Kemi Badenoch says UK is 'doing well' with Brexit
Boris Johnson has issued another attack on Rishi Sunak's record as he laid out his credentials as the guardian of Brexit.
The former prime minister, who was ousted by Mr Sunak's supporters in 2022 after being beleaguered by Partygate allegations, has issued a thinly veiled warning over a new deal with the DUP to reopen the Stormont Assembly.
In a post on social media platform X championing the biggest wins of Brexit on the fourth anniversary of leaving the EU, Mr Johnson warned that Mr Sunak could be destroying its legacy.
Mr Johnson hailed "the restoration of this country’s democratic power to make its own laws and rules".
But he insisted any agreement to re-establish a devolved government in Northern Ireland must not drag the UK back into the EU's orbit.
The ex-PM said: "Four years on from Brexit we celebrate the restoration of this country’s democratic power to make its own laws and rules.
"With those Brexit freedoms we have introduced improved standards for animal welfare, cut taxes on sanitary products, created greater flexibility for cutting edge industries from financial services to bioscience, done many global free trade deals - and it was at least partly thanks to Brexit that this country had the fastest Covid vaccine rollout in Europe.
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DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson (Image: Getty)
"We must retain the appetite and the courage to diverge from the low-growth high-regulation European model.
"We must at all costs avoid a return to anything remotely like the disastrous 'Chequers' formula whereby artificial concerns about the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland are used to keep the whole of the UK in alignment with EU rules."
Mr Johnson's intervention comes as the Government is due to publish the details of its deal with the DUP.
It also comes as Tory plotters are looking at ways of ousting Mr Sunak from Downing Street with party members still angry at the removal of Mr Johnson.
As he is no longer an MP, Mr Johnson cannot make a comeback as Tory leader immediately but he could help handpick a successor to Mr Sunak by recommending a candidate to party members.
The right of the party is already angry at the failure to stop the small boats and illegal migration with a major rebellion earlier this month on the Rwanda Bill which many MPs did not think was tough enough.
But there are also concerns that Mr Sunak is betraying Brexit with his Windsor Framework agreement on Northern Ireland which could see the UK tied to Brussels rules and regulations via the back door, according to critics.
Mr Sunak has reportedly pledged to bring in a requirement that all new laws are screened to ensure they will not create extra trade barriers in the Irish Sea.
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But hardline Brexiteers have warned it would make it almost impossible for Great Britain to diverge from EU rules.
The DUP has been using a veto power to block Stormont's devolved institutions for almost two years in protest at the post-Brexit arrangements that have created trade barriers between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
However, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson announced earlier this week that his party was prepared to return to Stormont, dependent on the UK Government implementing the various legislative assurances and other measures it has offered.
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