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Boris Johnson has urged Theresa May to “channel Moses” and tell the EU to “let my people go”.

In his weekly Daily Telegraph column, Brexiteer Mr Johnson also accused Mrs May of “bottling it completely”.

It comes after the former foreign secretary met the Prime Minister at a Brexit summit at Chequers, her countryside retreat, as Mrs May discussed whether there was sufficient support for another vote on her Withdrawal Agreement.

Mr Johnson wrote: “We have blinked. We have baulked. We have bottled it completely. We have now undergone the humiliation of allowing the EU to decide the date on which we may make our own departure. It is the EU that is now insisting that Parliament must vote – for a third time! – on its Carthaginian terms, if we are to be permitted to leave on May 22.”

He continued: “If she cannot give that evidence of change, she should drop the deal, go back to Brussels, and 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. It is time for the PM to channel the spirit of Moses in Exodus, and say to Pharaoh in Brussels – LET MY PEOPLE GO.”

Other Brexit hardliners such as Jacob Rees-Mogg and David Davis joined Mrs May for the Chequers talks on Sunday.

But after a weekend which saw more than one million people flood the streets of London in a march calling for a second referendum, a Downing Street spokesman did not offer any indication on whether the summit was successful.

He said: "The PM and a number of Government ministers met at Chequers for lengthy talks with senior colleagues about delivering Brexit.

"The meeting discussed a range of issues, including whether there is sufficient support in the Commons to bring back a Meaningful Vote this week."

Mrs May was battling to stay in power on Monday as MPs sought to seize control of the Brexit process in Parliament.

On Monday night, the Commons is due to vote on an amendment which would force a series of votes on alternatives to the Prime Minister's much-maligned Withdrawal Agreement.