Boris Johnson Gets Back in the Brexit Game<br />It also left open the question of what Mr. Johnson hoped to get out of staking out a hard-line position on Brexit at a time when the party as a whole seemed to be unifying around a softer stance,<br />and at what cost to his party and to a country just beginning to grapple with the reality of leaving the European Union?<br />Yet a significant shift from Mrs. May — like calling for a lengthy transition period after the March 2019 deadline, during which Britain would continue<br />to pay into the European Union’s budget — now looks unlikely before her party convention, pushing back further a tight negotiating timetable.<br />With a party conference just around the corner, Mr. Johnson is making himself available as an alternative to a large segment of the party<br />that would see Mrs. May’s softening stance as a betrayal.<br />On a visit to Canada on Monday, Mrs. May sought to play down the furor over the article, saying, "Boris is Boris," but<br />that is unlikely to calm the warring factions in her party.<br />His intervention staked out a clear position in the Conservative Party ahead of Mrs. May’s speech.
