Boris Johnson believes Brexit negotiations will fail and end up with Theresa May being humiliated
The Foreign Secretary has told friends that it’s vital the government prepares to walk away from the stalled talks as the EU will not give the UK any big concessions
BORIS Johnson believes Brexit negotiations will fail and end up with Theresa May being humiliated, it has emerged.
The Foreign Secretary has told friends that it’s vital the government prepares to walk away from the stalled talks as the EU will not give the UK any big concessions.
Boris told one close friend recently that “nobody ever beats the EU in a negotiation”, and the Brussels elite will again succeed in grinding down the PM and force her to accept bad terms.
The senior Tory’s thinking explains why he is pushing Mrs May to keep to a hard line in talks and not give away big sums of money or agree to trade restrictions.
Boris sparked furore on Saturday by attacking No10’s plans to offer up to £10bn during a two year transition period for continued single market access.
A close confidante of Boris’s added: "He always makes a point of saying ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’ because he thinks it will be what we have to do.
“They want to punish us, that has always been Boris's view, and that has now come abundantly clear from the negotiations so far".
The revelation follows warnings from Greece's former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis that Mrs May is “sleep walking into a disaster” as EU chiefs don’t want to negotiate with Britain.
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The left-wing economist lead his country’s negotiations with Brussels and other creditors during the climax of the Greek debt crisis in 2015.
But Mr Varoufakis claimed last week that the PM has made a "grave error" believing Europe’s other leaders want a Brexit agreement that works well for both sides, and if the talks carry on, they will end “in dismal failure” for Mrs May.
Other government ministers are growing ever more furious with the Cabinet’s bitter in-fighting on Brexit and began to speak out in anger.
Mid-ranking defence minister Tobias Ellwood tweeted: "Think many would agree: We are not witnessing our finest hour-at a testing time when poise, purpose and unity are called for".