Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, has accused Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson of being unpatriotic quitters, after the pair stood back from leadership positions after the UK’s historic vote to leave the European Union.

“The glorious Brexit heroes of yesterday are the sad heroes of today,” Juncker told MEPs at the European parliament in Strasbourg. “Those who have contributed to the situation in the UK have resigned – Johnson, Farage and others. They are as it were retro-nationalists, they are not patriots. Patriots don’t resign when things get difficult; they stay.”

The head of the commission was informing MEPs about last week’s EU summit, when David Cameron reported to his fellow leaders on the UK’s vote to leave the EU.



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Cameron created a vacancy for the job of prime minister by resigning on the morning after the vote, despite a previous promise not to stand down. Johnson was widely tipped to succeed him, but pulled out of the Tory leadership race after his old friend and fellow leave campaigner Michael Gove announced he would stand against him.

In an act of high political drama, Gove declared that the former mayor of London was unable to provide “the leadership or build the team for the task ahead”.

Farage then announced on Monday he was standing down as Ukip leader, because he “wanted his life back”. The maverick politician will however keep his seat in the European parliament and remain co-chair of its Eurosceptic faction, the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy group.

Senior Liberal MEP Guy Verhofstadt, a former prime minister of Belgium, also slammed Farage and Johnson.

“Brexiteers remind me of rats leaving the sinking ship,” Verhofstadt said. “What are you waiting for – the next referendum in France, in Italy maybe.” But he also accused EU leaders of being irresponsible for refusing to change anything in response to the Brexit vote.

Juncker also repeated his criticism of British politicians who campaigned to leave the EU for not having a plan. The UK has yet to launch the article 50 procedure that starts its formal divorce from the EU.



“Instead of developing a plan they are leaving the boat,” Juncker said.

The president of the European council, Donald Tusk, repeated his warnings that the UK would have to accept the EU rules on free movement of people, if it wanted access to the single market. “We will not sell off our freedoms and there will be no single market ‘à la carte’,” he told MEPs.

All 27 heads of state and governments of the EU’s member states signed up to the line at a historic summit last week, when the UK was not represented for the first time in more than 40 years.

Since the shock of the Brexit vote, EU leaders have been consistent that the UK must follow the rules to have access to the single market. But leave campaigners have seized on remarks by other politicians that could show a crack in that consensus. Alain Juppé, a leading candidate in next year’s French presidential elections, has hinted that a deal may be possible on free movement that would allow the UK access to the single market.