Boris Johnson suggests UK needs to act like Trump on Brexit

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LONDON — Britain's foreign secretary has suggested a President Donald Trump-style approach might achieve more in Brexit talks than what the U.K. government is currently doing, according to an audio recording obtained by BuzzFeed News.

Boris Johnson warned a private dinner of supporters of his Conservative party in London on Wednesday night that negotiations with Brussels were heading towards “meltdown,” according to the leaked audio. He said Brexit supporters risked getting a far worse deal than they had expected.

The foreign secretary reportedly said he had become “increasingly admiring of Donald Trump,” adding that he had “become more and more convinced that there is method in his madness.”

“Imagine Trump doing Brexit,” BuzzFeed quoted Johnson as saying. “There’d be all sorts of breakdowns, all sorts of chaos. Everyone would think he’d gone mad. But actually you might get somewhere. It’s a very, very good thought.”

#GME | Britain's foreign secretary is reportedly warning of a "Brexit meltdown."
The comments come from a recording of Boris Johnson obtained by Buzzfeed. @VinnyMcAv has more on this from London. pic.twitter.com/C75a5akOkv
— euronews (@euronews) June 8, 2018

Johnson’s comments — made at the Institute of Directors to members of a right-wing campaign group called Conservative Way Forward — came as pressure was already mounting on Prime Minister Theresa May from within her own government over Brexit.

The European Union has called for more clarity from the U.K. ahead of a key summit in Brussels later this month.

Britain is set to leave the E.U. in March, but the government has been paralyzed by internal divisions over the country’s future relationship with the E.U. after Brexit.

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