The UK’s former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has once again lambasted Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit blueprint, known as the Chequers plan, in an opinion article, this time by comparing it to the Norman conquest of England back in 1066.

“If Chequers were adopted it would mean that for the first time since 1066 our leaders were deliberately acquiescing in foreign rule,” Johnson wrote in his column in Monday’s Daily Telegraph.

“If the Brexit negotiations continue on this path they will end, I am afraid, in a spectacular political car crash,” insisted the former Foreign Secretary who resigned in July precisely because of the adoption of the Chequers plan by the British Cabinet.

Johnson claims the May government’s failure to resolve the Irish border question has led to a “constitutional abomination”, which would lead to a “total write-off of Brexit”.

He sees the EU insistence on a backstop deal in order to avoid a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and the UK as “an attempt to annex Northern Ireland” that would in fact create a border down the Irish Sea.

He further argues that May’s solution to the Irish border question in the Chequers plan would mean the UK “must remain effectively in the customs union and large parts of the single market until Brussels says otherwise”.

Johnson supports suggestions made last by the European Research Group (ERG), a Tory-affiliated pro-Brexit grouping that “extra checks done away from the border” would prevent the need for physical checks when vehicles move between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.

The ERG suggestions, however, were dismissed by British Prime Minister Theresa May as still failing to prevent a hard border.

The Times has reported that the EU is “secretly preparing to accept a frictionless Irish border”, with EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier working on a new “protocol” text outlining a plan to use technology to minimize checks.

Under the EU plan, goods could be tracked using barcodes on shipping containers under “trusted-trader” schemes administered by registered companies.

(Banner image: Boris Johnson on Twitter)