Ex-PM believes Boris Johnson sided with pro-Brexit vote after assessing it would help his premiership ambitions

Boris Johnson said that Vote Leave would lose the EU referendum just minutes before appearing on television to declare his intention to campaign to exit, David Cameron has claimed.

In an interview with ITV News, the former UK prime minister disclosed that Johnson had told him the campaign to leave the EU would be “crushed like a toad under the harrow”. Minutes later, Johnson appeared outside his then family home in Islington, north London, to say he would join the Vote Leave team during the 2016 referendum.

The timing of their exchange will be seized upon as further evidence that Johnson was surprised by the eventual result which brought down Cameron and finally led to Johnson himself taking over as PM.

Cameron said: “I spoke to him [Johnson] at length about it and I said, ‘Boris you’ve never been in favour of leaving the EU, so why now there’s a better deal on offer, are you in favour of leaving now?’”

‘Johnson is a liar who only backed Leave to help his career’ – David Cameron Read more

“He thought that the Brexit vote would be lost but he didn’t want to give up the chance of being on the romantic, patriotic, nationalistic side of Brexit.

“Minutes before he went out to explain why he was going to be on the side of Brexit, he sent me a text saying, ‘Brexit will be crushed like a toad under the harrow’ but I can only conclude that – he’d never argued for it before – he thought it was going to lose and that’s why he made the choice.”

Quick guide What Vote Leave leaders really said about no-deal Brexit Show Hide Boris Johnson, prime minister Johnson told the Treasury select committee in March 2016: “Our relationship with the EU is already very well developed. It doesn’t seem to me to be very hard … to do a free trade deal very rapidly indeed.” Speaking at a Vote Leave event in March 2016, Johnson said: “I put it to you, all those who say that there would be barriers to trade with Europe if we were to do a Brexit, do you seriously believe that they would put up tariffs against UK produce of any kind, when they know how much they want to sell us their cake, their champagne, their cheese from France? It is totally and utterly absurd.” Johnson, then foreign secretary, told the House of Commons in July 2017:“There is no plan for no deal because we are going to get a great deal.” Dominic Raab, foreign secretary Two months before the June 2016 referendum vote, Raab told Andrew Neil on BBC Sunday Politics: “We’re very well placed, and mutual self-interest suggests we’d cut a very good deal and it’s certainly not in the European’s interests to erect trade barriers.” During an appearance on the BBC’s Daily Politics in April 2016, Raab added: “The idea that Britain would be apocalyptically off the cliff edge if we left the EU is silly.” Michael Gove, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster In April 2016, Michael Gove said the UK would have the best of both worlds. “Outside the EU, we would still benefit from the free trade zone which stretches from Iceland to the Russian border,” he said. “But we wouldn’t have all the EU regulations which cost our economy £600m every week.” Liam Fox, former international trade secretary After the referendum, in July 2017, the then-international trade secretary Liam Fox said: “The free trade agreement that we will have to do with the European Union should be one of the easiest in human history. We are already beginning with zero tariffs, and we are already beginning at the point of maximal regulatory equivalence, as it is called. In other words, our rules and our laws are exactly the same.” Simon Murphy and Frances Perraudin

Cameron believed Johnson thought the Brexit vote would be lost but that backing it would be better for his long-term premiership ambitions.

“He’d never argued for it before and so why argue for it when there’s a better deal on offer – and as I put to him, there will be another treaty, another renegotiation. You might well be the prime minister at the time when that comes about and you can get an even better deal for Britain,” Cameron told ITV.

In the interview which had been planned to coincide with the release of his memoirs, Cameron reiterated he did not think Johnson was right to suspend parliament.

