In the past few days, Boris Johnson and his band of Brexiteer supporters have steadfastly refused to accept any responsibility for the unfolding chaos they have visited upon Britain, blaming everyone else but themselves. In his Mail on Sunday piece yesterday, without any sense of irony, the former foreign secretary asked: “Why are they bullying us? How can they get away with it? It is one of the mysteries of the current Brexit negotiations that the UK is so utterly feeble.”

Some in his party argue he and the 80-odd rabid Brexit champions in his party are trying to “bully” Theresa May into accepting the hardest of Brexits – something that cannot command a majority in the House of Commons.

Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Show all 14 1 /14 Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Internal divisions in the Conservative Party have exploded into a bitter public row over Boris Johnson‘s “disgusting” criticism of Theresa May. Some senior Tories furiously denounced the former foreign secretary after he accused the prime minister of having ”wrapped a suicide vest” around Britain Reuters Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Sajid Javid, Home secretary Sajid Javid, the home secretary, rebuked his former cabinet colleague and said: “I think there are much better ways to articulate your differences.” He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that the public wanted politicians to use “measured language” BBC/PA Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide But other MPs leapt to Mr Johnson’s defence, as dividing lines ahead of a possible leadership contest begin to take shape. The Uxbridge MP has repeatedly criticised Ms May’s Chequers plan and used a newspaper article on Sunday to suggest it amounted to “wrapping a suicide vest around the British constitution”. His latest salvo at the prime minister prompted immediate condemnation, with one minister publicly vowing to end Mr Johnson’s career over the matter PA Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Alan Duncan, Foreign minister Alan Duncan, a foreign minister who worked in Mr Johnson’s team for two years, wrote on Twitter: “For Boris to say 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.” Getty Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide James Brokenshire, Housing secretary Housing secretary James Brokenshire added his voice to the criticism, calling Mr Johnson’s comments ”wrong” He said: “I think he is wrong on this...I think the tone that he has used isn’t right and I think that we just need to be very focused on actually moving forward with the Chequers plan.” AFP/Getty Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Zac Goldsmith But as Tory hostilities spilled over into open public warfare, Richmond Park MP Zac Goldsmith, an ally of Mr Johnson, hit back at Mr Duncan. He wrote: “There are a number of possible motives behind this tweet, but given its author, we can be certain ‘principles’ aren’t one of them.” Getty Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Jacob Rees-Mogg Senior Tory Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg told The Independent he thought Mr Johnson’s “suicide belt” accusation was little more than “a characteristically colourful catchphrase”. He added: “I agree with the sentiment. The criticism of Boris’s wording merely serves to highlight his point. It means more people hear of Boris’s criticism of Chequers and many will agree with him.” Reuters Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Nadine Dorries Nadine Dorries, another Brexit supporter, said Mr Johnson’s opponents were “terrified of his popular appeal”, adding: “Don’t underestimate the vitriol that’ll be directed towards Boris today. He delivered the Leave vote, Remainers and wannabe future PMs hate him.” If Mr Johnson became leader and prime minister he would deliver a “clean and prosperous” Brexit, she said Rex Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Andrew Bridgen Andrew Bridgen said Ms May was to blame for her leadership problems. Asked if Mr Johnson had put a bomb under her leadership, Mr Bridgen said: “I think that Theresa May did that herself when she put forward the Chequers proposals without consulting widely prior to that.” Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Steve Baker, former Brexit minister Steve Baker, the former Brexit minister, warned Ms May the Conservatives faced a "catastrophic split" if she did not jettison her Chequers plan. Mr Baker, who quit the government in July over the scheme, said: “When negotiating, the prime minister needs to demonstrate her intent and also her power to deliver. "If we come out of conference with her hoping to get Chequers through on the back of Labour votes, I think the EU negotiators would probably understand that if that were done, the Tory party would suffer the catastrophic split which thus far we have managed to avoid.” But he insisted he did not want a change in the Conservative leadership, saying Brexiteers did “not want to be in a position of conflict with our own prime minister” Reuters Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Tom Tugendhat The deep divisions on the Tory benches were laid bare as Tom Tugendhat, who chairs the Commons foreign affairs committee and is a possible leadership rival to Mr Johnson, also hit out at the former foreign secretary. Recalling how he encountered a suicide bomber in Afghanistan during his time in the army, Mr Tugendhat told Mr Johnson to “grow up”. He said: “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 happy.” PA Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Alistair Burt Alistair Burt, another Foreign Office minister who worked in Mr Johnson’s team, said: “I’m stunned at the nature of this attack. There is no justification for such an outrageous, inappropriate and hurtful analogy. “If we don’t stop his extraordinary use of language over Brexit, our country might never heal. Again, I say, enough.” AFP/Getty Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide It comes amid that Ms May’s former aides drew up a dossier on Mr Johnson’s sexual encounters with the aim of undermining his leadership prospects. The document was compiled in 2016, when the Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP was seen as the main rival to Ms May in her bid to enter No 10. Downing Street and Conservative Campaign Headquaters (CCHQ) both denied having leaked the 4,000 word memo after it was circulated around Westminster AFP/Getty Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Mr Johnson confirmed that his 25-year marriage to wife Marina had ended AP

It’s unclear how the EU can have bullied the UK since the negotiations started last June, when they had no idea what the UK government’s position was and are still unsure what the line is. The reason the Chequers summit was convened early in the summer was because this “utterly feeble” excuse for a government (in Johnson’s own words) could not agree with itself what its Brexit position should be, never mind agree anything with the EU.

