Boris Johnson Swears Loyalty To May At Tory Conference

Boris pitches for the Tory future as he delights activists with upbeat vision of Brexit and slap at Corbyn - but PM and other key figures SNUB conference speech amid fury at leadership manoeuvring....
Boris Johnson made his pitch to Tory activists with a rallying cry for Brexit and slaps at Jeremy Corbyn today - but was snubbed by the PM.

The Foreign Secretary set out his vision for a bright future outside the EU to a packed conference hall in Manchester, saying Britain will be freed to operate on the global stage.

In a barnstorming address that roamed well beyond his ministerial responsibilities and was littered with jokes, Mr Johnson vowed the UK would not 'bottle out' of Brexit and dismissed pessimistic predictions for the damage it would cause.

'It's time to be bold, to seize opportunities,' he said.

Mr Johnson also praised Mrs May for her 'steadfastness' and said the 'whole Cabinet was united', saying she would secure a 'great deal' with Brussels.

But Mrs May and other key ministers were not present to hear the rousing show, after a bitter row over his leadership manoeuvring.

The absence underlines the fury at Mr Johnson over his high-profile interventions on Brexit that have seemingly been designed to press his case for the top job.

Mr Johnson hailed the Commonwealth and insisted the UK would not be stuck in the 'ante-room' of the EU after negotiations were complete.

‘It is time to stop treating the referendum result as though it were a plague of boils or a murrain on our cattle or an inexplicable aberration by 17.4 m people,' he said.

‘It is time to be bold, and to seize the opportunities and there is no country better placed than Britain.’
Mr Johnson said Britain was the place where the ‘atom was first split’ and was now a ‘gigantic cyclotron of talent’.

The Foreign Secretary claimed: ‘We export a programme to Cambodia called Neak Neng Klay Chea Sethey, which means who wants to be a millionaire.

‘And it is thanks to the triumph of conservative values you are allowed to become a millionaire in Cambodia without being despatched for re-education by some Asiatic John McDonnell.’