Boris Johnson blundered into a crucial Brexit trade deal concession with Australia over a chaotic dinner with prime minister Scott Morrison at No 10, it was claimed today.
He was bounced into signing a disastrous post-Brexit agreement after the Australians seized on a schoolboy howler over meat import quotas during negotiations.
An Australian official made an excuse to go to the Downing Street loo, had Mr Johnson’s concession hurriedly drawn up into a formal agreement and took it back to No 10 where the then-PM signed it before the dinner with Mr Morrison ended.
To cap it all, Mr Johnson is said to have told the Australians he was doing it because he wanted to apologise to them for Britain joining the EU 50 years ago.
A furious Liz Truss, then international trade secretary, tried to unstitch the deal but was told by the gleeful Australians that her boss Mr Johnson had already “given away the kingdom”.
The extraordinary account of how Britain’s post-Brexit trade deal with Australia – condemned as a sell-out by British farmers – was handled by Mr Johnson appeared on the Politico political website.
According to the report of the 14 June 2021 dinner, Mr Johnson agreed to measure beef imports by the weight of only cuts of meat, rather than the entire cow, which is much heavier.
By agreeing to measure Australian meat exports to the UK by the former, not the latter, he effectively signed off a massive increase in how much meat Australia can send to Britain, it is alleged.
Australian high commissioner George Brandis scrawled down the unexpected bonus and fled to the loo. On the way he gave it to an aide to scan and turn in a trade document – before it was returned to the dinner for Mr Johnson to sign.
Ms Truss was said to be “livid” when she learned of Mr Johnson’s concession over breakfast the following morning. “Your boss has already conceded the whole kingdom,” Australia’s chief negotiator Dan Tehan told her, according to a former minister involved in the talks.
Mr Johnson’s described the Politico story as “rubbish”, but the website said it had spoken to five senior people involved in the negotiations on either side.
Brexit negotiator David Frost was at the dinner with Mr Johnson and Mr Morrison. One former Truss adviser “Frost was over the detail, but I don’t think Boris was,” adding that the dinner “was very slapdash – and ultimately ended up giving more on beef.”
Advisers said Ms Truss wanted the talks reopened after Mr Johnson’s concession – but Mr Morrison threatened to “tell the media the UK. was going back on its first post-Brexit trade deal”.
Mr Johnson believed in agreeing to more generous tariffs because the UK “had let [the Australians] down” by joining the EU in the 1970s, according to an ex-minister.
UK government lawyers reportedly continue to quibble with the Australian side over beef import weights until the deal was signed in December 2021.
Some degree of compromise was achieved by making sure the agricultural safeguard – designed to slow imports after 10 years if there is a rapid surge – used the carcass weight equivalents initially wanted by British officials.
The post-Brexit deal, which came into force this week, is forecast to boost bilateral trade between the countries by around £10bn. But farmers remain angry at the generosity of tariff-free quota access given to Australian beef.
The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) president Minette Batters said the concessions were “a real breach of trust and confidence for farmers”, saying: “The anger is still visceral.”
A spokesperson for the NFU added: “We know the government gave away much more than they needed to, and this illustrates it.”
Mr Johnson and the government have been approached for comment.
