UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson arrived in Washington on a full court press in defense of the Iran nuclear deal, taking to the airwaves on Fox News and meeting Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to not just defend the agreement but also warn against the US pursuing a military option against Tehran.

President Donald Trump, long hostile to the Iran deal, has hinted that he will walk away from it. On Monday he tweeted that he would be announcing his decision at 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday and earlier in the day in another tweet he dismissed the 2015 pact as a "mess."

Appearing on one of the President's favorite TV programs, "Fox & Friends," Johnson asked what the US plan would be if Trump decides to opt out. Many in Washington wonder about the possibility of a military strike against Tehran -- particularly with the recent appointment of national security adviser John Bolton, a hawk on Iran.

"Are we seriously saying that we will bomb those facilities ... is that really a realistic possibility?" Johnson asked.

Johnson also warned in the interview about the consequences of scrapping the deal negotiated by the US, UK, France, Germany, China, Russia and the European Union. It offered Iran nuclear-related sanctions relief in exchange for strict curbs on its nuclear program, which would no longer apply if Iran decides to leave the deal as well.

"If they do get a nuclear weapon, you're going to get an arms race in the Middle East," Johnson said. "You're going to have the Saudis wanting one, the Egyptians wanting one, the Emiratis. It's already a very, very dangerous state at the moment, we don't want to go down that road. There doesn't seem to me at the moment to be a viable military solution." Besides meeting Pompeo, Johnson has made a slew of media appearances aimed at convincing the US to remain in the deal, and has meetings scheduled with Bolton and Vice President Mike Pence. The British Cabinet minister is just the latest European official to come to Washington to make the case for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the deal is formally known. The Europeans have been stressing that Trump's complaints are about activities not covered by the pact -- including Iran's missile program and its regional activities -- and can be dealt with separately. John Kerry engaging in shadow diplomacy to salvage Iran deal: The Boston Globe French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Washington in April to make the case and emphasize that they also have concerns with Iran's actions outside the parameters of the deal. Macron suggested a new and separate treaty-level agreement to deal with the other issues that trouble Trump, sources tell CNN. Johnson wrote a New York Times op-ed laying out the European argument in favor of staying in the deal. He also had the distinction of being the first foreign minister to visit Pompeo and sign his official guest book. Johnson and Pompeo appeared briefly before reporters at the State Department to shake hands before a phalanx of British and American flags, but they declined to answer questions.</s>Why did this happen?

Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy.</s>UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson arrived in Washington on a full court press in defense of the Iran nuclear deal, taking to the airwaves on Fox News and meeting Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to not just defend the agreement but also warn against the US pursuing a military option against Tehran.

President Donald Trump, long hostile to the Iran deal, has hinted that he will walk away from it. He's expected to make a decision on or near Saturday, the next deadline for him to decide whether to stay or go. In a tweet on Monday, he dismissed the 2015 pact as a "mess."

Appearing on one of the President's favorite TV programs, "Fox & Friends," Johnson asked what the US plan would be if Trump decides to opt out. Many in Washington wonder about the possibility of a military strike against Tehran -- particularly with the recent appointment of national security adviser John Bolton, a hawk on Iran.

"Are we seriously saying that we will bomb those facilities ... is that really a realistic possibility?" Johnson asked.

Johnson also warned in the interview about the consequences of scrapping the deal negotiated by the US, UK, France, Germany, China, Russia and the European Union. It offered Iran nuclear-related sanctions relief in exchange for strict curbs on its nuclear program, which would no longer apply if Iran decides to leave the deal as well.

