Boris Johnson is considering whether to publicly oppose any post-Brexit deal struck by Rishi Sunak with the EU to end the dispute over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The PM is under pressure from the DUP and Tory hardliners to get further concessions from Brussels, while party moderates have urged him to “get the bloody thing done”.
Mr Johnson will “100 per cent” condemn any agreement reached in the coming days if he feels it means closer alignment with the EU, allies told The Times.
“He says this is either a government of Brexit or it is nothing,” one told the newspaper on the former PM’s thinking.
Mr Johnson is said to have privately attacked Mr Sunak’s negotiating strategy as “wholly irrational” as he deliberates on whether to make a statement.
A source close to the former Tory leader said at the weekend that he believes it would be a “great mistake” to drop the Northern Ireland Protocol bill – which would allow UK minister to unilaterally end checks on goods.
It comes as the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said a deal that would allow a return of power-sharing in Northern Ireland is still possible in the coming days – but it will require further concessions from Brussels.
Sir Jeffrey said that he had been encouraged by the progress, saying “lines have been crossed” by the EU side which it had previously refused to countenance.
“It is possible given the level of progress that has been made and the principles that have already, I’m told, been agreed the outstanding issues could be resolved within the next few days,” he told reporters at Westminster last night.
However, he continued to insist that his party could not support a deal which meant Northern Ireland was still subject to EU law on standards on the manufacture of goods and other areas.
The DUP boss told sympathetic MPs in the European Research Group (ERG) that only three or four of the group’s seven tests had been met at this point.
Sir Jeffrey also thought to have told MPs that shelving the unilateral protocol bill was “bonkers”, with his party keen for No 10 to ditch the “arbitrary deadline” of reaching a deal before the Good Friday Agreement anniversary in April.
Asked how close a deal was, senior ERG figure Sir Bernard Jenkin told Sky News: “I fear not very close, because the government has been strenuously trying to reach an agreement but within very narrow confines ... It would be unconscionable to sign an agreement with the EU which cements in place the protocol.”
If he faces a significiant rebellion on a deal, it could mean that Mr Sunak would have to rely on Labour votes to get it through – something that he would almost certainly want to avoid given the damaging impact on his premiership.
Mr Sunak appeared to confirmed that MPs will be given a vote on any deal. Challenged by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs to reveal whether a vote would be held, the PM said: “Of course parliament will express its view.”
Mr Starmer again offered to give Labour’s support to a Brexit deal – claiming that the basis of this deal “has been agreed for weeks”. He said Mr Sunak was still trying to “pluck up the courage to take on the malcontents, the reckless, the wreckers on his own benches”.
“He should accept our offer, ignore the howls of indignation from those on his side, who will never take ‘yes’ for an answer. Why doesn’t he just get on with it?”
Government insiders still believe a deal could be struck in the coming days – but have acknowledged it would slip to next week if not done by the anniversary of the start of the Ukrainian conflict on Friday.
Tory minister for veterans’ affairs Johnny Mercer said a protocol deal will not “sell anyone out”. Asked if he would be “happy” with whatever deal the PM strikes, Mr Mercer told Sky News: “We’ve got to operate in the real world, right?”
Allies of Mr Sunak believe he will push a deal over the line, despite warnings that some ministers could resign. One senior Sunak supporter said he “100 per cent” agreed that failing to forge a deal would strengthen Labour’s position.
On the ERG’s threats that an unsatisfactory deal could led to major backbench revolt, the MP said: “This is just some hardliners bluffing. They are tiny in numbers and most MPs remain behind the prime minister.”
Tobias Ellwood, chair of the defence select committee, told The Independent that the PM “should ignore the shrill voices that opine after a model of Brexit that a growing population can no longer relate to and will punish us at the next election if we don’t moderate our now-dated stance”.
Simon Hoare, Tory chair of the Northern Ireland affairs select committee, has previously told The Independent: “Let’s not mess around – let’s just get the bloody thing sorted and done.”
