May wraps 'suicide vest' around UK over Brexit

Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal wraps "a suicide vest around the British constitution" and hands the detonator to the European Union, former foreign minister Boris Johnson said in comments that drew strong criticism.

In an article in the Mail on Sunday newspaper, Johnson pressed his attack on May's so-called Chequers plan to leave the EU, calling it "a humiliation" that opens "ourselves to perpetual political blackmail".

May is under fire from all sides of the divisive Brexit debate, with Johnson, favourite to succeed her, leading a push by eurosceptic lawmakers for the government to "chuck Chequers" and pursue a clean break with the bloc.

But so far, May has signalled she will not drop her blueprint for Britain's future ties with the bloc after Brexit - the biggest shift in the country's foreign and trade policy for almost half a century.

"We have wrapped a suicide vest around the British constitution – and handed the detonator to (EU chief negotiator) Michel Barnier," Johnson wrote.

His words - particularly the reference to a suicide vest - drew condemnation from fellow members of the governing Conservative Party.

Alan Duncan, a minister at the Foreign Office, said Johnson's comments marked "one of the most disgusting moments in modern British politics".

“For Boris to say that the PM's view is like that of a suicide bomber is too much," he said on Twitter. "I'm sorry, but this is the political end of Boris Johnson."

Johnson resigned as foreign secretary over the Chequers plan and has attacked it as making Britain "a vassal state".