Boris Johnson faces awkward 7-hour flight with PM after Brexit row
The Foreign Secretary is accused by the EU of "behaving, acting and speaking strangely" following his explosive article.
Wednesday 20 September 2017 17:36, UK
Boris Johnson is to share a potentially awkward seven-hour flight with the Prime Minister just days after his explosive Brexit intervention.
The Foreign Secretary and Theresa May will fly home from the UN General Assembly in New York together on Wednesday night, Downing Street has revealed.
It will afford the pair an opportunity to hold their first substantive talks since Mr Johnson set out his own Brexit blueprint in a 4,000-word newspaper article.
The Foreign Secretary was accused of "behaving and acting and speaking strangely" by a top EU official on Wednesday, with Brussels also viewing Mr Johnson's provocative actions as him abandoning the Government's position on Brexit.
Both Mr Johnson and Mrs May have attempted to dampen down the row caused by the Foreign Secretary's article, dismissing claims of fresh Cabinet discord ahead of the Prime Minister's major Brexit speech in Florence on Friday.
Mr Johnson himself quashed reports he could resign from the Cabinet if Mrs May offers too many concessions to the EU as she fleshes out her Brexit strategy.
The pair both attended a series of events at the UN gathering in New York this week, although the Prime Minister's official spokesman said he did not know if they had spoken to each other.
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The spokesman was also unaware if Mrs May planned to hold lengthy talks with Mr Johnson on their flight home.
Asked if the Foreign Secretary had threatened to resign in the days after his article was published in the Daily Telegraph, Mrs May's spokesman said: "I am certainly not aware of that, no."
Meanwhile, top Brussels official Liam Hogan, the EU commissioner for agriculture and rural development, suggested the bloc's senior figures have been left bemused by Mr Johnson's behaviour.
The Irish politician told the Evening Standard it was apparent the Foreign Secretary is "completely out of the loop" on Mrs May's Brexit plans due to his "completely contradictory" statements.
"Mr Johnson is behaving and acting and speaking strangely," he said.
"It's clear that his reputation is not good and he is a diminished figure in the Government."
Both the Prime Minister and Mr Johnson will arrive back in the UK in time for a special Cabinet meeting on Thursday, in which Mrs May is likely to reveal the contents of her Florence speech to her top ministers.
It has been reported the Prime Minister is preparing to offer a €20bn (£17.7bn) payment to the EU as Brussels demands the UK meet its financial obligations to the bloc after departure.
Responding to the Financial Times report, Mrs May's spokesman said: "There has been much speculation in front of this speech and I am sure there will be much more but it is exactly that."