2LT International News

LONDON, U.K. – In his resignation speech granted to Cabinet Ministers in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Britain’s former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson tore into Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit plan, claiming that it was “Brexit in the name only.” 

Johnson, who resigned last week in protest against the Chequers agreement, declared in his speech that it is “not too late to save Brexit” and that May’s “miserable” Chequers plan left Britain in “miserable permanent limbo.”

Slamming her for “dithering” in the negotiations and going back on her Lancaster House vision, Johnson called on May to ditch the plan, but stopped short of calling for her to stand down as the Tory leader.

However, in his personal statement to MPs, Johnson also praised May and said, “Everyone will recognize her courage and resilience.”

Most of his speech was, however, focussed on his problems with the compromises that he claimed had been made between the “bright certainties” of May’s Lancaster House speech in January 2017, and the Chequers agreement, which he described as a “fog of uncertainty” had descended.

He slammed the Prime Minister for “dithering” in the EU negotiations and said of May’s Lancaster House speech, “I thought it was the right vision then; I think it is the right vision, today.”

He added, “But in the 18 months that have followed it is as though a fog of self-doubt has descended. And even though our EU friends and partners liked the Lancaster House vision – it was what they were expecting from an ambitious partner – we never actually went to Brussels and turned it into a negotiating offer… instead we dithered, and we burned through our negotiating capital.”

Johnson delivered the speech on Wednesday using the entitlement he had under parliamentary convention to make a formal resignation statement.

This mean that he could talk freely without taking interventions and cannot be heckled by MPs.

However, Johnson’s statements came as the latest blow to May’s fragile grip on power.

In the latest survey by YouGov, May’s position as Tory boss looked even more precarious as the Conservatives were seen to be down to 36 percent, which is just five points behind Labour on 41 percent.

On Tuesday night, May managed to scrap through the trade bill votes.

Before Johnson’s speech, May faced her last Prime Minister Questions before the summer recess.