Theresa May slaps down Boris Johnson over Brexit intervention

Theresa May has slapped down Boris Johnson over his unauthorised intervention on Brexit, asserting her control over the negotiations as she batted away his demands.

The Prime Minister told reporters her government was "driven from the front" and "all going in the same direction" as she gave short shrift to the Brexit blueprint penned by her Foreign Secretary over the weekend.

"Boris is Boris," she said of his decision to write a 4,200 word article on his vision for Brexit, suggesting that he was politically isolated.

"I am clear that what the Government is doing and the Cabinet is agreed on is that we base our negotiations - as we have done - on the principles that we set out in the Lancaster House speech," Mrs May told reporters on a plane journey to Canada for trade talks.

"This Government is driven from the front and we are all going to the same destination because we are all agreed."

But the intervention was interpreted by Number 10 advisers as an attempt by Mr Johnson to bind the Prime Minister's hands just a week before she delivers her own landmark speech on Brexit in Florence.

It also threw into sharp relief once more the tensions at the top of Government over the Brexit negotiations.

Mr Johnson wants a short transition deal without large payments into the EU, in contrast to Chancellor Philip Hammond and Brexit secretary David Davis, who have argued that a deal could last up to three years - and could include substantial payments.

The Foreign Secretary made no reference to any transition deal - despite this now being Government policy.

He also repeated the Vote Leave claim that money no longer paid into EU coffers after Brexit can be spent on the NHS, again using the contentious £350m figure.

But the Prime Minister refused to support him on the use of the £350m, pointing out that the amount the UK pays into the EU coffers changes every year.

Her assessment dovetailed with the more forceful rebuke by Sir David Norgrove, chair of the UK statistics authority, who accused the Foreign Secretary of a "clear misuse of official statistics".

Mrs May also pointedly refused to accede to Mr Johnson's demand that money the UK no longer sends to the EU be rediverted into the NHS.

"That will be a decision taken at the time and taken by the Government. When the time comes we of course will take the decision about how best that money should be spent," she said.

Mr Johnson is keen to boost NHS coffers after Brexit, aware that a failure to deliver additional funds could anger those who voted to leave the EU.

"He just wants to be involved in decision making and also deliver what he campaigned for," said one senior Tory.

But the intervention appeared to have backfired, as fellow Brexiteers kept their counsel and Tory MPs expressed their anger, with one describing the intervention as "selfish" and "foolish".

Meanwhile, other Brexiteers in Cabinet - Environment Secretary Michael Gove, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and International Development Secretary Priti Patel - have also decided now is not the time to publicly challenge Mrs May on the negotiations, leaving Mr Johnson looking isolated in cabinet.