The former foreign secretary told Theresa May to "channel the spirit of Moses" as he argued she should drop her Brexit agreement and embrace a no-deal scenario if the terms cannot be changed.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he said: "If she cannot give that evidence of change - she should drop the deal, and go back to Brussels, and simply set out the terms that so many on both sides - remainers and leavers - now believe are sensible.
"Extend the implementation period to the end of 2021 if necessary; use it to negotiate a free-trade deal; pay the fee, but come out of the EU now - without the backstop.
I don't think Boris has really read Exodus. Moses murdered an Egyptian, got short shrift from Pharaoh, spent forty years in the wilderness during which some of his people bowed down before the golden calf and had to he given new commandments.
— Chris Bryant (@RhonddaBryant) March 24, 2019
"It is time for the PM to channel the spirit of Moses in Exodus, and say to Pharaoh in Brussels - let my people go."
I strongly object to @BorisJohnson's misuse of Exodus @Telegraph article. Britons are not slaves, the EU is not Pharaoh and Mrs May is not Moses. https://t.co/45BbE77891
— Robert Innes (@Bishop_Europe) March 25, 2019
Mr Johnson said ministers had "chickened out" of delivering Brexit this week. He encouraged Mrs May to provide "convincing proofs" of how the next phase of the negotiations will be different from the last to win support for her deal.
I hate to be pedantic but if we're invoking the spirit of Exodus that means we're heading for 40 years of resentful wandering around a desert eating pieces of bread found on the ground. https://t.co/PboRCGMbSF
— Harry Farley (@HarryFarls) March 25, 2019
He also wrote that a Norway/EEA/customs union proposal being supported by the likes of Nick Boles and Yvette Cooper would be "catastrophic".
The front page of tomorrow's Daily Telegraph: Boris Johnson: 'We have blinked. We have baulked. We have bottled it completely. It is time for the PM to channel the spirit of Moses in Exodus, and say to Pharaoh in Brussels – LET MY PEOPLE GO' pic.twitter.com/r0m99bgKme
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) March 24, 2019
He said the proposed arrangement for Northern Ireland post-Brexit was why the current deal on the table is "so rotten".
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