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| Boris Johnson doesn't hold back as he skewers PM's Brexit plan | Boris Johnson doesn't hold back as he skewers PM's Brexit plan |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Boris Johnson may not do detail, as the chancellor has damningly said – but he can deliver political theatre, and Tuesday’s speech, to a packed hall, against a bare black backdrop, did not disappoint, on that measure at least. | Boris Johnson may not do detail, as the chancellor has damningly said – but he can deliver political theatre, and Tuesday’s speech, to a packed hall, against a bare black backdrop, did not disappoint, on that measure at least. |
| All the Johnsonian ingredients were there: a smattering of classical allusions, a generous sprinkling of anecdote, and a background hum of patriotic verve. | All the Johnsonian ingredients were there: a smattering of classical allusions, a generous sprinkling of anecdote, and a background hum of patriotic verve. |
| But this was also Johnson trying to do serious: there were fewer gags and self-deprecating jabs – and also fewer nods to the party’s populist wing, than of late. | But this was also Johnson trying to do serious: there were fewer gags and self-deprecating jabs – and also fewer nods to the party’s populist wing, than of late. |
| Throughout this week in Birmingham, the Tories have felt compelled to respond to the challenge laid down by Labour’s broadly successful conference last week. | Throughout this week in Birmingham, the Tories have felt compelled to respond to the challenge laid down by Labour’s broadly successful conference last week. |
| Philip Hammond, the chancellor, used his speech to suggest that while Labour’s solutions were the wrong ones, their questions deserved answers. | Philip Hammond, the chancellor, used his speech to suggest that while Labour’s solutions were the wrong ones, their questions deserved answers. |
| Johnson offered his own prescription, marrying a full-throated attack on Labour with a call for his party to return to its “one nation” roots – not least by helping families on to the housing ladder, an aspiration widely repeated at this conference. | |
| He also called for the Tories to promise not to raise taxes – a pledge that might sit oddly alongside the £20bn his party has just promised to pour into the creaking NHS. | He also called for the Tories to promise not to raise taxes – a pledge that might sit oddly alongside the £20bn his party has just promised to pour into the creaking NHS. |
| At the heart of the speech, though, was Johnson’s most visceral attack yet on the prime minister’s Chequers plan – rejecting the idea, mooted by Ruth Davidson on Monday, that May’s is a pragmatic, sensible approach to the challenge of delivering Brexit. | At the heart of the speech, though, was Johnson’s most visceral attack yet on the prime minister’s Chequers plan – rejecting the idea, mooted by Ruth Davidson on Monday, that May’s is a pragmatic, sensible approach to the challenge of delivering Brexit. |
| “This is not pragmatic, this is not a compromise. It is dangerous and unstable – politically and economically,” Johnson said, even calling it a “cheat”, that risks alienating voters and stoking the rise of the far right. | “This is not pragmatic, this is not a compromise. It is dangerous and unstable – politically and economically,” Johnson said, even calling it a “cheat”, that risks alienating voters and stoking the rise of the far right. |
| He took a sideswipe at those of his leaver colleagues who hope that if the political declaration about Britain’s future relationship with the EU27 can be kept sufficiently broadbrush, they can rejoin the battle for a harder Brexit later. | |
| This “bodge it now, fix it later” argument is most associated with Michael Gove, the environment secretary, who remained inside the cabinet, when David Davis and Johnson walked away – and who of course ended Johnson’s short-lived leadership campaign almost before it began in 2016. | This “bodge it now, fix it later” argument is most associated with Michael Gove, the environment secretary, who remained inside the cabinet, when David Davis and Johnson walked away – and who of course ended Johnson’s short-lived leadership campaign almost before it began in 2016. |
| And there was an echo of that frenzied few days in Tuesday’s speech. Much of Johnson’s rhetoric was devoted to skewering Chequers, the policy most closely associated with the prime minister. | And there was an echo of that frenzied few days in Tuesday’s speech. Much of Johnson’s rhetoric was devoted to skewering Chequers, the policy most closely associated with the prime minister. |
| Yet having effectively accused May of seeking to “cheat” the electorate, his peroration was not a call to arms; but an insistence that his supporters should “back the prime minister in the best way possible”, by urging her, “softly, quietly and sensibly” to return to the plan set out in her Lancaster House speech, which Johnson’s backers believe was closer to a free-trade agreement. | Yet having effectively accused May of seeking to “cheat” the electorate, his peroration was not a call to arms; but an insistence that his supporters should “back the prime minister in the best way possible”, by urging her, “softly, quietly and sensibly” to return to the plan set out in her Lancaster House speech, which Johnson’s backers believe was closer to a free-trade agreement. |
| At the very least, Johnson has laid down a marker, if the Chequers plan cannot be pulled off – and his allies insist he wants a change of plan, not leader. But it was hard to see Tuesday’s tug at the Tories’ heartstrings as anything but a pitch for the top job. | At the very least, Johnson has laid down a marker, if the Chequers plan cannot be pulled off – and his allies insist he wants a change of plan, not leader. But it was hard to see Tuesday’s tug at the Tories’ heartstrings as anything but a pitch for the top job. |
| Five key quotes on … | |
| Chequers“This is not democracy. This is not what we voted for. This is an outrage. This is not taking back control: this is forfeiting control.” | |
| Labour“I know that we can’t use too many references from the 1970s or 1980s, but surely to goodness we can take this Tony Benn tribute act and wallop it for six.” | |
| Law and order“Let’s bring back stop-and-search incidentally, and end this politically correct nonsense that has endangered the lives of young people in our capital.” | |
| Capitalism“We must on no account follow Corbyn, and start to treat capitalism as a kind of boo word. We can’t lose our faith in competition and choice and markets.” | |
| Taxes“We should have as our objective – as soon as possible – to cut taxes for those on low and modest incomes, because it is Conservative to give people back control of their money.” | |
| Boris Johnson | Boris Johnson |
| Conservatives | Conservatives |
| Conservative conference 2018 | Conservative conference 2018 |
| Brexit | Brexit |
| analysis | analysis |
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