Tory Eurosceptics rally round Boris Johnson as deal nears

The hardest Eurosceptics in the Conservative party are largely rallying round Boris Johnson after he promised them that the UK would leave the customs union and secure a quick free-trade deal with the EU.

However, they cautioned that the DUP would probably need to be on board for them to support any agreement and promised to examine every “tedious detail” of the legal texts to ensure the prime minister was keeping to his word on leaving the customs union.

Leaders of the European Research Group of MPs – Steve Baker, Mark Francois, Iain Duncan Smith and Bill Cash – were due at No 10 again on Wednesday night to discuss progress on the deal, which the DUP has not yet approved.

Baker, a leader of the 28 Tory “Spartans” who voted down Theresa May’s Brexit deal, said Johnson had given a “brilliant speech” to the 1922 Committee, another Conservative grouping, and an agreement “sounds like it could well be tolerable”.

Baker said: “The DUP’s red lines are that the whole UK needs to leave the customs union, and the prime minister has told us that’s what he’s going to do. Their other red line is consent in relation to regulatory alignment and I understand that will also be carried through.

“The PM has made it clear. It should be obvious to anyone now that we are very much hoping the PM succeeds in presenting us with a withdrawal agreement and political declaration that we will be able to vote for. I would not accept any allegation of a sellout on the union.”

Francois said: “It was very good. It was vintage Boris Johnson. It was enthusiastic. It was uplifting, it was positive. He said we are not quite at the summit. We are at the Hillary Step – the summit is not far, but at the moment there is still cloud around the summit.

“He didn’t mention the DUP at all. It was optimistic and upbeat. The other thing he said, though, was that if we cannot achieve a deal despite the best efforts of the United Kingdom, we will still leave the European Union at Halloween. He was absolutely crystal clear about that.”

Asked whether he could support a deal without DUP backing, Francois said: “We still don’t know the details. What we have said consistently is the ERG and DUP have always been strong allies. We’ve been friends throughout this process. We talk to each other all the time. It is not axiomatic we would follow whatever the DUP do, but particularly on anything that relates to Northern Ireland we would take their views very strongly into account.”

Another senior Tory Eurosceptic said: “He [Johnson] said there’s a good chance [we will get a deal] but we’ve still got a lot of work to do. I kind of neither felt positive or negative. I’ve reached a stage where for so long on these things I just watch and say, ‘We’ll see what we see.’ My view is, there’s some things they’ve got to do and go back in to discuss these things now.

“He clearly has to get the DUP on side. The feeling is upbeat. The vast majority want him to succeed. That’s the difference in a sense: there’s kind of a lot of goodwill for Boris in the party. The party is pretty much on board. We are on board until we know it’s time to climb off the board.”

Asked if he needed to see legal text before giving his backing, the source said: “You need legal text to get it through.”

Sir Bernard Jenkin, another Eurosceptic, said the fact that the EU had reopened the withdrawal agreement suggested that the refusal to support May’s deal had been vindicated, and he suggested he would be more likely to vote for an agreement this time. “There is very strong support for Boris in the parliamentary party,” he said.

Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader and a leading Eurosceptic, said he wished the prime minister good luck, adding: “We’ll see where we get to.”