Boris Johnson has accused Theresa May of wrapping a "suicide vest" around Britain and handing the detonator to Brussels.

Barely 24 hours after the former foreign secretary announced that he and his wife Marina Wheeler are to end their 25-year marriage, Mr Johnson used an article in the Mail On Sunday to dramatically turn up the heat on the prime minister.

He wrote: "At every stage in the talks so far, Brussels gets what Brussels wants.

"We have agreed to the EU's timetable; we have agreed to hand over £39bn, for nothing in return.

"Now under the Chequers proposal, we are set to agree to accept their rules - forever - with no say on the making of those rules. It is a humiliation.


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"We look like a seven-stone weakling being comically bent out of shape by a 500lb gorilla.

"And the reason is simple: Northern Ireland, and the insanity of the so-called 'backstop'. We have opened ourselves to perpetual political blackmail.

"We have wrapped a suicide vest around the British constitution - and handed the detonator to Michel Barnier.

"We have given him a jemmy with which Brussels can choose - at any time - to crack apart the Union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland."

For Boris to say that the PM’s view is like that of a suicide bomber is too much. This marks one of the most disgusting moments in modern British politics. I’m sorry, but this is the political end of Boris Johnson. If it isn’t now, I will make sure it is later. #neverfittogovern https://t.co/rdI0FWQhbi — Sir Alan Duncan MP (@AlanDuncanMP) 8 September 2018

Many of his Tory colleagues, however, reacted with anger, some saying he had gone too far.

Among them was Sir Alan Duncan, who wrote on Twitter: "For Boris to say that the PM's view is like that of a suicide bomber is too much.

"This marks one of the most disgusting moments in modern British politics.

"I'm sorry, but this is the political end of Boris Johnson. If it isn't now, I will make sure it is later."

A suicide bomber murdered many in the courtyard of my office in Helmand. The carnage was disgusting, limbs and flesh hanging from trees and bushes. Brave men who stopped him killing me and others died In horrific pain. Some need to grow up. Comparing the PM to that isn’t funny. https://t.co/IeRWhmhgS9 — Tom Tugendhat (@TomTugendhat) September 8, 2018

Fellow Tory MP Tom Tugendhat wrote: "A suicide bomber murdered many in the courtyard of my office in Helmand.

"The carnage was disgusting, limbs and flesh hanging from trees and bushes.

"Brave men who stopped him killing me and others died In horrific pain.

"Some need to grow up.

"Comparing the PM to that isn't funny."

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In the Mail on Sunday, Mr Johnson continued: "In a weird semi-masochistic way we have created the means by which the EU can bully us. We have conspired in this threat to the Union. We have put our own heads deliberately on the block.

"It is time to scrap the backstop, fix the borders for frictionless trade, and get back to the open and dynamic approach outlined in Theresa May's original Lancaster House speech - with a big Canada-style free trade deal.

"Otherwise, we should tell our friends they won't get a penny."

Mr Johnson's onslaught comes less than a week after he wrote in his Daily Telegraph column that the prime minister was "waving the white flag" in her negotiations with the European Union.

Tory MPs will see his latest broadside as further evidence of his determination to topple the prime minister, despite lurid revelations about his private life in recent days.

His attack comes amid reports of a "dirty dossier" on Mr Johnson being drawn up by Mrs May's supporters in an attempt to smear and damage his Tory leadership bid.