News / Politics / Foreign Policy

May's Brexit deal is ‘dead’: Boris Johnson

Thursday, 28 March 2019 1:30 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 28 March 2019 1:43 PM ]

Former British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson walks after leaving the Cabinet Office in London, Britain on March 19, 2019. (Reuters photo)

Former British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has said Prime Minister Theresa May's twice-defeated Brexit divorce deal is dead, according to a report.

"Boris: May's deal is dead," the Evening Standard newspaper reported on its front page on Thursday.

The newspaper said Johnson, who supported the deal after May promised to quit if it was passed, had told friends: "It's dead anyway."

Johnson, who led the campaign to leave the European Union, reportedly called for a second Brexit referendum as the deepening Brexit crisis risked sinking May's premiership.

On Wednesday, May offered to resign in a final effort to get Parliament to support her Brexit deal, as lawmakers failed in their own attempt to break the deadlock that has plunged Britain into crisis.

May dramatically announced that she would quit if members of Parliament finally backed her Brexit agreement.

"I know there is a desire for a new approach -- and new leadership -- in the second phase of the Brexit negotiations and I won't stand in the way of that," she told a packed meeting of her Conservative MPs.

"But we need to get the deal through and deliver Brexit. I am prepared to leave this job earlier than I intended in order to do what is right for our country and our party," she added.