comply with EU rules and regulations without having a vote on what those rules and regulations are. Chequers now makes us rules takers.
'Lancaster House said we don't want anything that leaves us half in, half out and we do not seek to hold on to bits of membership as we leave. Chequers says that we will remain in lockstep on goods and agrifoods and much more besides with disputes ultimately adjudicated by the European Court of Justice.
'Far from making laws in Westminster, there are large sectors in which minsters will have no power to initiate, innovate or even deviate.
'After decades in which UK ministers have gone to Brussels and expostulated against costly EU regulation, we are now claiming that we must accept every jot and tittle for our economic health with no say of our own and no way of protecting our businesses and entrepreneurs from rules now and in the future that may not be in their interests.
'My right honourable friend the Chancellor was asked to identify the biggest single opportunity from Brexit. After some thought he said regulatory innovation. Well there may be some regulatory post Brexit. It won't be alas coming from the UK and certainly not in those areas. We are volunteering for economic vassalage, not just in goods and agrifoods but we will be forced to match EU arrangements on the environment and social affairs and much else besides.
'Of course, we all want high standards but it is hard to see, I say to my honourable friends, it is hard to see how the Conservative government of the 1980s could have done its vital supply side reforms with those freedoms taken away.
'And the result of accepting the EU's rulebooks and of our proposals for a fantastical Heath Robinson customs arrangement is that we have much less scope to do free trade deals as the Chequers paper actually acknowledges and which we should all frankly acknowledge because if we pretend otherwise we continue to make the fatal mistake of underestimating the intelligence of the public - saying one thing to the EU about what we are doing and then saying another thing to the electorate.
'And given that in important ways, this is Bino or Brino or Brexit in name only, I am of course unable to accept it or support it as I said in the cabinet session at Chequers.
'I am happy now to speak out against it and be able to do so.
'Mr Speaker, it is not too late to save Brexit. We have time in these negotiations, we have changed tack once and we can change again. The problem is not that we failed to make the case for a free trade agreement of the kind spelt out at Lancaster House, we haven't even tried.
'We must try now because we will not get another chance to get it right. And it is absolute nonsense to imagine, as I fear some of my colleagues do, that we can somehow afford to make a botched treaty now and then break and reset the bone later on.
'Because we have seen even in these talks how the supposedly provisional becomes eternal. We have the time and I believe the Prime Minister has the support of Parliament. Remember the enthusiasm for Lancaster House and Mansion House!
'It was clear last night that there is no majority in this house for a return to the customs union. With goodwill and common sense we can address the concerns about the Northern Irish border and all other borders.
'We have fully two-and-a-half years to make the technical preparations along with preparations for a world trade outcome - those preparations which we should now accelerate.
'We should not and need not be stampeded by anyone. But let us again aim explicitly for that glorious vision of Lancaster House - a strong, independent self-governing Britain that is genuinely open to the world.
'Not the miserable permanent limbo of Chequers. Not the democratic disaster of ongoing harmonisation with no way out and no say for the UK.
'We need to take one decision now before all others and that is to believe in this country and in what it can do.
'Because I can tell you Mr Speaker that the UK's admirers - and there are millions if not billions across the world - are fully expecting us to do what we said and to take back control. And to be able to set new standards for technologies in which we excel, to behave not as rules take us, but as great independent actors on the world stage.
'And to do free trade deals, proper free trade deals for the benefit and the prosperity of the British people. That was the vision of Brexit that we fought for, that was the vision, that the Prime Minister rightly described last year.
'That is the prize that is still attainable. There is time. And if the Prime Minister can fix that vision once again before us then I believe she can deliver a great Brexit for Britain, with a positive, self-confident approach that will unite this party, unite this house and unite this country as well.'
