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Boris Johnson foils EU plot to snatch Britain’s vaccine supplies and warns: ‘Hands-off our jabs’
BORIS Johnson foiled an EU plot to snatch Britain’s vaccine supplies after bluntly warning it: “Hands off our jabs.”
The PM rekindled the fighting spirit that delivered Brexit by bombarding officials with a seven-hour stream of phone calls.
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He stormed into action after Brussels tore up a deal — struck only last month — so it could impose border controls on exports to this country.
But it was forced into humiliating retreat after a late-night showdown with a fired-up Mr Johnson.
In a “spicy” phone call, he read the riot act to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen — warning her the action would lead to the loss of British lives.
Within the hour, she had caved in and called off the blockade.
A source revealed: “This was Boris at his best and the poor EU knew from the moment he got involved they were on a hiding to nothing.
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“He hit the phones and made it clear that the EU’s behaviour was unacceptable and would not be tolerated.”
Mr Johnson’s firm stand had halted a move which could have stopped 3.5million doses of the Pfizer vaccine from reaching Britain.
One option considered by ministers was to call Washington, knowing new US President Joe Biden, who has Irish heritage, would have intervened.
The EU was accused of “an incredible act of hostility” after it escalated the vaccine war by imposing a hard border on the island of Ireland.
Panicked by the failure of their own jabs programme, Eurocrats triggered emergency powers in the Brexit deal to stop Northern Ireland being used as a back door to export jabs into the rest of the UK.
The seven-hour crisis began when Remain-voting blogger Douglas Dowell spotted the move in the small print of the EU’s export control regulations and included it in a social media post at 3.36pm.
Within minutes, alarm bells were ringing in 10 Downing Street. It had been just 29 days since the Brexit transition period ended — and already the EU was ready to break the deal.
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A source said: “All hell broke loose. We couldn’t believe the first we’d heard about such a drastic step was on Twitter. There was a bit of to-ing and fro-ing and it was decided the big guns had to hit the phones.”
Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove made an emergency call to European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovicč at 5.30pm.
He told the Slovak the action taken by the EU was “totally unacceptable”.
An insider revealed: “Michael was pretty robust. He made it clear he was very unhappy they had given us no prior notice of their action.
“He bluntly told him that the Government would be convening to consider its options.”
Astonishingly, Mr Sefcovic gave the impression he “didn’t have a clue” in advance that the EU planned to trigger Article 16 of the Northern Ireland protocol — creating a hard border they had warned against during three years of Brexit negotiations.
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The PM and Mr Gove held a crisis meeting with senior civil servants in the Cabinet room, along with officials who had worked on Brexit or vaccine planning, including chief negotiator Lord Frost.
Mr Johnson called Irish leader Micheál Martin and was astonished to learn that even he did not know the EU planned to create a hard border. He was said to be “incandescent with rage” towards the Commission.
Mr Gove and Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis then spoke to Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney, who was equally astonished.
An exasperated Mr Gove told colleagues: “Since 2016, they used the Irish border as a weapon to block our attempts to secure a trade deal.
“Yet within 29 days of the process being finalised, they ride a coach and horses through it, without even informing the Irish or British governments.”
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At about 9.30pm, Mr Johnson picked up the phone in his No10 study and called Ms von der Leyen — the first of two calls he was to make. He told her the renegade move would put the future of Northern Ireland and the health of elderly and vulnerable Brits waiting for jabs at risk.
A source said: “The conversation was entirely cordial but at times things got pretty spicy. The PM has spoken to her in recent months because of Brexit.
“But he had a firm point to make. He told her we had got an agreement for these vaccines and we expect them to be able to reach us without trouble.
“He was firm that we have contracts and the EU is our ally and we expect them to be honoured.
“He said the Pfizer vaccines have to be allowed to leave the EU.”
After the call, Ms von der Leyen called Mr Martin and then rang Mr Johnson back at 10.30pm. She gave him a personal assurance that the Pfizer jabs would get through and that Article 16 would not be used.
An hour later, at 11.37pm, she made a public statement declaring: “We agreed on the principle that there should not be restrictions on the export of vaccines by companies where they are fulfilling contractual responsibilities.”
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An insider noted that these were almost exactly the words the PM had uttered to her earlier in the evening.
Last night, Downing Street played down any suggestion that the PM used the threat of tit-for-tat action to force the EU to back down.
But officials admit privately that if the Brussels had stuck to its guns, Mr Johnson would have had no option but to strike back. The Democratic Unionist Party and businesses in Northern Ireland are already calling on the Government to use the clause to bypass border delays for goods passing between Britain and Northern Ireland.
A Whitehall source said: “How does the PM refuse to activate Article 16 back at them?”
Yesterday, a senior official added: “There are consequences for having done that with no prenotification.
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“It shows the dysfunction at the heart of the Commission.”
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No10 said: “If we take what Ursula von der Leyen is now saying at face value, she has given a commitment to let vaccines already ordered and subject to a contract come into the UK.
“We have to assume she will be as good as her word and that our supplies will be delivered safely.”
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