LONDON - Boris Johnson stepped down as
Britain's foreign minister on Monday, warning that Britain will
end up like a colony to the European Union after the government
announced plans for a close trading relationship with the bloc
after Brexit next year.
Below is the text of his resignation letter to Prime
Minister Theresa May, a copy of which Johnson released on
Twitter.
I am proud to have served as Foreign Secretary. It is with sadness that I step down: here is my letter explaining why. pic.twitter.com/NZXzUZCjdF
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) July 9, 2018
Dear Theresa,
It is more than two years since the British people voted to
leave the European Union on an unambiguous and categorical
promise that if they did so they would be taking back control of
their democracy.
They were told that they would be able to manage their own
immigration policy, repatriate the sums of UK cash currently
spent by the EU, and, above all, that they would be able to pass
laws independently and in the interests of the people of this
country.
Brexit should be about opportunity and hope. It should be a
chance to do things differently, to be more nimble and dynamic,
and to maximise the particular advantages of the UK as an open,
outward-looking global economy.
That dream is dying, suffocated by needless self-doubt.
We have postponed crucial decisions - including the
preparations for no deal, as I argued in my letter to you of
last November - with the result that we appear to be heading for
a semi-Brexit, with large parts of the economy still locked in
the EU system, but with no UK control over that system.
It now seems that the opening bid of our negotiations
involves accepting that we are not actually going to be able to
make our own laws. Indeed we seem to have gone backwards since
the last Chequers meeting in February, when I described my
frustrations, as Mayor of London, in trying to protect cyclists
from juggernauts. We had wanted to lower the cabin windows to
improve visibility, and even though such designs were already on
the market, and even though there had been a horrific spate of
deaths, mainly of female cyclists, we were told that we had to
wait for the EU to legislate on the matter.
So at the previous Chequers session we thrashed out an
elaborate procedure for divergence from EU rules. But even that
now seems to have been taken off the table, and there is in fact
no easy UK right of initiative. Yet if Brexit is to mean
anything, it must surely give Ministers and Parliament the
chance to do things differently to protect the public. If a
country cannot pass a law to save the lives of female cyclists -
when that proposal is supported at every level of UK Government
- then I don't see how that country can truly be called
independent.
Conversely, the British Government has spent decades arguing
against this or that EU directive, on the grounds that it was
too burdensome or ill-thought out. We are now in the ludicrous
position of asserting that we must accept huge amounts of
precisely such EU law, without changing an iota, because it is
essential for our economic health - and when we no longer have
any ability to influence these laws as they are made.
In that respect we are truly headed for the status of colony
- and many will struggle to see the economic or political
advantages of that particular arrangement.
It is also clear that by surrendering control over our
rulebook for goods and agrifoods (and much else besides) we will
make it much more difficult to do free trade deals. And then
there is the further impediment of having to argue for an
impractical and undeliverable customs arrangement unlike any
other in existence.
What is even more disturbing is that this is our opening
bid. This is already how we see the end state for the UK -
before the other side has made its counter-offer. It is as
though we are sending our vanguard into battle with the white
flags fluttering above them. Indeed I was concerned, looking at
Friday's document, that there might be further concessions on
immigration, or that we might end up effectively paying for
access to the single market.
On Friday I acknowledged that my side of the argument were
too few to prevail, and congratulated you on at least reaching a
Cabinet decision on the way forward. As I said then, the
Government now has a song to sing. The trouble is that I have
practised the words over the weekend and find that they stick in
the throat. We must have collective responsibility. Since I
cannot in all conscience champion these proposals, I have sadly
concluded that I must go.
I am proud to have served as Foreign Secretary in your
Government. As I step down, I would like first to thank the
patient officers of the Metropolitan Police who have looked
after me and my family, at times in demanding circumstances. I
am proud too of the extraordinary men and women of our
diplomatic service. Over the last few months they have shown how
many friends this country has around the world, as 28
governments expelled Russian spies in an unprecedented protest
at the attempted assassination of the Skripals. They have
organised a highly successful Commonwealth summit and secured
record international support for this Government's campaign for
12 years of quality education for every girl, and much more
besides. As I leave office, the FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth
Office) now has the largest and by far the most effective
diplomatic network of any country in Europe - a continent which
we will never leave.