"If they do get a nuclear weapon, you're going to get an arms race in the Middle East," Johnson said. "You're going to have the Saudis wanting one, the Egyptians wanting one, the Emiratis. It's already a very, very dangerous state at the moment, we don't want to go down that road. There doesn't seem to me at the moment to be a viable military solution." Besides meeting Pompeo, Johnson has made a slew of media appearances aimed at convincing the US to remain in the deal, and has meetings scheduled with Bolton and Vice President Mike Pence. The British Cabinet minister is just the latest European official to come to Washington to make the case for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the deal is formally known. The Europeans have been stressing that Trump's complaints are about activities not covered by the pact -- including Iran's missile program and its regional activities -- and can be dealt with separately. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Washington in April to make the case and emphasize that they also have concerns with Iran's actions outside the parameters of the deal. Macron suggested a new and separate treaty-level agreement to deal with the other issues that trouble Trump, sources tell CNN. Johnson wrote a New York Times op-ed laying out the European argument in favor of staying in the deal. He also had the distinction of being the first foreign minister to visit Pompeo and sign his official guest book. Johnson and Pompeo appeared briefly before reporters at the State Department to shake hands before a phalanx of British and American flags, but they declined to answer questions.</s>Theresa May still has confidence in Boris Johnson, her spokesman said, after the UK foreign secretary described his boss's post-Brexit trade policy with the European Union as "crazy".

[LONDON] Theresa May still has confidence in Boris Johnson, her spokesman said, after the UK foreign secretary described his boss's post-Brexit trade policy with the European Union as "crazy".

The prime minister's proposal for a customs partnership with the EU - a complicated plan that would keep the UK closer to the bloc than Brexit backers would like - was rejected by most of her Cabinet last week and euroskeptics declared it dead. Mrs May is optimistic her ministers will agree on a way forward, her spokesman, James Slack, told reporters in London.

"There were good discussions last week and we are working to refine those models," Mr Slack said. "December 2020, we will be leaving the customs union."

Under a customs partnership, the UK would collect tariffs on behalf of the EU and then refund exempt businesses.

Mr Johnson said in an interview with the Daily Mail that Mrs May's plan was "totally untried" and a "crazy system" for organising customs and borders after the divorce.

It's "not taking back control of your trade policy, it's not taking back control of your laws, it's not taking back control of your borders and it's actually not taking back control of your money either," he said.

But Mrs May needs her plan to survive as her team sees it as the only way to deliver the Brexit she has promised. The alternative would be a messy no-deal split or staying in the EU's customs union - would be seen as a breach of her word that would probably prompt a leadership challenge.</s>Boris Johnson has made an astonishing public attack on Theresa May's 'crazy' customs plan, as the Tory Brexit rift deepens.

His intervention is set to stoke tensions in the party as ministers remain in deadlock over how to deal with trade with the EU after Britain leaves.

The Foreign Secretary said proposals favoured by Theresa May would create a "whole new web of bureaucracy".

During a visit to the United States, he said forging ahead with the option would not comply with promises to take back control, and would hamper the UK's ability to strike trade deals.

Divisions over how to proceed erupted at a " war cabinet " where Brexiteers rejected the customs partnership option.

But they believe a revised version will be put forward by No 10.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Mr Johnson said: "It's totally untried and would make it very, very difficult to do free trade deals.

"If you have the new customs partnership, you have a crazy system whereby you end up collecting the tariffs on behalf of the EU at the UK frontier."

Business Secretary Greg Clark stressed on Sunday that thousands of British jobs depend on frictionless trade with Europe, in what was viewed as an attempt to revive the customs partnership model.

The "war cabinet" met last week, but failed to reach agreement on whether to back the hybrid customs partnership - which would see the UK collect import duties on behalf of the EU for goods arriving via British ports and airports - or the so-called "maximum facilitation" or "max fac" model relying on the extensive use of technology to minimise checks at the border.

It comes as Mrs May faces two more parliamentary defeats on her Brexit plan as it nears its final stages in the House of Lords.

Peers want to remove the Prime Minister's planned exit day of March 29 2019 from flagship legislation that takes Britain out of the European Union.

A second amendment would allow EU laws to be replicated in the UK and allow future participation in its agencies.

Both proposed changes to the EU Withdrawal Bill have cross-party support in the upper chamber, which means they are likely to win in a vote.

