‘It’s do or die’: Boris rules out staying in the EU past October 31

Boris Johnson warned that the country must ‘get ready to come out without an agreement if we must’ as he outlined his Brexit plans today – and categorically ruled out staying in the EU past October 31.

Mr Johnson said Halloween was a ‘do or die’ date for the UK quitting the block and fired a broadside at rebellious Tory MPs, warning the party would ‘continue to haemorrhage voters’ if Brexit was not sorted fast.   

It came after he was accused of flip-flopping over the date, telling a leadership husting at the weekend Halloween was ’eminently feasible’ but not saying anything more concrete.

The Tory leadership front runner was grilled by radio stations LBC and TalkRadio on his plan for leaving the EU as Jeremy Corbyn‘s Labour and some of his own Remainer colleagues seek to block his route to a No Deal Brexit.

He told TalkRadio: ‘We will of course be putting our plan into action so we are ready to come out on October 31. Come what may. Do or die.’ 

Asked if he could ‘categorically rule out an extension’ past October 31, he said: ‘Yes.’ 

Mr Johnson also reiterated his plans for Brexit, with his preferred choice being to ‘get rid of this current Withdrawal Agreement and get the best bits in it, put them through Parliament’.

He also reiterated his desire to withhold the £39billion Brexit ‘divorce bill’ from Brussels until the UK gets a deal it wants and to sort out the Irish border.

Asked about his ‘Plan B’ he said it was to get a ‘standstill’ agreement under the international General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT), something that leading economists including Bank of England Governor Mark Carney have said is not possible.

Mr Johnson added: ‘If the EU won’t do that and we have to come out on WTO terms then Plan C would be to get ready for that outcome. 

‘And obviously we’re going to do that and it’s very, very important that we do. And the British people have had enough of being told that they’re incapable of getting ready to do this.’ 

The former foreign secretary had earlier told LBC: ‘It is vital, as a country, that we get ready to come out without an agreement if we must.’

In response to Mr Johnson’s comment that Brexit was ‘do or die’, defeated Tory leadership candidate Rory Stewart tweeted a passage from Alfred Tennyson’s The Charge of the Light Brigade.

He wrote: ‘Ours not to reason why/Ours but to to do or die/Into the valley of Death/Rode the 600…’

The poem tells the story a British light cavalry brigade of 600 soldiers who charged into Russian artillery fire during the Crimean War, suffering heavy casualties.

Mr Johnson lashed out at the EU as well over tariffs, saying it would be a ‘a return to Napoleon’s continental system’ if they took the ‘bizarre’ step of reintroducing them. 

In a wide-ranging and tricky interview with LBC’s Nick Ferrari Mr Johnson warned the Tories would ‘continue to haemorrhage voters’ if the UK did not leave the EU.

He claimed that ‘politics has totally changed’ since March 29 and ‘we are staring down the barrel of defeat’.

He said: ‘People are looking at this thing and thinking ‘Parliament is just not going to do this’.

‘But, actually, I think they are.’

Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd had earlier called on Boris Johnson to spell out the details of his Brexit plan. 

Ms Rudd, who supports his rival Jeremy Hunt, said: ‘This is an incredibly difficult situation and Boris needs to explain how he will deal with both sides of the Conservative Party that have concerns and try and break the impasse with the European Union. 

‘Enthusiasm and optimism is not sufficient.’

Responding to claims that a dozen Tory MPs would be prepared to bring down a government heading to a no-deal Brexit, she told BBC Radio 4’s Today: ‘I think that’s about right. I think it’s slightly less than that but it’s certainly more than two.’ 

The new Conservative Party leader and Prime minister will be unveiled on July 23.