Labour MP David Lammy brands Boris Johnson ‘a vandal not a patriot’

Labour's MP for Tottenham, David Lammy, in the House of Commons. Photograph: PA. - Credit: PA Archive/PA Images

Shadow justice secretary David Lammy has branded Boris Johnson and his cohort of Brexiteers ‘vandals’ rather than ‘patriots’.

The Labour MP was speaking out after reports that Johnson’s government is looking to renege on commitments made to the EU over Brexit.

The prime minister is reportedly planning new legislation that would override key parts of the agreement – the treaty that sealed Britain’s exit from the EU in January – in a move that could risk collapsing the UK-EU trade talks.

Pro-EU politician Lammy said that tied with his failures over coronavirus and the government’s avoidance of scrutiny the Tory leader was far from the ‘patriot’ he wants to be seen as.

He tweeted: ‘Boris Johnson’s government wants to break its international commitments on Northern Ireland, avoid scrutiny over its covid-19 failures, and trash the power of the public to challenge its decisions in court.

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‘They call themselves patriots, but they are vandalising our country.’

Twitter users applauded the remarks, broadly responding in agreement.

‘The Tory government under Boris Johnson will clearly not be content until they have reduced the UK to junk status,’ tweeted David Noble. ‘It beggars belief how quickly they’ve run our once widely respected kingdom down.’

‘The only way we can stand alone and proud with some authority is by showing integrity and reliability,’ responded Sonia Hartman. ‘This clique are vandals indeed’.

‘The biggest Tory lie is that Boris Johnson is a patriot,’ said @boskybits. ‘He doesn’t care about anything other than power and money for him and his American, Russian, corporate mates. He is happy to risk British lives along the way.’