MP tells Boris Johnson to quit if there's no-deal Brexit

Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street to go to the Houses of Parliament, London. Picture: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire - Credit: PA

Veteran Tory MP Sir Roger Gale said Boris Johnson should quit as prime minister if he fails to secure a trade deal with the European Union.

Sir Roger, who was one of only two Tory MPs to vote against the UK Internal Market Bill, said an acceptable deal would see “imaginative ideas” regarding trade and fisheries, but he did not want an erosion of sovereignty.

“If Mr Johnson fails to reach an acceptable trade agreement with the EU the prime minister will also have failed the people of the United Kingdom,” the North Thanet MP said.

“As a lifelong member of the Conservative Party, I believe that Mr Johnson’s position as prime minister would be untenable.

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“As an honourable man, he would have to make way for somebody more able to pick up the pieces, to reunite the whole country and to show the leadership that Great Britain and Northern Ireland deserves.”

He added later: “That is precisely what David Cameron did when he failed to win the referendum.”

But his tweet received some scepticism after he branded Johnson “honourable”.

One replied: “As an honourable man he wouldn’t have got the country into this mess! I think I see the flaw in your argument!”

“He is neither honourable nor intends to get a deal,” wrote another. “There was never an intention to get a deal, everyone and their dog could see this. This was always about so-called sovereignty that the UK always had. And he will never admit he’s wrong and he won’t resign.”

Bruce McPherson responded: “Couldn’t agree more. However it is in the hands of your colleagues to make his position untenable, but they are nothing more than nodding dogs. they’ll pretend to support whatever they are instructed to. No matter the damage. Your party is no longer the one you joined.”