UK POOL - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Rocester, Staffordshire - 18 January 2019

++AUDIO AS INCOMING++

1. Boris Johnson, former UK Foreign Secretary, arriving for the speech

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Boris Johnson, former UK Foreign Secretary:

"When 118 Tory MPs voted against this now deceased withdrawal agreement, it was because Leavers and Remainers were united in their dismay at a deal that keeps us locked in the Customs Union, unable to do free trade deals, unable to cut tariffs on our own, whether to make food cheaper or help African farmers - and a deal that turns us into non-voting members of the EU single market, forced to take rules from Brussels."

3. Johnson talking

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Boris Johnson, former UK Foreign Secretary:

"That's the deal, that's the deal.  You either give up control of your trade policy, you give up control of your industrial policy, your ability to to innovate with, for instance telescopic handles, or you give up control of Northern Ireland -  that's the deal on the table. Does that seem like a good deal to you? I don't think so. That's not Brexit. That's not democracy. That's a betrayal of the long term interests of great British companies. It makes me utterly furious that a UK government could even contemplate such an arrangement. And that is why Parliament has voted this deal down so heavily."

5. Journalist asking question

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Boris Johnson, former UK Foreign Secretary:

"Now is the time for us to go back to Brussels fortified with the emphatic, resounding mandate of parliament and demand real change to that backstop. And this time we must mean it, so that Britain can get out unilaterally."

7. Journalists asking question

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Boris Johnson, former UK Foreign Secretary:

"I think the public would have the strong and altogether justified impression of an elite conspiracy to thwart Brexit. To extend Article 50 now would do nothing but erode trust in politics."

9. Johnson talking

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Boris Johnson, former UK Foreign Secretary:

"If we hold our nerve, I believe we can deliver not a pseudo Brexit, a fake Brexit in which we leave the EU but end up being run by the EU, but the Brexit people voted for, with all the potential advantages and opportunities. And if we get it right now and we have some courage, we can forestall all the years of wrangling and uncertainty that I'm afraid will be the legacy of agreeing this deal. And we can stop going on miserably about the whole process of Brexit - which I think people have had enough of - and start talking about what Brexit can do for the people of this country and bring this country together."

11. Audience applauding

12. SOUNDBITE (English) Boris Johnson, former UK Foreign Secretary:

"I think it's highly unlikely that that will be the outcome. I think a snap election is not the right way through. Why call a snap election when you can just go back to Brussels and and make the point that this deal is unacceptable and we want a better one? And it's so overwhelmingly in their (EU's) interests to do better and they can. So that's where we should be focusing."

13. Johnson leaving

Former British foreign secretary Boris Johnson has urged Prime Minister Theresa May to use her crushing parliamentary defeat as leverage to get a better Brexit deal from European Union leaders.

In a speech on Friday, Johnson said May would be able to persuade EU leaders to substantially modify her EU withdrawal plan if she shows enough "gumption".

He described her plan as "deceased".

Extending Article 50 to delay departure would suggest an "elite conspiracy to thwart Brexit", he added.

Johnson said the scope of her historic defeat in Parliament meant EU leaders would know they have to make concessions in order to come up with an agreement that would win parliamentary approval.

He dodged a question as to whether he would support May as Conservative Party leader if she called a sudden election to try to end the Brexit stalemate.

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