The legislation returns for its sixth and final day at report stage in the Lords and will return for third reading on Wednesday.

Shadow Brexit minister Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town said: "On the final day of Lords Report, the main focus of our cross-party efforts to ensure the Bill is fit for purpose will be twofold.

"First, to ensure the UK continues to have strong working relations with EU agencies post-Brexit - something entirely in line with the Prime Minister's recent Mansion House speech.

"Second, to introduce greater flexibility into how we leave the EU than currently allowed for by the Government's 'fixed exit day' amendment.

"Introduced during the Commons stages of the Bill and driven no doubt by political PR, putting such a definitive deadline into law could have a negative impact on the final round of negotiations.

"On both issues, there is nothing to stop ministers coming forward with late concessions.

"Failing that, and as we've seen over the past few weeks, Peers won't be shy in giving MPs further opportunities to scrutinise the fine detail of this Bill."

So far, the Government has suffered 10 defeats at the hands of peers, including over a customs union and giving a decisive say to Parliament on the Brexit talks.

Meanwhile, a further change has been proposed to the legislation that would require the Government to negotiate continued membership of the EEA.

Labour peers will be ordered to abstain because it goes against official party policy.</s>
• Boris Johnson calls on May to ditch her “crazy” plans to form a ‘customs partnership’ with the EU.
• May and her team have asked Johnson and the rest of her cabinet to back her plans, which they believe would prevent a hard border with Northern Ireland.
• However, Johnson and other senior Brexiteers in May’s cabinet believe doing so would restrict the UK from signing trade deals after Brexit.
• Both May and Johnson’s preferred options for replacing the customs union after Brexit have been rejected by the EU.

LONDON – Theresa May’s plans to form a “customs partnership” with the EU after Brexit are “crazy,” and must be ditched, the foreign secretary has said in the clearest public attack yet on the prime minister’s authority.

Boris Johnson told the Daily Mail that May was attempting to create a “crazy system” which would break the key Brexit campaign pledge to “take back control” of Britain’s trading system from the EU.

“If you have the new customs partnership, you have a crazy system whereby you end up collecting the tariffs on behalf of the EU at the U.K. frontier,” Johnson told the Mail.

“If the EU decides to impose punitive tariffs on something the U.K. wants to bring in cheaply, there’s nothing you can do. That’s not taking back control of your trade policy, it’s not taking back control of your laws, it’s not taking back control of your borders and it’s actually not taking back control of your money either, because tariffs would get paid centrally back to Brussels.

He added: “It’s totally untried and would make it very, very difficult to do free trade deals.”

Johnson’s comments are privately backed by other senior Brexiteers in May’s Cabinet, including the Brexit secretary David Davis and the Environment Secretary Michael Gove. However, they are at complete odds with the prime minister and her team who are still pushing for her plans to develop a ‘customs partnership’ with the EU.

Johnson’s preferred alternative of creating a new ‘maximum facilitation’ system would involve a new ‘trusted trader’ system, but would also produce border checks in Northern Ireland, which politicians from all side have warned would be a serious risk to the peace process in the province.

Both options would take up to five years to implement and have already been ruled out by EU officials as “magical thinking,” with the Irish government threatening to veto any deal that does not retain current loose customs relations between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

UK government officials have been tasked with finding a third compromise option, with a spokesman for May saying last week that the government’s policy on customs was now “evolving” as they looked at “a number of options” for resolving the issue.

Discussions about the issue, originally timetabled for a meeting of May’s inner cabinet on Thursday, have reportedly been delayed while officials seek a compromise.

Johnson’s comments, while publicly questioning May’s position, are unlikely to be judged as a breach of the cabinet’s ‘collective responsibility’ given that the government’s official policy on customs has not yet been finalised.

