Boris Johnson’s opposition to the Irish backstop appears to be softening, after he suggested he could vote for a Brexit deal that includes a time limit or exit mechanism from the arrangement.
In comments that will encourage Downing Street, the former foreign secretary said the main barrier to a deal is finding a way to “get out of the backstop” and ensure that the UK is not “locked in that prison of the customs union.”
His intervention suggests that Theresa May is now close to breaking the Brexit deadlock, providing she can deliver on her pledge to secure legally-binding changes to the withdrawal agreement.
Mr Johnson has previously called for the Prime Minister to “junk” the backstop, warning that it threatens to trap Britain in a permanent customs union and reduce the country to the status of a “colony” of the European Union.
However, writing in The Telegraph recently, he suggested the Prime Minister was fighting for a “freedom clause” which could command the “full-throated” support of her party and the nation.
If a deal cannot be done in time, the UK would then leave on World Trade Organisation Terms. The Irish backstop would be replaced by a technological solution to the Northern Ireland border problem.