Theresa May suggests Boris Johnson only wants power and insists his Brexit plan is doomed to failure in closing swipe as she prepares to leave Number 10

THERESA May has suggested Boris Johnson only wants power and insisted his plan to deliver Brexit is doomed as she prepares to leave Number Ten.

The prime minister used her last major interview before she steps down to take a thinly-veiled dig at her likely successor, though stopped short of calling him out by name.

Asked about the causes she has worked on during her tenure, May said: "Too many people in politics think being Prime Minister is a position of power."

The pointed response will be taken to refer to Bojo.

"Actually, it is a position of service to the country where you are always asking yourself 'What more can I do for the public?'," she told the .

"All too often those who see it as a position of power see it as about themselves and not about the people they are serving.

"There is a real difference."

Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson is currently the front runner in a battle with Jeremy Hunt to replace May, who will leave Downing Street on July 24.

On Thursday, he took a swipe of his own at the prime minister, responding to a tweet by President Trump branding May a "disaster" by saying: "I find it hard to disagree."

In a series of tweets this week, Trump said May and her team had made a "mess" of Brexit, and that "the good news for the wonderful United Kingdom is that they will soon have a new Prime Minister".

'I PUT IN POSITIVE ENERGY'

May also spoke today about the prospect that Britain would be able to negotiate a Brexit deal different to her own.

Boris has based much of his leadership campaign on his ability to renegotiate a better Brexit deal than hers.

But Mrs May attempted to slap him down, by saying his claim was impossible.

"The EU have said they don’t want to and won’t reopen agreement," she said.

She went on to criticise those MPs who had "spent their lives campaigning for Brexit" but then voted down her deal, adding: "I did everything I could to get it over the line!

"I was willing to sit down with Jeremy Corbyn, willing to sacrifice my premiership – give up my job!"

Criticisms of her approach have included the suggestion that she would have gotten more out of Brussels if she had swung her handbag, like Margaret Thatcher.

Boris Johnson, who twice voted down May's deal before backing it in her third and final attempt to get it through parliament, has said he intends to approach the problem with "more positive energy".

May responded: "I can assure you I put positive energy into it!"

Britain's second ever female prime minister took the opportunity to question how her emotional speech announcing her intention to stand down was received.

"If a male Prime Minister’s voice had broken up, it would have been said 'What great patriotism, they really love their country'," she said.

"But if a female Prime Minister does it, it is "Why is she crying?'."

She was also keen to dispel the impression of her as being dull and work-obsessed, recalling the return flight from the recent G20 summit in Japan, on which she knocked back Aperol spritzers with her team.

"There was plenty of laughter. We were playing cards and jokes were going round," she said.

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