Boris Johnson denies banning word 'Brexit' - but says it's over so word is not needed

Prime Minister Boris Johnson walks away after driving a union flag-themed JCB, with the words "Get Brexit Done" inside the digger bucket. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA. - Credit: PA Wire/PA Images

Boris Johnson has denied he has banned the word ‘Brexit’ in Downing Street – but delivered a speech where he did not mention it once.

In his latest speech Johnson delivered a 3,400 word speech on ‘unleashing Britain’s potential’ now the UK has left the European Union.

But there was a notable absence of the word ‘Brexit’ during his presentation in Greenwich, which led reporters to question whether he really had banned the word after reports late last year.

The prime minister denied the reports, and the suggestion, claiming that because it had now “happened” there was no need to reference it.

He said: “It’s not banned, it’s just over. It has happened.

“It is like the glorious revolution that preceded the events chronicled above.

“It is gone – I won’t say it’s like the Big Bang or the Norman conquest – but it is receding behind us in history and that’s the approach we should take to it.”

It follows the closure of the Department for Exiting the European Union, which now leaves the responsibility of securing a post-Brexit deal with a new team called Taskforce Europe.