BORIS: Macron ' weaponising' migration crisis to undermine Brexit

Boris Johnson suspected Emmanuel Macron was ‘weaponising’ the small boats crisis to undermine Brexit.

In his sensational memoir, the former Prime Minister says the French President was so alarmed by the threat to his beloved EU project that there were ‘a host of issues where, given the chance, he would not hesitate to put his Cuban-heeled bootee into Brexit Britain’.

Mr Johnson’s new book Unleashed, which is being serialised in the Daily Mail, details his fractious relationship with Mr Macron, who saw Brexit as ‘a terrible snub to the EU and to his view of the world’.

Despite efforts to win him over, Mr Johnson says it became clear he ‘really meant it when he said Brexit Britain must be punished’.

In an incendiary accusation he suggests Mr Macron was even prepared to turn a blind eye to the people smuggling gangs plying their evil trade across the Channel in order to undermine the UK’s efforts to make a success of life outside the EU.

He writes: ‘It seemed at least possible to me that he was weaponising the problem.'

The book chronicles the fraught negotiations with the EU as Mr Johnson battled to rewrite a deal pursued by Theresa May which he dubbed ‘Brexit in name only’.

Mr Johnson also reveals that David Cameron deployed a crude carrot and stick approach as he tried to persuade him to back Remain in the 2016 referendum campaign.

The then PM offered to give him a ‘top five’ Cabinet job if he agreed to join forces and campaign to keep Britain in the EU.

But he later warned Mr Johnson he would ‘f*** you up for ever’ if he campaigned for Leave. Mr Johnson reveals, in colourful terms, that he was alarmed by the threat from his long-time friend and rival, but says it ultimately galvanised his decision to campaign for Leave.

He also discloses that he was sounded out by the then Chancellor Philip Hammond about leading coup against Theresa May when she lost her majority after a disastrous campaign at the 2017 election. He rejected the idea, deciding he would face a furious political backlash.

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It follows the disclosure in the Mail on Sunday that Mr Johnson now believes Covid started with a leak from a Chinese laboratory. In other extracts published by the Mail, Mr Johnson revealed he considered ordering a military raid on the Netherlands to retrieve Covid vaccines ‘kidnapped’ by the EU – and mounted a passionate defence of his conduct during the Partygate affair.

His new book also reflects on the Tory machinations that led to his downfall – and promises to reveal what he ‘really thinks of Rishi’.

Mr Johnson writes that when he finally became PM in 2019 he says Brexit was ‘stuck’, with Parliament, the courts, his own MPs and EU leaders all working to frustrate efforts to deliver on the vote to leave the EU.

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As the pressure built, he describes realising that failure would make him ‘look ridiculous, nothing but Theresa May in a blond wig – and I would be swept aside in a torrent of public indignation’

He says Mr Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel ‘wanted to rope-a-dope us, to see how long I could last. They were in an immensely strong position, and they knew it’.

Mr Johnson writes that he never wanted a No Deal Brexit, but became convinced that threatening it was the only way to get the EU to budge.

He says that controversial measures at home, such as his attempt to prorogue Parliament and his decision to boot out 21 pro-Remain Tories, helped to finally convince EU leaders he ‘might actually be mad enough’ to leave without a deal unless they gave way.

Mr Johnson reveals he later got a form of revenge on Mr Macron by signing the secret Aukus pact with the US and Australia, which led to the collapse of a deal for France to supply nuclear submarines to Australia – and which sent the French ‘tonto’.

Mr Johnson says Mr Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were united in trying to exploit their ‘immensely strong position’ in the Brexit talks, with the French President in particular apparently bent on giving the UK a ‘punishment beating’.