In one of his first interviews since revelations emerged over the weekend that police were called to Boris Johnson’s girlfriend’s home amid concerns for her welfare, the Conservative leadership hopeful was grilled by the BBC’s political editor Laura Kuenssberg. During the interview, Ms Kuenssberg probed Mr Johnson on his plans for Brexit. The former Foreign Secretary insisted he would be able to come to an agreement with the EU to eliminate the controversial backstop from any future agreement with Britain.

It is hypocrisy there

Boris Johnson

Mr Morgan said the interview was “unsettling” because the former London mayor was simply “trying his normal Boris bluster” and failing

In his best impression of the former London mayor, Mr Morgan waved his hand in the air and blasted: “What the public want is this.”

He continued: “This sort of Churchillian stuff.

“Except for the detail and the meat on the bone just wasn’t there.

“He won’t talk about anything to do with his private life and that is apparently all off limits unless he wants to release pictures of him holding hands with his girlfriend to promote himself.

“So, it is hypocrisy there.

“But on the key substantial stuff about Brexit, I’m just like, ‘you don’t know what you are doing’. Do you?

“I think he looked to me like he was exuding an air of somebody who is now getting a bit worried about getting this job and then being found out because he won’t be able to deliver on what he is promising.”

During the interview, the former Foreign Secretary, who resigned from Cabinet in July 2018 over opposition to the Chequers agreement Theresa May had struck with Brussels, said his prediction a deal could be struck was based on the EU wanting “Brexit to be done.”

Ms Kuenssberg hit back: “It’s what people want, but that’s very different to what people get, Boris Johnson.

“But how do you do that? Because you’re right – everybody wants a solution to this. But if you want to be a prime minister you have to tell people how, you can’t just wish it to be true.”

Mr Johnson said: “On the other side of the channel obviously where you know they’re watching this very carefully and we need obviously for both sides to come together they’ve not got 29 Brexit MEPs in Strasbourg.

“They have the 39 billion that they’re keen to get. And frankly, they also want Brexit to be done.

“I think that it is what the gentlemen have also said and what people have also said in all European capitals, and of course in the commission is that nobody wants a hard border in Northern Ireland and indeed nobody believes that it will be necessary. And so what we need is to hold that thought, which is true, which is agreed amongst all.

“And make sure that we reach the solutions that are achievable as both sides have said, as the Commission has said, the facilitations that can be reached make sure that we deal with the solutions to the Irish border question and any all other border questions because the Irish border question in microcosm stands for all the other facilitations that we’ll around the EU.”

The Tory leadership frontrunner insisted there are “abundant technical fixes” available to avoid the introduction of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

The Irish backstop emerged as one of the most controversial aspects of the Brexit negotiations and resulted in the resignation of Theresa May after her proposed withdrawal agreement was rejected three times in the Commons.

Mr Johnson continued: “Everybody accepts that there are ways you can check for the rules of origin, there are ways you can check for compliance with EU goods and standards, of our goods standards.”

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