Boris promises new golden age

New British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the Brexit deal negotiated with the EU unacceptable and set preparations for leaving the bloc without an agreement as a top priority for the government.

In a pugnacious debut in parliament, the former London mayor urged EU leaders to rethink their opposition to renegotiating the deal.

After installing a right-wing government in a radical overhaul, Johnson doubled down on his promise to lead the UK out of the EU by October 31 at any cost.

In case of a no-deal exit, he also threatened to withhold the £39bn (about R684bn) divorce bill the UK has said it owes the EU and instead spend the money on preparations for leaving with no agreement.

The Evening Standard reported that Johnson stunned MPs with an extremely optimistic vision of the UK overtaking Germany to become the “most prosperous economy in Europe” within 30 years.

Echoing US President Donald Trump, he said his mission was to make Britain “the greatest place on earth”, the newspaper said in its online edition.

Johnson told a raucous session of parliament the draft deal his predecessor Theresa May reached with the 27 EU leaders would “sign away our economic independence”.

“It’s terms are unacceptable to this parliament and to this country,” Johnson, said, a day after purging more than half the ministers in May’s team.

“Today is the first day of a new approach, which will end with our exit from the EU on 31 October.”

He has assembled a team of social conservatives and Brexit hardliners who argue that leaving the EU after 46 years without a deal would be less painful than economists warn.

The markets were relieved by the appointment of former Deutsche Bank managing director Sajid Javid as finance chief, with the pound holding steady against the dollar and euro.

Other appointments were more divisive. Brexit hardliner Dominic Raab became foreign secretary and Jacob Rees-Mogg – leader of a right-wing faction of Conservatives – was appointed the government’s parliament representative.

New interior minister Priti Patel had expressed support for the death penalty and voted against same-sex marriage.

The Labour-supporting Mirror newspaper called it “Britain’s most right-wing government since the 1980s”.

Johnson argues that his threat of a chaotic end to Britain’s EU involvement will force Brussels to relent and give London better terms that would let it pursue trade deals with powers such as China and the US.

Brexit backers in parliament had accused May of ignoring voters’ wishes by promising to keep the UK tied to the bloc’s economic rules if necessary to preserve a free-flowing border between EU member Ireland and Britain’s Northern Ireland.

Johnson’s solution for the frontier centres on proposals that have been rejected as either unworkable or insufficient by both EU and Irish leaders.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar – his heavily trade-dependent nation standing to lose most from a messy EU-UK split – bluntly told Johnson on Wednesday that he needed to compromise.

EU spokesperson Mina Andreeva said in Brussels on Thursday that the bloc’s position remains unchanged.

Johnson boasts a friendship with Trump that his doubters fear will make Britain beholden to the mercurial White House chief’s unpredictable foreign policies.