Theresa May will seek to heal the rifts in her cabinet and bind them into backing her over Brexit on Thursday, after Boris Johnson changed his plans in order to fly back to London at her side.

The prime minister is convening a cabinet meeting on Thursday where she is expected to meet little open resistance to the thrust of a closely-guarded speech she will deliver in Florence on Friday, but differences remain about how close Britain’s future relationship with the EU should be.

May appears to have decided to make a direct pitch to EU leaders, some of whom she met on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York, amid frustration over the lack of progress in talks between Brexit secretary, David Davis, and the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier.

Davis and Barnier resume negotiations in Brussels next week, but Donald Tusk, president of the EU Council, will travel to London to discuss Brexit directly with May in Downing Street.

Speaking to journalists, May said, “the negotiations are structured within the European Union: so of course the council has delegated a mandate to the commission, the commission has appointed Michel Barnier. But the decision will always be one that is taken by leaders.”

The prime minister’s trip to New York was overshadowed by reports that Johnson could be close to resigning, in a split over the speech May will deliver in Florence on Friday.

But after the foreign secretary publicly backed away from the idea, her spokesman announced that he was expected to fly back to London alongside the prime minister on her RAF Voyager plane, to attend Thursday’s specially-convened meeting of the cabinet.

“Programmes permitting, the foreign secretary is flying back with us tonight,” May’s spokesman said, briefing journalists in New York. Johnson had been due to host an event on Somalia on Friday, on the sidelines of the general assembly.

Whitehall sources insisted May had not changed her speech since the foreign secretary’s article. However, backbenchers wanting a soft Brexit said they feared the prime minister would now be less bold.

They argued that the past year had convinced the government of the need for compromise. “Friday would’ve been opportunity to lay down sensible options but I can’t see that now,” said one MP. “It should be designed to kickstart negotiations. But if it is a fudge it won’t have any impact at all.”

One politician said even “supportive folk” thought Johnson had gone too far.

May’s former chief of staff added to the sense of disunity in cabinet with a column in the Telegraph. Nick Timothy claimed that the chancellor, Philip Hammond, was “on manoeuvres,” and the Treasury was refusing to see the positives in Brexit.



The prime minister will be flanked by Johnson and Hammond, at the speech in Florence, and hopes to persuade her fellow European Union leaders to allow Brexit talks to move beyond withdrawal issues, to Britain’s future relationship with the rest of the EU, when they meet in October.

Her speech is being read across government as a signal that she will take more direct control of the Brexit process. It comes after chief negotiator Ollie Robbins was moved from the Brexit department to the Cabinet Office to report directly to May.

As well as speculating about Britain’s future relationship with the EU, the foreign secretary’s 4000 word Daily Telegraph article also resurrected the claim that up to £350m a week could be diverted to the NHS after Brexit, sparking a row with the chief statistician, Sir David Norgrove.

The former international aid secretary, Andrew Mitchell, said the foreign secretary’s intervention would not be welcomed by those carrying out the talks with EU officials.

“The most important thing is for the Brexit negotiator to be given the space to achieve the best possible deal for Britain. In these circumstances senior colleagues delivering advice through a megaphone is bound to be unhelpful,” he said.

Sources suggested that Johnson was backed up by Vote Leave colleagues and had planned to deliver a major speech last Monday with Downing Street agreeing in principle with him layout out an optimistic take on Britain’s future outside the EU.

Gisela Stuart, who chaired Vote Leave, suggested there were worries among Brexit campaigners.

“Theresa May’s speech on Friday is important and it is important that whoever looks at this is clear that she intends to implement the outcome of the referendum.”

She highlighted the benefits of the Canada-EU trade deal, CETA saying it showed Canada could trade and retain sovereignty. Some Brexiteers regard a “CETA-plus” model as a good template for the UK.

Anne Marie Trevalyan, a Tory MP on the European Research Group of MPs desperate to deliver Brexit, said: “I’m looking forward to hearing [the speech]. This is another marker to progress the talks. There have been a lot of discussions over summer and more progress behind the scenes than they would admit to publicly.” She said trade was important both for Britain and the EU27.

Asked about a story in the Financial Times that May is preparing to offer to pay up to €20bn (£17.67bn) into the EU budget during a transition period, to secure continued access to the single market and customs union, the spokesman said: “There has been much speculation in advance of this speech and I’m sure there will be much more, but it’s just that.”

Johnson was understood to be concerned about aspects of a draft of the speech, and had the backing of some of his cabinet colleagues in rejecting the idea that contributions into the EU budget could continue after a transitional period.

Asked whether Johnson had threatened to resign after the furore over his article, the spokesman said: “The prime minister has been clear that they’re all working together and they’re all heading in the same direction.”