Even then, the Chequers proposals prompted ex-Brexit secretary David Davis and Johnson to resign. Now former Brexit minister Steve Baker is today saying the issue will split the Tory party – in other words, there is still no common position. Perhaps that’s because, behind all the bluster, every single one of them knows how much of a disaster Britain is hurtling towards.

In June 2016, Johnson said in his Telegraph column after the Brexit vote that “we can survive and thrive as never before” and that “at home and abroad, the negative consequences are being wildly overdone, and the upside is being ignored”. That was his patter before he took to comparing Muslim women to letterboxes and bank robbers, and before he indulged in making grotesque comparisons between suicide bombs and the actions of his prime minister.

Johnson’s chat is straight out of the playbook of Nigel Farage. We know that where Farage goes, Johnson follows. So, a few days before Johnson’s piece had appeared in 2016, Farage had said of Brexit on the Andrew Marr Show that “the worst case scenario economically is better than where we are today and gives us the chance to start thinking globally, and, by the way, bringing prices down for consumers”.

And what has happened to these predictions of Britain’s Brexit elite since the 2016 vote, bearing in mind we have not even left yet?

According to the Bank of England, the average family is now £900 a year worse off. As the governor Mark Carney said: “If you look at where the economy is today, relative to that forecast, it’s more than 1 per cent below where it was despite very large stimulus provided by the Bank of England, a fiscal easing by the government and global and European economies.” No wonder Jacob Rees-Mogg, chair of the hard-right European Research Group group of Tory MPs, is campaigning for Carney’s removal.

This may be peanuts to the Brexit elite leading the charge off the cliff-edge. But it is a huge amount of money to the “just about managing” families May said would always come ahead of the “privileged few”. And the Brexit this privileged few are pushing for will make those families even poorer.

Whether you voted Leave or Remain, nobody said it would be like this and no one voted for the chaos and incompetence on the British side of the negotiating table.

It gets worse, particularly if you belong to one of Britain’s ethnic minority communities. Yes, they have experienced the same economic fallout and see the damage felt by our public services. But our different diverse communities have felt something that we thought we would not have to live through again, certainly not in the same way as the first generation who arrived here decades ago like my father: the normalisation of the hatred that this Brexit debate has unleashed.

In Britain, the level of hate crime committed rose by 49 per cent in the weeks following the referendum. This is now backed by a substantial body of academic research showing that the referendum materially increased hate crime in this country during and after it occurred. The UN’s committee on the elimination of racial discrimination concluded that “British politicians helped fuel a steep rise in racist hate crimes during and after the EU referendum campaign”.

In the evidence they gave to the cross party Home Affairs Committee, anti-hate pressure group Hope Not Hate identified Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage and the campaigns of which they were a part for carrying a heavy responsibility for creating the environment in which this happened. In his exchange with me during the committee’s public evidence sessions on this in 2017, Nick Lowles, Hope Note Hate’s director, said: “I think that across the board there was a deliberate attempt to raise issues around such things as the Turkish passport. There were Boris Johnson’s comments on Obama. Those things all contributed to an atmosphere where fact and reality in a way did not matter. It was all about emotion. It was all about trying to polarise the public identity.” I could not put it better myself.

As a result, a small unpleasant minority felt licenced to engage in and vocalise hate due to the disgraceful nature of the Leave campaigns. Stoking hatred and division will be part of their appalling legacy: our BAME communities have already paid the price and are still doing so.

Instead of taking responsibility for it, what have the Brexit elite been doing while the disaster unfolds? Rees-Mogg’s City investment firm has shifted money to Ireland amid concerns about being cut off from European investors. Lord Lawson is seeking residency in France. Farage has built up a lucrative second career as a broadcaster off the back of Brexit. And Johnson sacked off trying to deliver what he argued for, resigned as foreign secretary and has gone back to his previously £275,000 a year column-writing. He is more concerned with himself and the Tory party leadership than the country.

So, of the many Brexit cons, few are greater than the idea that this is a fight for the people against the elite. It is now beyond doubt: Brexit is a project of the elite, for the elite – and we need to ensure everyone knows this before it’s too late.

Drinking in moderation

Last week my wife and I watched possibly one of the best documentaries I’ve seen in a long time, Drinkers Like Me, where the broadcaster Adrian Chiles takes a long hard look at his own drinking habits. It is intimate and funny, and yet alarming and worrying.

We can all recognise in Chiles our own habits and excuses when it comes to excess alcohol consumption, myself included. So compelling was the programme that it prompted me to download the Drink Aware app afterwards to monitor my own consumption, in an effort to reduce my own intake. Do watch the programme and why not download the app yourself here.

Drink Aware has also today launched, with Public Health England, their Drink Free Days campaign, to encourage us all to have regular alcohol-free days every week – I’m giving that a go too. I’ll let you know how I get on. Chiles has definitely done us a favour in candidly sharing his own habits, prompting us all to consider the damage we might be doing to ourselves through what we consider every day “moderate” drinking which might be anything but.