However, his public denouncement of plans being personally pushed by the prime minister is the clearest public test of her authority yet by a senior member of her cabinet and is likely to prompt a public response from May’s spokesman when he appears before journalists on Tuesday lunchtime.</s>LONDON — Theresa May's plans to form a "customs partnership" with the EU after Brexit are "crazy," and must be ditched, the foreign secretary has said in the clearest public attack yet on the prime minister's authority.

Boris Johnson told the Daily Mail that May was attempting to create a "crazy system" which would break the key Brexit campaign pledge to "take back control" of Britain's trading system from the EU.

"If you have the new customs partnership, you have a crazy system whereby you end up collecting the tariffs on behalf of the EU at the U.K. frontier," Johnson told the Mail.

"If the EU decides to impose punitive tariffs on something the U.K. wants to bring in cheaply, there's nothing you can do. That's not taking back control of your trade policy, it's not taking back control of your laws, it's not taking back control of your borders and it's actually not taking back control of your money either, because tariffs would get paid centrally back to Brussels."

He added: "It's totally untried and would make it very, very difficult to do free trade deals."

One ally of the foreign secretary told the Sun that Johnson is "completely fed up. He thinks he is the only one pushing Brexit now."

A spokesperson for May today declined to criticise the foreign secretary on Tuesday, saying only that "the entire cabinet [is] signed up to," the two Customs options under consideration, while acknowledging "that there are unresolved issues in relation to both models and that further work is needed."

Johnson's comments are privately backed by other senior Brexiteers in May's Cabinet, including the Brexit secretary David Davis and the Environment Secretary Michael Gove. However, they are at complete odds with the prime minister and her team who are still pushing for her plans to develop the "customs partnership" with the EU.

Both Johnson and Davis have reportedly threatened to resign over the issue as private Cabinet divisions over Brexit increasingly go public.

Senior EU officials are reportedly increasingly worried that Brexit negotiations could collapse as "hardliners" restrict May from securing a deal.

Johnson's preferred alternative of creating a new 'maximum facilitation' system would involve a new 'trusted trader' system, but would also produce border checks in Northern Ireland, which politicians from all side have warned would be a serious risk to the peace process in the province.

Both options would take up to five years to implement and have already been ruled out by EU officials as "magical thinking," with the Irish government threatening to veto any deal that does not retain current loose customs relations between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

UK government officials have been tasked with finding a third compromise option, with a spokesman for May saying last week that the government's policy on customs was now "evolving" as they looked at "a number of options" for resolving the issue.

Discussions about the issue, originally timetabled for a meeting of May's inner cabinet on Thursday, have reportedly been delayed while officials seek a compromise.

Johnson's comments, while publicly questioning May's position, are unlikely to be judged as a breach of the cabinet's 'collective responsibility' given that the government's official policy on customs has not yet been finalised.

However, his public denouncement of plans being personally pushed by the prime minister is the clearest public test of her authority yet by a senior member of her cabinet and is likely to prompt a public response from May's spokesman when he appears before journalists on Tuesday lunchtime.

Our Brexit Insider Facebook group is the best place for up-to-date news and analysis about Britain's departure from the EU, direct from Business Insider's political reporters. Join here.</s>In Westminster Brexit politics, the threat of a Boris Johnson resignation has been the talk of the tea rooms almost since the day he joined the Cabinet as foreign secretary back in July 2016.

The poster boy for the campaign to leave the European Union feels it is his duty to interpret what Brexit means, and allies are quick to brief threats of his departure whenever he (or they) believe Brexit needs a course correction.

That resignation threat is again implicit in Johnson’s all-out attack in a Daily Mail interview on the “crazy” customs partnership plan: Theresa May’s preferred option for solving the post-Brexit customs dilemma.

“If you have the new customs partnership, you have a crazy system whereby you end up collecting the tariffs on behalf of the EU at the U.K. frontier,” he said. “That’s not taking back control of your trade policy, it’s not taking back control of your laws, it’s not taking back control of your borders and it’s actually not taking back control of your money either.”

It’s worth noting that we’ve been here before.

