The hardline Brexiteer said Remain campaigners had expected Mr Johnson to get short shrift when he travelled to Germany and France for talks with Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron about his vision of a withdrawal agreement without the Irish backstop. But he noted both influential European leaders appeared willing to listen to the Prime Minister.
Writing into the Daily Telegraph, Mr Duncan Smith said: “Far from lecturing him, they agreed to review his demand that they ditch the backstop and try and avoid a no deal Brexit.”
The Conservative MP for Chingford and Wood Green said the meetings highlighted the failure of Theresa May’s strategy, which saw ministers arrive for negotiations in Brussels as if Britain was a desperate supplicant instead of as the fifth largest economy in the word.
He said: “Boris’s approach couldn’t be more different. His EU meetings have been followed by the G7 summit at which, worryingly for the leaders of the EU, he and Donald Trump stole the show.
“With strong indications of an early trade deal with the USA, such UK/US arrangements would change the balance of power in the area of global trade.
“In financial services alone, we could set the global rules and regulations for years to come – enough to make the EU very worried.”
He described Mrs May’s withdrawal agreement as a “pig’s breakfast” under which the UK would surrender control to the EU far beyond the backstop and called on Mr Johnson to be given the space he needs to achieve the full Brexit he promised.
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Mr Johnson is preparing for fresh talks with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker as efforts continue to find a breakthrough.
The Prime Minister has been urged to come up with “concrete proposals” on how he wants to achieve his aim of getting rid of the backstop.
European Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said the phone call between Mr Johnson and Mr Juncker would be a chance to “touch base” following the G7 summit, which the commission president was unable to attend for health reasons.
She said: “More generally I think we have been saying that we stand ready to of course engage constructively with the UK on any concrete proposals that are compatible with the withdrawal agreement, so this is exactly in the spirit of constructiveness and engagement that the two will speak later in the afternoon.”
The talks come after Mr Johnson said he was “marginally more optimistic” about the prospect of reaching a deal following the meetings with Ms Merkel, Mr Macron and European Council president Donald Tusk.
