Britain will not seek to obstruct greater European defence and foreign policy cooperation as it prepares to leave the EU according to Boris Johnson.
The foreign secretary said the UK was not bent on the destruction of the EU, and would not adopt a “dog in the manger” manager to disrupt member state cooperation if they continued to meet the goal of spending at least 2% of their GDP on defence.
Other UK ministers have opposed greater EU defence integration, warning that it could represent a threat to the primacy of Nato. But Johnson said: “It is not part of our agenda to seek to undermine or to be dog in the mangerish about the EU.
“There is a conversation going on now about the EU’s desire to build a strong common security defence policy. If they want to do that, fine. Obviously it would be important to get 2% spending on defence. But we are not there to block or impede further steps towards further EU integration if that is what they so desire.”
Some Tory Eurosceptics have openly called for the EU to break up under the pressure of populist revolts in a succession of countries, but the Foreign Office is aware that such an aggressive stance could hamper Brexit negotiations with Brussels.
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