Cast your mind back to September when May was getting ready for her Florence speech that laid the groundwork for significant concessions in the Brexit talks. Ahead of the speech, Johnson published a 4,000 word article laying out his vision for how Brexit can “succeed mightily.”

There were threats — conveyed via “friends” — to resign if May gave up too much in Florence, although Johnson himself later denied them. And then after the speech, the foreign secretary laid out four Brexit red lines in an interview with the Sun newspaper.

Two of those red lines on single market access are still up for discussion in the Brexit talks but two concerned the now provisionally settled transition agreement. On its duration, Johnson got his way. He wanted not a “second more” than two years, although he may count himself lucky that EU negotiators were on his side in also wanting a short transition to fit with the current EU budget cycle — 21 months.

But on his refusal to accept “EU or ECJ rulings” during the transition, Johnson was less successful. British negotiators failed to get their way — beyond providing some political cover for May via a clause committing both sides to act in good faith and an EU agreement to consult on other issues.

Johnson’s government strode over his red line in March but the foreign secretary stayed put at his desk in King Charles Street. Why?

First, the compromise was forced at the negotiating table in Brussels rather than being the government’s policy and second, it took six months to breach Johnson’s red line — enough time for most people to have forgotten about it.

Neither of those things apply this time. The customs argument will likely come to a head in Cabinet in the next couple of weeks, and this is a tussle over the government’s starting position in negotiations — not what it will eventual accept.

A fudge may yet be found to prevent either faction in Cabinet losing face, but if it can’t, Johnson will know all about the fable of the boy who cried wolf one too many times.

This insight is from POLITICO‘s Brexit Files newsletter, a daily afternoon digest of the best coverage and analysis of Britain’s decision to leave the EU available to Brexit Pro subscribers. Sign up here.</s>British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has attacked Prime Minister Theresa May's plan for a customs partnership with the European Union after the U.K. leaves the bloc — the latest outbreak of discord within the government over Brexit.

Johnson told Tuesday's edition of the Daily Mail newspaper that the partnership idea was "crazy" and would create a "whole new web of bureaucracy."

The comments come after May's Cabinet last week failed to agree on a proposal for Britain's future customs relationship with the EU. May's preferred option is a partnership under which the U.K. would collect import duties on behalf of the EU for goods arriving at British ports.

Johnson said May's idea was "totally untried and would make it very, very difficult to do free trade deals."

His dismissal of the proposal stands in marked contrast to comments by Business Secretary Greg Clark on Sunday that the customs partnership option was still being considered by the government.

May's Cabinet is split between ministers including Johnson who favor a clean-break "hard Brexit," which would leave Britain freer to strike new trade deals around the world, and those including Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond who want to keep closely aligned to the EU, Britain's biggest trading partner.

The two sides remain at loggerheads, almost two years after Britain voted to leave the EU and less than a year before it officially exits the bloc on March 29, 2019.

That has led May, who heads an unstable minority government, to put off taking a firm stand on key Brexit issues for as long as possible — to the frustration of EU leaders, who have warned repeatedly that time is running short to strike a deal.</s>Boris Johnson today faced a veiled call to resign from within his own party, after giving an incendiary interview to a national newspaper in which he called Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposed “customs partnership” with the European Union after Brexit “crazy”.

Dominic Grieve, the Conservative MP for Beaconsfield, told the BBC’s World at One: “It’s certainly undesirable in my view that, when you are having cabinet discussions about the best way forwards, members of the cabinet should use the press to articulate their own view in the terms in which Boris Johnson has done it.

“I have an old-fashioned view of what cabinet responsibility entails, which is that the discussions in government on any given matter are confidential until the time is reached when the government have a collective position.

“If you don’t like the collective decision, then at that stage you’ve got to resign.”

In a scathing assessment of the Foreign Secretary's behaviour, Mr Grieve concluded: “I don’t think he is in any way prohibited by normal propriety in government.”
Theresa May confirms her trust in Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson after he called her post-Brexit trade policy with the European Union "crazy".