Whatever gloss he tries to put on his policies, Boris Johnson is still saying: ‘F*** business’

The prime minister’s stance hasn’t really changed – and neither have the problems it will create for the economy, writes James Moore

Boris Johnson has made his pitch to business at the CBI (Getty)

Why the hell did I waste my time with that?” I wonder how many of the business leaders who assembled at the CBI to hear Britain’s political leaders making their “pitch to business” said that to themselves at the end of the day?

Precisely 12 seconds of Johnson speaking makes me want to cut myself. Business leaders are, it seems, made of sterner stuff. However, they must know that Johnson is the great conman of British politics who looks set to give the country the chance to repent at leisure.

“We have to get Brexit done,” he declared, while blustering about the “will of the people”. He’s obviously too scared to test that via a confirmatory vote because he knows he’d probably lose it.