Theresa May has dismissed leaked audio recordings of a speech by Boris Johnson in which he openly criticised her handling of Brexit.
Asked whether she expected an apology from the foreign secretary for undermining her position, the prime minister said: The foreign secretary has strong views on Brexit, but so do I. That’s why I’m getting on with delivering Brexit.
Speaking to Sky News at the G7 summit in Canada, Mrs May dodged a question about whether Mr Johnson had become unsackable, but hit back at his assertion that the Irish border issue was a folly and that the tail was wagging the dog.
I have been very clear, and the government is very clear, that we want to ensure there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, that is an important border for the people who live both sides of it.
Yesterday, Brexit Secretary David Davis came close to resigning during a dispute with Mrs May over the wording of the government’s proposed backstop solution to maintaining an open Irish border.
Mr Davis was talked down following the addition of a line stating that the UK would expect the need for any alignment with the EU customs union to expire by December 2021.
Responding to Mr Barnier’s comments during interviews at the G7 summit, Mrs May said:
We are in a negotiation. If you look at every stage of this negotiation, the European Commission will sometimes say they welcome our proposals, they’re going to talk about our proposals and sometimes they throw some scepticism on those proposals.
What happens? We sit down, we talk about them and we deliver.
Briefing political journalists on the flight to Quebec, the prime minister suggested that while she disagreed with the tariffs, she wanted her role to be ensuring any EU tit-for-tat response would be proportionate and within WTO rules.
But any hopes of being an effective arbiter have been hindered by the fact she will not be having any formal bilateral meeting with the US president, despite Mr. Trump having such meetings confirmed with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, and French president Emmanuel Macron.
She also indicated she opposes the suggestion made by Mr Trump as he left the White House that Russia be readmitted to the G7, returning it to its previous formulation as the G8.
We’ve always been clear that we should engage with Russia, but the phrase I’ve used is engage but beware, and let’s remember why the G8 became the G7 it was because Russia illegally annexed Crimea, and before any conversations of this sort can happen, we have to ensure that Russia is actually mending its ways and taking a different route.