‘SCANDALOUS!’ Boris Johnson's FIERY REBUKE to May for withholding Brexit legal documents
THE BRITISH public “is entitled to see the legal advice from the Attorney General to the Prime Minister”, former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has written in a newspaper column attacking Theresa May.
Mr Johnson used his weekly Daily Telegraph column to stage the searing intervention. The regularly touted potential leader of the Tory Party was unambiguous in his censure of Mrs May’s Brexit deal. He maintained the “legal question” of Brexit “is more important even than the Iraq war”.
Mr Johnson, who quit the Cabinet following the announcement of the Prime Minister’s controversial Chequers plan in the summer, said it was “a scandal” legal advice the Government has received on Brexit has not been made available.
He said: “It is outrageous that the public should be prevented from knowing the full legal implications of this appalling deal – when it is their rights, their freedoms, their hard-won suffrage, that are about to be bartered away.
“It is no use the Government claiming that this advice is protected by ‘client privilege’.”
“It is the people who pay the Attorney General’s wages.
“It is the sovereign people of this country who are the client.
“And they deserve to know exactly how this country risks being turned into a client state.”
The staunch Brexiteer revealed he “hopes” and “expects” the full text of the Attorney General’s advice to be published before Parliament has its so-called “meaningful vote” on Mrs May’s deal on December 11.
He also argued the decision facing the nation was “about our democracy” and “the future right of the people of this country to have a say in their own laws”.'
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Mr Johnson’s comments come after the damaging resignation of Science Minister Sam Gyimah late on Friday last week.
Mr Gyimah left his post citing concerns over the current Brexit approach and Mrs May’s deal.
The Tory “rising star” had been promoted from a David Cameron aide to frontbencher MP before he dealt the latest Brexit blow to Theresa May.
However, amid the continued attack’s on her Brexit deal, yesterday the Environment Secretary and former leadership rival, Michael Gove, urged the Commons to endorse Mrs May’s plan.
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Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, the leading Cabinet Minister said: “We have got to recognise that if we don't vote for this, the alternatives are no deal or no Brexit.”
The prominent Leave campaigner added: “There is a real risk if we don't vote for this deal there may be a majority in the House of Commons for a second referendum.”
Mr Gove went on to assert he believed there was a “strong movement behind the Prime Minister”, suggesting her deal might get through the Commons despite gloomy predictions.
Theresa May speaks at the G20 summit in Argentina
But Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer was unequivocal in his warning to Mrs May, implying her continued office as Prime Minister was far from certain.
He said: “If the Prime Minister has lost a vote of that significance then there has to be a question of confidence in the Government.
“I think it's inevitable that we would seek to move that.”