Mrs May’s Italian job could see Boris quit
Downing Street puts Boris on "flounce-watch"https://t.co/tHZSpfJQBR
— Francis Elliott (@elliotttimes) September 14, 2017
You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off Mrs May, not lose your Foreign Secretary.
Overnight it was revealed that Mrs May will give a speech in Florence a week on Friday. The Telegraph says [she will] set out her vision of post-Brexit Britain in her most important speech about the EU since January. Downing Street announced that the Prime Minister would speak in Italy on Friday, September 22 and had chosen the venue to show that Britain was “leaving the EU but not leaving Europe.” Mrs May is expected to give fresh details about the future relationship she wants with the EU, but will not talk about how much money the UK is prepared to pay for the so-called “divorce bill.”
The Times is reporting that
Allies of Theresa May are trying to placate an “out of sorts” Boris Johnson for fear that he could disrupt the Tory conference or even quit.
The foreign secretary is angry at claims that he misled voters during the Brexit campaign about whether the UK would face an exit payment.
He is said to believe that he has been sidelined as Mrs May prepares to compromise over the divorce bill to unblock negotiations. One cabinet minister said that Mr Johnson was the biggest threat to the short-term stability of Mrs May’s administration. Downing Street has promised him a higher-profile role on Brexit but only after her big speech on the subject on September 22. Gavin Barwell, Mrs May’s chief of staff, is thought to be consulting Mr Johnson and Michael Gove, the environment secretary, over its contents.
The foreign secretary is thought to have two red lines: the size of any exit payments and no transition deal that lasts more than two years. One insider said that this could lead to key elements of the speech being “fudged.”
Ladbrokes are offering 8/1 as Boris Johnson as the next cabinet minister to leave, I suspect he won’t flounce, as it will be damaging to both he and Mrs May, like his predecessor in Henley, Boris knows, “He who wields the knife never wears the crown.”
I suspect Mrs May and Boris Johnson will maintain their self preservation society that seems to have been in place since 10 p.m. on June 8th.