Nicholas Soames says Boris Johnson is ‘nothing like’ grandfather Winston Churchill

‘I don’t think anyone has called Boris a diplomat and statesman,’ says veteran MP

Nicholas Soames has launched withering attack on Boris Johnson, saying he is “nothing like” his grandfather, Winston Churchill.

“Boris Johnson’s experience in life is telling a lot of porkies about the European Union in Brussels and then becoming prime minister," said the 71-year-old, who lost the Conservative whip this week after he voted for a motion that paves the way for Brexit to be delayed till 2020.

He was one of 21 Tory rebels to have the Tory whip removed after they rebelled against the government and joined with opposition MPs to pass legislation that could block a no-deal Brexit.

The Mid Sussex MP and son of Mary Soames, the youngest of Churchill’s five children, told The Times that the current prime minister was "nothing like" Winston Churchill, who Mr Johnson is known to have modelled himself on.

“Winston Churchill was like Winston Churchill because of his experiences in life," he said.

Mr Soames had been a Conservative MP for 37 years and said he cried when told he had lost the whip.

“I don’t think anyone has called Boris a diplomat or statesman,” he said of Mr Johnson, who wrote a biography about his grandfather in 2014,

“He doesn’t like the House of Commons. He is engaged on this great Brexit obsession: get us out, deal or no deal, do or die. That is not Winston Churchill.”

He added: “I think Churchill would have thought it extraordinary that we would have thought ourselves so successful, so powerful, so well thought of in the world that we could afford to give up this extraordinary relationship we have in this great European Union.”

The former defence minister announced this week that he would quit as an MP at the next election.

He said he would continue to vote for the Conservatives but said he was concerned about the future of the party.

“I am worried about the Tory party because, give or take the odd spasm, we have always been seen as pragmatic, sensible, good at our job, sane, reasonable and having the interests of the whole country and now it is beginning to look like a Brexit sect,”he said.

Additional reporting by agencies