Boris Johnson condemned over “suicide vest” Brexit comments

Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson has received criticism from two senior Conservative MPs for comparing Theresa May’s Brexit plan to “a suicide vest”

In a column for the Mail on Sunday, Boris Johnson viciously attacked the Prime Minister’s Chequers deal, saying it left the UK open to "perpetual political blackmail". Johnson resigned as foreign secretary in July over the deal, so his criticism of May is not unexpected. What has received considerable scorn, however, is the language he used. In the column, he says that the Chequers deal has “wrapped a suicide vest around the British constitution”, and “handed the detonator” to Chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier. His remarks have been condemned by several Conservative MPs. Former Army officer and member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee Tom Tugendhat said Johnson’s were not the sort of thing to joke about – Tugendhat had seen the horrors caused by suicide bombing first hand, after an attack happened outside his office in Helmand province, Afghanistan. “The carnage was disgusting, limbs and flesh hanging from trees and bushes,” Tugendhat described in an impassioned tweet. “Brave men who stopped him killing me and others died In horrific pain”. “Some need to grow up. Comparing the PM to that isn’t funny”. https://twitter.com/TomTugendhat/status/1038535110482698240 Foreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan said the column was “too much”, and said it “marks one of the most disgusting moments in modern British politics”. “I’m sorry, but this is the political end of Boris Johnson,” Duncan continued. “If it isn’t now, I will make sure it is later”. https://twitter.com/AlanDuncanMP/status/1038559648075472901