Michael Heseltine calls on voters to back Lib Dems

Former Tory grandee accuses Boris Johnson of pursuing an 'utterly disastrous' Brexit

Michael Heseltine, a former Conservative deputy prime minister, has said he cannot support Boris Johnson in the general election because the prime minister is pursuing an "utterly disastrous" policy that will make Britain poorer and less influential.

Lord Heseltine has called on voters to back the Liberal Democrats in the general election to deny Johnson a majority in parliament. The Tory grandee was suspended from the party in May when he said he would support the Lib Dems in the European elections.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Tuesday: "The real issue is what is at stake and it is the prosperity of this country, the world influence of this country, our relationship with our neighbours in Europe. This is transcendingly the overarching issue at stake in this election and I cannot vote or support people who are going to make the country poorer or less influential - full stop, end of story."

Heseltine called for a second referendum and took a swipe at Vote Leave's controversial claim that Turkey and four other countries could join the EU as soon as 2020, and their accession could lead to 5.2 million extra people moving to the UK by 2030. He also attacked its infamous assertion on the side of the campaign bus that Britain sends £350m a week to the EU and that money would be spent on the NHS instead.

He said it was "complete nonsense" to suggest Brexit could be done by Christmas. "All you can do by Christmas is to pass legislation to enter into negotiations. It's like the boxer saying OK, you've been training, now you can get into the ring. And you'll be in the ring with, first of all, a massively, larger economic bloc, Europe, secondly Donald Trump fighting for his life politically. I dare say he's going to start doing special deals with us.

"It's preposterous. We are in for another year of uncertainty and a possibility of a no-deal exit at the end of it. That's the reality of what we're facing if Mr Johnson gets an overall majority."

Heseltine accused the prime minister of pursuing an "utterly disastrous" policy "for Britain's position in the world and for our economy and for the investment which is frozen up in this country at the moment".

Speaking on the programme, he also said Jeremy Corbyn "isn't fit to be prime minister. He's not going to be prime minister and you know it, I know it and every pollster reveals it."

He added: "I think it's much more likely - the question is not whether he can be prime minister, it's whether he continues to lead the Labour party by Christmas because I think there will be a great move to get rid of him."