Monday 25 March 2019 9:38 am | Updated: Monday 03 June 2019 1:18 am

Boris Johnson accuses Theresa May of ‘bottling’ Brexit in rallying cry for no deal

Boris Johnson has called on Theresa May to “channel the spirit of Moses” and urge the EU to “let her people go” as he advocated for a no-deal Brexit.

The politician accused the Prime Minister of having “bottled it completely” after she chose to seek a delay to Article 50, extending the UK’s departure date beyond 29 March.

“We are not leaving this Friday because the government has chickened out,” he wrote in his Telegraph column.

“For almost three years every Tory MP has chirruped the mantra that no deal would be better than a bad deal.”

His comments come as May reportedly faces huge pressure to resign, with media reporting that ministers will demand she sets a date to quit office in a cabinet meeting at 10am.,

Her departure is the price of hardline Brexiters to support her much-criticised withdrawal agreement, which has twice been voted down in parliament by huge margins.

Nevertheless, May is set to bring her deal back to MPs to vote on once again this week in a last-ditch bid to avoid a no-deal Brexit.

The UK is still scheduled to leave on 29 March, but the EU has offered two extensions – one until 22 May if the UK approves May’s withdrawal agreement, and another until 12 April if it is rejected a third time.

Former foreign secretary Johnson said he had thought the Prime Minister “genuinely had March 29 inscribed in her heart” but that her move to seek a delay – something she told the nation was a matter of “deep personal regret” – was a betrayal.

“I am afraid I misread the government,” Johnson added. “We have blinked. We have baulked. We have bottled it completely.”

It comes as MPs prepare today to vote on an amendment on whether to hold so-called indicative votes on the route forward on Brexit.

The non-binding motions would allow MPs to gauge support in the Commons for a softer Brexit, a no-deal departure, revoking Article 50 and May’s deal.