Boris Johnson has insisted the UK will leaving the European Union with or without a deal by the end of October this year. Jeremy Hunt has also said he is willing to pull the UK out of the bloc without a deal at the end of October, but has ruled out suspending Parliament to force through his deal. Speaking on BBC’s Politics Live, Alan Mendoza of Henry Jackson Society, claimed the former foreign secretary was the only person “capable” of making the bloc “blink first”.

He said: “You want Boris Johnson. He is the person you want to go to Brussels.

“Just as none of you knew where his position actually was, if you walk into a negotiation you know you have got to keep everybody on their toes, and you have got to make them blink first, basically.

“Let’s be frank about it. Is Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt going to be the person to make the other side blink first?

“It’s going to be Boris.”

Is Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt going to be the person to make the other side blink first? It’s going to be Boris

Alan Mendoza

Alison Phillips, Editor of the Daily Mirror, stepped in, questioning whether Mr Johnson was the right person for the job.

She said: “I still wouldn’t put anything past Boris Johnson to be honest. This is the man who wrote two pieces, one on Remain and one on Leave before he decided which side he was going to pick.

“He is a man who, if it is going to keep him in power, he would do anything, and sell anybody down the river.”

Mr Mendoza quickly replied: “If your theory is correct and Boris is inherently pragmatic. You should be supporting it.”

It comes as Business Secretary Greg Clark told Sky News that “many thousands of jobs” could be lost if there is a no-deal Brexit.

He said: “I think that every person who considers the evidence that companies have given, whether it’s in the automotive sector, whether it’s in the food sector, whether it’s in aerospace, whether it’s in industries up and down the country.

“You know if you become less efficient and your ability to trade is impeded then of course losing your competitiveness means that there will be jobs that will be lost.”

A spokeswoman for Theresa May told a Westminster briefing: “The Prime Minister has always been clear that leaving without a deal would be disruptive.”

Mrs May’s de-facto deputy, David Lidington, has claimed a no deal Brexit will increase pressure on the union.

Speaking on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme, the Cabinet Office minister said: “I think the union of the United Kingdom is under pressure at the moment.

“The fact that in the 2016 Europe referendum two nations of the UK voted to leave, two nations voted to remain, inevitably makes this a very difficult, delicate process. I think that with good will and a good deal, those tensions can be handled, but I think that the risk of no-deal is two-fold. I believe a no-deal outcome would do very serious harm to jobs, living standards and investment in the United Kingdom, and that is the consistent message I’ve been getting from businesses large and small.

“But also I think the pressures on the union would be greater because I think that damage that a no-deal exit would cause, the very divisive nature of the politics of such an outcome, would give heart and opportunities to those who, particularly in Scotland and in Northern Ireland, would like to see the United Kingdom as it currently exists brought to an end.

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“Whereas I believe that the UK is a tremendously successful political and economic project that’s given great benefit to everyone living in it.”

The UK is scheduled to leave the European Union by the end of October this year.

Speaking at a hustings in Kent last night, Tory favourite Mr Johnson said “common sense” would prevail and MPs would support his efforts to take the UK out of the EU.

He said: “When John Major talks about proroguing and all that legal wrangling and what have you … I think actually, that common sense is breaking out.”

Mr Johnson added that “time after time MPs say that they are going to try to take no deal off the table and, lo and behold, it remains on the table”.

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