Boris Johnson's resignation speech labelled 'completely delusional'

Bitter acrimony in the party spilled on to the public domain in Scotland following the former Foreign Secretary’s personal statement in the House of Commons.

Shortly after Johnson’s speech Jackson Carlaw, the Scottish Tories’ deputy leader, could not contain his anger, describing the hardline Brexiteer as a “busted flush”.

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However, at the same time, Scots Tory MP Ross Thomson, who had sat nodding behind Johnson as he delivered his speech, said it was “historic”.

Over 12 minutes Johnson savaged May’s blueprint for leaving the EU as “fantastical”, and insisted: “It is not too late to save Brexit.”

Scottish Brexit Secretary Michael Russell said Johnson’s words were “delusional”.

“Completely delusional & mendaciously self-serving,” he tweeted. “His words will strike few if any chords in Scotland. Moreover there is not a word of apology for the huge damage & distress that his arrogance has caused. I wouldn’t trust him to deliver the messages , let alone #Brexit.”

The speech was praised by former Ukip leader Nigel Farage and hardline Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg, chairman of the European Research Group. The latter described it as “the speech of a statesman”.

During the speech Johnson urged the Prime Minister to tear up her “miserable” plans for close relations post Brexit with the EU and return to the “glorious vision” of Global Britain which she set out last year.

He stopped short of making a direct challenge to May’s position as PM and Conservative leader, but denounced the plan he himself had signed up to less than two weeks at Chequers and set out in May’s White Paper last week.

He denounced it as “Brexit in name only”, said it would leave the UK in a state of “vassalage” and demanded a return to May’s original red lines of total withdrawal from the customs union and single market in order, he said, to allow Britain “unfettered ability to forge trade deals around the world”.

He also accusing the Government of “dithering” over its Brexit negotiations, claiming a “fog of self-doubt” had descended on May’s stance to EU withdrawal since she first set it out in a speech at Lancaster House last year.

“It is not too late to save Brexit,” he said. “We have time in these negotiations.

“We have changed tack once and we can change again. The problem is not that we have failed to make the case for a free-trade agreement of the kind spelt out at Lancaster House. We haven’t even tried.

“We must try now because we will not get another chance to do it right.”

May was not present to hear Johnson’s statement, as she was answering questions on Brexit from senior MPs at a long-planned hearing of the House of Commons Liaison Committee.

The Uxbridge MP made a point of praising “her courage and her resilience” and indicated he thought she could lead the UK to a successful Brexit – if she was willing to change tack.

But he was scathing about the Government’s handling of negotiations so far. He said it had failed to turn the Lancaster House speech into a firm offer; agreed to hand over £40 billion with no promise of a future trade deal; accepted European Court of Justice jurisdiction over parts of the withdrawal agreement; and allowed the issue of the Northern Irish border to dominate the debate.

He said he could neither support nor accept the Brexit vision which he and other Cabinet members signed up to at Chequers.

“Let us again aim explicitly for that glorious vision of Lancaster House – a strong, independent self-governing Britain that is genuinely open to the world, not the miserable permanent limbo of Chequers,” said Johnson.

He said under May’s proposals, the UK was “volunteering for economic vassalage” and that Britons should be “great independent actors” on the world stage, not “rule takers”.

And he dismissed May’s facilitated customs arrangement plan for the Irish border as a “fantastical Heath Robinson” creation, complaining his own suggestions for technical solutions had never been “properly examined”.

His statement had been anticipated as a possible “Geoffrey Howe moment”, after the former foreign secretary’s resignation speech sparked Margaret Thatcher’s downfall. Journalists noted Johnson made his address from the same place where Howe had made his famous speech.

Responding to comments on social media that it could be building up to something, Carlaw interjected: “But it didn’t. The enthusiasm drained visibly from the surrounding faces as it rambled on.

“He stumbled through generalities and sat down a busted flush. Time to back @theresa_may & deliver the Chequers agreement.”

Thomson tweeted: “Historic and excellent personal statement from @BorisJohnson – There is still time to save #Brexit if the PM can hold to the pledges she made at Lancaster House. Absolutely spot on. #GlobalBritain.”

The Scottish Conservatives played down the divisions, with a spokesman saying: “Ross has always been clear about his Brexit views and, as an MP, he is free to express them.”