Boris Johnson Claims He ‘Didn’t Say Anything About Turkey’ In The Brexit Referendum – But He Did

Boris Johnson has been accused of being a “bare-faced liar” after he claimed to have never mentioned Turkey during the EU referendum – even though he did.

In a speech criticising Theresa May’s Brexit deal on Friday, the former foreign secretary insisted he was “not a nationalist”.

But he was challenged after the speech over Vote Leave’s decision to focus on possible Turkish immigrants in 2016.

The campaign, in which Johnson played a leading role, produced campaign posters that claimed 76 million Turks could come to the UK unless it left the EU.

Some of the ads included images of people in Turkey with large red arrows pointing towards the UK.

Johnson said today: “I didn’t say anything about Turkey in the referendum.”

He added: “Since I made no remarks, I can’t disown them.

“I was happy to support Leave and I do and I did. I happen to think that immigration can be a wonderful thing for our country, but as I’ve said time and time again, it’s got to be controlled.”

In June 2016, Johnson and Michael Gove wrote a letter to David Cameron demanding the then-prime minister “guarantee” that the UK would veto Turkey ever joining the EU.

In the letter, Johnson and Gove wrote:

“Despite the rapidly accelerating pace of accession negotiations, IN campaigners maintain that Turkey ‘is not an issue in this referendum and it shouldn’t be. Others assert that the UK has ‘a veto’ on Turkish accession. This claim is obviously artificial, given the government’s commitment to Turkish accession at the earliest possible opportunity. If the government cannot give this guarantee, the public will draw the reasonable conclusion that the only way to avoid having common borders with Turkey is to Vote Leave and take back control on 23 June.”

The same month, Johnson took part in a referendum debate hosted by HuffPost UK and The Daily Telegraph.

Asked about possible Turkish membership of the EU, he suggested British voters should be given a referendum on whether it could join. “They deserve to be consulted on it,” he said.

Johnson added he was happy for Turkey to join the EU, as long as the UK had left. “I am all in favour of Turkey coming in but I want us to come out,” he said.