David Cameron attacks ‘appalling’ successor after PM heckled and accosted in street during northern debacle

PM's last-but-one predecessor warns against a no-deal Brexit

Boris Johnson’s speech in Rotherham interrupted by heckler protesting about his decision to suspend parliament

David Cameron has hit out at Boris Johnson and his Brexit strategy, saying the prime minister was wrong to suspend parliament and warning that a no-deal Brexit would be a “bad outcome”.

It rounded off a dismal day for the prime minister after a trip to Yorkshire descended into chaos when he was confronted by an angry voter over Brexit in Doncaster and heckled over the suspension of parliament during a speech in Rotherham.

The prime minister was setting out plans to hand more powers to the north of England, but was derailed by an audience member, who shouted: “Why are you not in parliament sorting out the mess you’ve created?”

Mr Johnson said he was “cautiously optimistic” of getting a Brexit deal as he prepared for talks on Monday with Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, and negotiator Michel Barnier.

He claimed there was the “rough shape” of a deal in place.

But he made clear that if he was unable to get a new deal, he would not be deterred by “shenanigans” at Westminster from taking Britain out of the EU by 31 October.

His last-but-one predecessor Mr Cameron claimed Mr Johnson had behaved “appallingly” during the Vote Leave campaign.

See below for what was our live coverage

[13 September 2019 20:38 · Jane Dalton]

Boris Johnson was interrupted during a high-profile speech by a heckler protesting at his decision to suspend parliament in the run-up to the Brexit deadline.

The prime minister’s speech in Rotherham ground briefly to a halt as the man shouted “get back to parliament”.

The incident came shortly after Mr Johnson was accosted in the street by a woman who told him he had “a cheek” to come to Yorkshire after the suffering that Conservative austerity policies had caused in the area.