Boris Johnson today led a major backlash against Labour assembling a ‘surrender squad’ to reverse Brexit.
The former prime minister, who won the 2019 election on a promise to ‘get Brexit done’, accused Sir Keir Starmer of preparing to betray that vote after it was revealed a Whitehall unit of 100 civil servants is being set up to work on negotiations with Brussels to achieve the PM’s bid for a ‘reset’ of relations.
Critics have warned it will amount to taking the EU back into the bloc by stealth if the UK gives up some of its hard-won freedoms.
Lord Frost, Mr Johnson’s former Brexit negotiator, told The Mail on Sunday that Labour was creating a ‘surrender squad’.
And writing in today’s Mail, Mr Johnson accused Sir Keir of telling ‘bare-faced lies’ when he vowed not to take the UK back into the EU during the election campaign.
Voters had given him the benefit of the doubt because he had been so ‘po-faced, so prissily indignant about any challenge to his rectitude’, Mr Johnson added.
He accused the PM of taking millions ‘for fools’ and said he had no mandate for such a move. Aligning with EU rules would amount to ‘clicking our heels and bowing respectfully’, the former PM warned.
His powerful words were echoed by another ex Tory leader, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who accused Labour of ‘selling out’ to the EU.
Boris Johnson led a major backlash against Labour assembling a ‘surrender squad’ to reverse Brexit – he is pictured here at the Brexit trade deal signing in 2020
Keir Starmer meets European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels in October
‘Europe will do nothing unless they get something back in return. What do they want? They want the UK back under their control.
‘The only solution is the one thing this Government promised they would not do. Allowing us to be bound by rules in Brussels – that is a no no. That is the sell out. It will be a disaster.’ And former Brexit minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg added: ‘It is grandmother’s footsteps, Labour wants to take us back in by stealth hoping no one will notice.’
It came after former Tory leader Kemi Badenoch told the MoS: ‘In every negotiation – from trade union pay deals to the Chagos islands – Keir Starmer has given away everything for nothing in return.
‘The question now is what price we all pay for the Prime Minister to take us back to his EU comfort zone?’
The unit, which will be situated in the Cabinet Office, will have more staff than originially negotiated the Brexit deal, Lord Frost revealed.
He said: ‘This huge unit is getting ready for a major renegotiation – it will have more people than I had for the original deal with the EU in 2020.
‘Everyone in this Government really wants to rejoin the EU one day. Only public opinion is stopping them.
‘Unless we can stop them, the reset will end with this country once again in the EU’s orbit, gradually losing our ability to set our own rules and make our own laws.’
Keir Starmer, walks with European Council President Charles Michel, at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels in October
Sir Keir has said he wants to ‘reset’ relations with the EU ahead of formal talks on trade and economic ties which will begin next year.
In return, the bloc will demand a youth movement scheme, an acceptance of EU laws and the continued right for the European nations to fish in British waters beyond 2026.
The new team will be tasked with ensuring that any changes are permanent and cannot be undone by a future Tory government, according to insiders.
A source told the MoS: ‘The officials are being drawn from every government department, and they have been told that they will have full powers to demand whatever they need from any corner of Whitehall to make the reset work.’
The unit will reportedly be placed close to the door to No10 and run by a £200,000 a year civil servant with the title of Second Permanent Secretary, European Union.
They will report to Nick Thomas Symonds, the Minister for European Union Relations.
Sir Keir will meet European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and EU leaders in February, while Chancellor Rachel Reeves joined a meeting of EU finance ministers last week.
Brussels will make demands to align British rules to EU rules as the price for closer trade. The first phase is expected to be a security deal to be announced in February, and then a summit in the spring.
A government spokesman said: ‘This Government is resetting its relationship with the EU and wants to strengthen cooperation, to make people safer and tackle barriers to trade, to help drive economic growth. There will be no return to the customs union, single market or freedom of movement. The UK Government will always work to protect the interests of our fishers.’
A Cabinet Office source said: ‘The team includes members of the Windsor Framework taskforce, which was established to try to fix the huge holes left in Lord Frost’s botched deal when it came to Northern Ireland.’
They added that Lord Frost’s assertion that Labour wanted to rejoin the EU was ‘completely untrue’.