{"id":232721,"date":"2019-09-28T02:58:41","date_gmt":"2019-09-28T06:58:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=232721"},"modified":"2019-09-28T02:58:41","modified_gmt":"2019-09-28T06:58:41","slug":"uks-boris-johnson-defends-his-fraught-brexit-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/09\/28\/uks-boris-johnson-defends-his-fraught-brexit-language\/","title":{"rendered":"UK’s Boris Johnson defends his fraught Brexit language"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Johnson, a Conservative, took power two months ago with a \u201cdo-or-die\u201d promise that Britain will leave the EU on the scheduled date of Oct. 31, even if there is no divorce deal to cushion the economic consequences. (File Photo<\/a>: Boris Johnson\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LONDON \u2014 British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday rebuffed allegations that he was inciting violence by accusing his Brexit opponents of \u201csurrender\u201d and \u201cbetrayal,\u201d saying the only way to calm the simmering tensions was to stop delaying and leave the European Union.<\/p>\n

Johnson, a Conservative, took power two months ago with a \u201cdo-or-die\u201d promise that Britain will leave the EU on the scheduled date of Oct. 31, even if there is no divorce deal to cushion the economic consequences.<\/p>\n

With talks between the U.K. and the EU showing little sign of progress, Johnson’s foes in Parliament are determined to avoid a no-deal exit. Economists say leaving without an agreement would disrupt trade with the EU, plunge the country into recession and \u2014 according to Britain’s government watchdog \u2014 potentially interrupt the supply of essential medicines for patients in Britain.<\/p>\n

During raucous, ill-tempered parliamentary debates this week, Johnson said postponing the country’s departure would \u201cbetray\u201d the people, referred to an opposition law ordering a Brexit delay as the \u201cSurrender Act\u201d and brushed off concerns that his forceful language might endanger legislators as \u201chumbug.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opponents said Johnson’s language could incite violence. But he said the country’s social tensions were being caused by Britain’s failure to leave the EU more than three years after voting in a referendum to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you do that, then so much of the heat and the anxiety will come out of the debate,\u201d Johnson said Friday as he visited a hospital \u2014 part of unofficial campaigning for an election that looks set to come soon. \u201cGet it done and then we will all be able to move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Parliament, Johnson was repeatedly reminded that a Labour lawmaker, Jo Cox, was stabbed and shot to death a week before the 2016 Brexit referendum by a far-right attacker shouting \u201cDeath to traitors!\u201d Many British lawmakers say they routinely receive death threats now.<\/p>\n

On Friday, a 36-year-old man, Michael Roby, was charged with a public order offence after a disturbance outside the office of Labour lawmaker Jess Phillips, an outspoken critic of Johnson. She said her staff had to be locked inside when a man kicked the door and tried to smash the windows on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Amber Rudd, who served in Johnson’s Conservative Cabinet until she quit three weeks ago, said she was \u201cdisappointed and stunned\u201d by Johnson’s dismissal of their concerns. She told the Evening Standard newspaper that the incendiary language used by Johnson and his aides \u201cdoes incite violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson said that all threats to politicians were \u201cabsolutely appalling,\u201d but defended his use of the term \u201cSurrender Act.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe use of that kind of metaphor has been going on for hundreds of years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Johnson argues that he is safeguarding the will of the public against the interests of the political establishment, which wants to remain in the EU. In truth, the British public and its politicians are both bitterly divided over how, or even whether, to leave the 28-nation bloc.<\/p>\n

Church of England bishops appealed for calm amid the growing acrimony.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should speak to others with respect,\u201d the bishops said in a statement. \u201cAnd we should also listen … We should not denigrate, patronize or ignore the honest views of fellow citizens, but seek to respect their opinions, their participation in society, and their votes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson’s divisive senior adviser Dominic Cummings also dismissed concerns that politicians’ heated rhetoric was polarizing society, and said the government’s plan to deliver Brexit on Oct. 31, come what may, would succeed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to leave and we are going to win,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the National Audit Office said in a report Friday there was still a \u201csignificant amount\u201d of work to do to make sure Britain has enough medical drugs if it leaves the EU on Oct. 31 without a divorce deal.<\/p>\n

It said additional shipping capacity chartered by the government might not be operational until the end of November, a month after the Brexit deadline. Of the more than 12,300 medicines licensed in the U.K., about 7,000 arrive from or via the EU, mostly across the English Channel.<\/p>\n

Alan Boyd of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges said people with epilepsy were a particular concern in the event of any drug shortages, noting that \u201cone seizure can have a life-changing impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson insists he wants to strike a deal, but is demanding significant changes to the withdrawal agreement negotiated by his predecessor, Theresa May. That deal was rejected three times by Britain’s Parliament.<\/p>\n

Talks continued Friday with a meeting between U.K. Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and EU negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels.<\/p>\n

The EU, however, says it is still waiting for concrete proposals from Britain on maintaining an open border between the U.K.’s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland \u2014 the key sticking point.<\/p>\n

Barnier said after the meeting that \u201cit is essential that there is a fully operational solution in the Withdrawal Agreement to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barclay said a Brexit agreement was possible, but \u201cI think we are coming to a moment of truth in these negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will see if there is political will on both sides,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Britain says it doesn’t want to submit detailed proposals too early, in case they leak, but plans to do so before an EU summit on Oct. 17-18.<\/p>\n

EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said a no-deal Brexit would be a \u201ccatastrophe\u201d for both the U.K. and Europe \u2014 but if it happened, \u201cthe responsibility for this lies on the British side alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson’s political opponents have passed a law compelling the government to ask the EU for a delay to the U.K.’s exit if no deal has been struck by late October. Johnson is adamant he won’t do that \u2014 but also says he will comply with the law.<\/p>\n

A former Conservative prime minister, John Major, said he feared the government would use constitutional trickery to get around the law by suspending it until after the Oct. 31 Brexit deadline.<\/p>\n

International Development Secretary Alok Sharma refused to say whether the Cabinet had discussed such a tactic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are absolutely going to comply with the law, we are working incredibly hard to get a deal and we will be leaving on Oct. 31,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

Maria Cheng in London, Raf Casert in Brussels and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LONDON \u2014 British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday rebuffed allegations that he was inciting violence by accusing his Brexit …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":223962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-232721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-jill-lawless","mauthors-danica-kirka","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232721"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":232722,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232721\/revisions\/232722"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}