Stanley Johnson claims Macron and Juncker have made him a Brexiteer
The Johnson family was entirely split throughout the Brexit campaign, father Stanley, daughter Rachel and fellow brother Jo campaigned for Remain, while son Boris was a leading figure in the Leave campaign. But now, Stanley has revealed he has made the shift away from his pro-European Union stance and now believes it’s time to “bail out” of the Brussels project. He blamed the rhetoric of President Macron and Mr Juncker, insisting they are taking the EU train in the “wrong direction”. Mr Johnson told BBC Daily Politics: “I have given some thought to this, we’ve been thinking like mad, as you can imagine over the last 18 months.
GETTY•BBC Brexit news: Stanley Johnson turns his back on EU support after Juncker and Macron speeches
I have said to myself, actually, this train is heading in the wrong direction Stanley Johnson
“I have finally come to the conclusion having read Mr Juncker’s speech to the European Parliament, in September, and having looked at Macron’s, I have said to myself, actually, this train is heading in the wrong direction. “Even I thought the environmental thing was tremendously important, there are other really, really big issues and now is the time to bail out.” Mr Johnson, a former Conservative MEP, said from his own experience Mr Juncker’s speech signals a definite push toward a more federalised Europe, which Britain should not be a part. “I said we needed to be in there to save them from themselves,” Mr Johnson added. “I don’t think we can do that any longer.
“That train has left the station and we can bail out before it hits the buffers.” Caroline Lucas, the co-leader of the Green Party, who was also involved in the BBC discussion was concerned that the Mr Juncker speech was the pivot in Mr Johnson’s views. She said: “I think this shows it’s a complete misunderstanding, anything that Juncker was talking about, in terms of greater integration, would require a change to the treaties. “A change to the treaties requests unanimities of Council members – all the different member states of Europe – and you only need to look at the response Juncker’s speech received, not just in the UK, but for example, the Danish Prime Minister was slapping him down almost before he’d finished speaking.
Brexit: EU summit in pictures Fri, September 29, 2017 The European Union will be looking beyond the impending breakup with Britain at how to build a common future during their two-day summit meeting Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 28 German Chancellor Angela Merkel gestures prior to the 'Tour de table' of the Tallinn Digital Summit during a European Union summit in Tallinn, Estonia