Boris Johnson has delivered a rallying Brexit cry after warning GB News viewers that Sir Keir Starmer will lead Britain back into the “clutches of Brussels”.
The former Prime Minister, who was a leading figure in the 2016 Vote Leave campaign, also highlighted how leaving the European Union is already delivering a number of benefits to Britain on the fifth anniversary of the UK’s departure from the Brussels bloc.
Speaking directly to the People’s Channel, Johnson said: “Don’t listen to the pessimists and the knockers – from delivering the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe to cutting VAT on tampons to free trade deals – Brexit is already proving its worth.
“Now is not the time to drift back into the clutches of Brussels – as Starmer is proposing.
Boris Johnson with an inset of Keir Starmer shaking hands with Ursula von der Leyen
GETTY
“The Eurozone is stagnant and Germany has had two years of negative growth.
“Now is the time to double down on Brexit and take advantage of our freedoms from AI to gene editing to financial services.
“We need a Government that really believes in Brexit and we need the British ruling class finally to match the bravery and imagination of the 17.4 million people who voted to leave.”
Signing off his message to GB News viewers, Johnson simply added: “Viva Brexit!”
The former Prime Minister’s stint in No10 will likely forever be associated with the UK’s decision to leave the EU.
After campaigning to sever ties with the Brussels bloc in 2016, Johnson eventually replaced Theresa May as Prime Minister pledging to “Get Brexit Done”.
Johnson later secured a landslide victory against Jeremy Corbyn, painting much of the Brexit-backing Red Wall for the first time in living memory.
The 60-year-old, who has failed to rule out a return to frontline politics, has long hailed Brexit for its ability to give the UK the opportunity to rapidly roll-out Covid vaccines and even claimed it help Britain ramp up its support for Ukraine.
Johnson’s warning about Starmer, a former despatch box sparring partner of the ex-Prime Minister in the House of Commons, comes as EU leaders hope to put pressure on Labour to accept a youth mobility scheme.
Starmer’s Government has also opened the door to a customs-style arrangement under the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention.
Other potential Brexit betrayals include concessions on food and farm products.
However, Starmer consistently rejects any suggestion that his Government will unpick Brexit.
The Prime Minister, who served as Corbyn’s Remain-supporting Shadow Brexit Secretary, instead promises to “reset” cross-Channel relations with Britain’s nearest neighbours.
Starmer even appeared to concede that Brexit could help propel Britain forward as an artificial intelligence superpower.
Speaking earlier this month about his plan to develop AI, the once fanatical Remainer said: “You’re right to say there’s different models around the world, there’s a sort of EU approach, a US approach, but we have the ability to choose the one that we think is in our best interests, and we intend to do so.”
Johnson’s clarion call also comes as opinion polls show a massive shift in public opinion since the 2016 Brexit referendum.
Despite 52 per cent of voters backing Brexit almost a decade ago, a recent YouGov poll suggested that the proportion of Britons in favour of staying out of the Brussels bloc now stands at just 31 per cent.
