BORIS Johnson has unleashed a blistering attack on Nigel Farage – branding him a threat to Britain’s economy and national security.
The ex-PM said he had “serious anxieties” about Reform’s stance on Russia.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Harry Cole Saves the West[/caption]
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and The Sun’s Editor-at-Large Harry Cole[/caption]
The ex-PM said he had ‘serious anxieties” about Reform’s stance on Russia[/caption]
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The stinging rebuke came after days after Mr Farage blamed a so-called “Boriswave” of legal migration for swamping Britain – accusing Mr Johnson of opening the floodgates after Brexit.
In a no-holds-barred interview on Harry Cole Saves the West, Mr Johnson said: “My concerns, and they are serious concerns, are about the approach to the economy of the Reform Party and the approach on our national security.”
Warning that Mr Farage’s line risked emboldening Vladimir Putin, he added: “We are going to need a Conservative government that is strong on defence and doesn’t believe to take a position at random, that the problem in Ukraine was that NATO provoked Putin. I think that’s extremely dangerous.”
Mr Johnson also ripped into Reform’s economic pitch, blasting them for wanting to get rid of the two-child benefit cap on benefits.
He said: “That’s ridiculous. How are we supposed to explain to hard-working people that their neighborus can take more and more money from the state?
He said: “That’s ridiculous. How are we supposed to explain to hard-working people that their neighborus can take more and more money from the state?
“We have got to reform welfare. We have got to spend less on public services.”
He mocked Reform’s rise in the polls, scoffing: “That party was on zero when I was Prime Minister… and that was because we got Brexit done.”
And he even cast doubt on its future, warning: “Who is to say whether that party will even exist before the next election?”
Asked if the Conservatives should strike a deal with Farage, Mr Johnson dismissed the idea out of hand, declaring: “The answers to this country’s problems are going to be Conservative answers.”
He insisted: “The Conservative Party is the oldest, most successful party in the world. It will come back.”
He singled out Kemi Badenoch as “easily the sparkiest and the most intellectually original” of all current party leaders, saying she had “the right ideas.”
But when pressed about his own ambitions, Mr Johnson dodged, grinning: “I am very happy… I’ve got a book I’ve got to finish and all sorts of stuff.”
And asked if he could have beaten Sir Keir Starmer at the ballot box last year, he beamed: “I’m convinced I would have beaten him.”
He warned Labour is driving Britain into decline, saying: “We have got unemployment rising again. We have got long-term interest rates. We’ve got yields on British government debt at a 30-year high.
“We’ve got people fleeing this country, investors fleeing this country.
“We are going to need a pro growth, pro enterprise, Conservative government.”
