FILE PHOTO: An anti-Brexit demonstrator waves flags outside the Houses of Parliament, in London, Britain, September 10, 2018. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union is trying to get a Brexit deal with Britain, a spokesman for the bloc’s executive said of Boris Johnson’s Tory Party conference comments.

Employing his hallmark vivid rhetoric on Tuesday, Johnson, Britain’s prominent Brexit advocate and former foreign minister, called on British Prime Minister Theresa May to drop her Brexit plan, saying it would “manacle” Britain.

“What we are trying to do is to negotiate a deal, that’s exactly what we are trying to do,” a spokesman for the European Commission told a regular news briefing on Wednesday asked about Johnson’s comments and whether the EU wanted to enslave Britain.

“It’s time to pursue these negotiations and bring them to a good end.”