Timeline The plan to prorogue parliament and the court cases against it Show Hide

The story breaks The Observer breaks the story that Boris Johnson has sought legal advice on closing parliament for five weeks Leaks spread Other media organisations begin to receive leaks that Johnson will make a statement on prorogation Visit to Balmoral Three privy counsellors, including Jacob Rees-Mogg, travel to Balmoral to tell the Queen of the prorogation plan. Cabinet ministers are informed by conference call Protests and protestations Tens of thousands protest against prorogation. Cross-party group of MPs steps up preparation for blocking no deal when parliament makes a brief return Parliament returns Parliament returns and the prime minister loses six votes in six days. MPs vote to prevent a no-deal Brexit, and refuse Johnson's attempts to force them into a general election. Gina Miller case fails Legal campaigner Gina Miller vows to continue her “fight for democracy” after the high court dismissed her claim that the prime minister acted unlawfully in giving advice to the Queen to suspend parliament at a time of momentous political upheaval. Parliament dissolved Parliament is dissolved amid chaotic scenes as some MPs hold up signs saying they have been silenced, try to prevent Speaker John Bercow leaving the chamber, and sing the Red Flag. Scottish court ruling The court of session in Scotland rules that Boris Johnson’s decision to prorogue parliament for five weeks was unlawful. The case will go to the supreme court. Supreme court hearing The Supreme court begins three-day hearing to join together all the appeals and legal challenges to the prorogation. Supreme court finds prorogation was unlawful The judges unanimously decided that prorogation was justiciable, and it was in the power of the court to rule on it. They additionally found that the prorogation was unlawful, as it had the effect of preventing parliament from being able to carry out its constitutional functions. The court found that the prime minister’s advice to the Queen was unlawful, void and of no effect. Their unanimous judgement was that parliament had not been prorogued. Parliament goes back to work.

“We’ll wait for what the courts say. I don’t think it was illegal. It looked to me, from the outside, like rather sharp practice of trying to restrict the debate and I thought it was actually from his point of view probably counterproductive.

“In the end, we have to work through parliament, and you can’t deny the arithmetic of parliament and the majorities there are in parliament,” he said.

Cameron repeated his opinion that the 21 Tory MPs who lost the whip after voting against the government in a key Brexit vote last month should be offered a way back into the fold.

Q&A Who were the 21 rebel Tories? Show Hide Here is the list of the 21 Conservative MPs who voted with the opposition and against the government to seize control of the parliamentary timetable in order to pave the way for a bill to block a no-deal Brexit. They were then thrown out of the party by prime minister Boris Johnson. Guto Bebb, Aberconwy Richard Benyon, Newbury Steve Brine, Winchester Alistair Burt, North East Bedfordshire Greg Clark, Tunbridge Wells Kenneth Clarke, Rushcliffe David Gauke, South West Hertfordshire Justine Greening, Putney Dominic Grieve, Beaconsfield Sam Gyimah, East Surrey Philip Hammond, Runnymede and Weybridge Stephen Hammond, Wimbledon Richard Harrington, Watford Margot James, Stourbridge Sir Oliver Letwin, West Dorset Anne Milton, Guildford Caroline Nokes, Romsey and Southampton North Antoinette Sandbach, Eddisbury Sir Nicholas Soames, Mid Sussex Rory Stewart, Penrith and The Border Edward Vaizey, Wantage



“I hope that Boris will get a deal in Brussels, he will come back, try and bring parliament together to back that deal – I don’t see why those 21 people shouldn’t be restored to the Conservative whip. “If they’re not, I really worry about what could happen,” he said.

The former prime minister also repeated his regret over the divisions exposed in the country following the referendum, but still maintained that holding the vote was the right thing to do.

“I have huge regrets. I regret that we lost the campaign. I regret I let expectations about the negotiation run far too high. I regret some of the individual decisions we made in the campaign. I think perhaps there’s a case to say the timing could have been different,” he told Tom Bradby.

He added: “If you’re asking me; do I have regrets? Yes. Am I sorry about the state the country’s got into? Yes. Do I feel I have some responsibility for that? Yes. It was my referendum; my campaign; my decision to try and renegotiate. And I accept all of those things and people, including those watching this programme, will have to decide how much blame to put on me.”

Cameron, who will also appear in a two-part BBC documentary later this week, ruled out a return to frontline politics.

“No … I love this country. I care passionately about what happens. But I think the idea of going back to frontline politics is not going to happen, nor should it.”