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Published: 8:16 AM September 19, 2018 Updated: 6:04 PM September 17, 2020

Lord Heseltine wants the British public to have a say on the final Brexit deal Photo: PA / David Jones - Credit: PA Archive/PA Images

Micheal Heseltine has said Boris Johnson waits to see which way the crowd is running before jumping to the front and yelling 'follow me'.

The Tory grandee predicted Johnson would be the next leader of the Conservatives but outlined his deep reservations about the direction of the party,

'I suspect if they left him off the list the activists might write him in,' Lord Heseltine said on the growing support for Johnson from the grassroots.

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But he added: 'Boris was foreign secretary. He has been there for two years and has he come up with a viable alternative? No. I think when David Davis resigned Boris' worry then was he would lose the top slot in the Brexit campaign to David Davis and so he had to get out.

'But he had been in government as foreign secretary right at the heart of the dialogue with the people concerned and have we had a plan as to what he thinks should happen? No.

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'You have to see Boris as a career map. He works it out, he decides which way the wind is blowing ... a man who waits to see which way the crowd is running and then dashes in front and says 'follow me'.'

Presenter Susanna Reid added: 'That's devastating.'

Lord Hesletine continued: 'I am not a betting man. All I know is that leaving the European Union is the worse mistake this country has made for 50 years and I believe any deal that is done must go to the British people who at the moment have got no idea what kind of deal they were voting for in the referendum.'

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