Boris Johnson Says PM Has 'Wrapped A Suicide Vest Around The UK'

Boris Johnson has said Theresa May has wrapped a "suicide vest" around Britain and has handed the detonator to Brussels, in an article in The Mail on Sunday.

He wrote:

"We look like a seven-stone weakling being comically bent out of shape by a 500lb gorilla.

"And the reason is simple: Northern Ireland and the insanity of the so-called 'backstop'. We have opened ourselves to perpetual political blackmail.

"We have wrapped a suicide vest around the British constitution - and handed the detonator to Michel Barnier.

"We have given him a jemmy with which Brussels can choose - at any time - to crack apart the Union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland."

The verbal attack on Theresa May has been condemned by some Conservative colleagues.

Tom Tugendhat, Former Army Officer and member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, found Boris's use of language extremely inappropriate, tweeting:

"A suicide bomber murdered many in the courtyard of my office in Helmand. The carnage was disgusting, limbs and flesh hanging from trees and bushes. Brave men who stopped him killing me and others died In horrific pain. Some need to grow up. Comparing the PM to that isn’t funny."

The former Army Officer saw 10 years of active service between 2003 and 2013 and served in the Intelligence Corps in both the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.