Boris wants UK out of ‘morally bankrupt’ EU unless it is reformed

The London Mayor said the system was “morally bankrupt” because countries including France and Germany refused to open their doors to foreign workers and companies in the way Britain had.

He said it was “tripe” to suggest the UK was the “problem child” of Europe, arguing that the Government was in a fantastic position to demand reform because it had played fairly.

Ahead of German chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit, he said “we need her on our side” in efforts to reform the 28-member union.

In what could be seen as a jibe at David Cameron, Mr Johnson said: “The German leader is a remarkable politician – she is proof that centre-right parties can win absolute majorities, and arguably the most powerful voice in Europe.”

In his Daily Telegraph column the mayor wrote: “If we are going to get anywhere in our plans to reform the EU, in advance of a referendum, then we need her on our side.

“So she is, in many ways, or should be – given Germany’s interest in free markets and sound budgets. But we will get absolutely nowhere in these talks if we persist in the view – peddled by the EU commission, and picked up by certain UK newspapers and broadcasters – that Britain is somehow the problem child of the European family.

Mr Johnson, who has just returned from a skiing holiday in the French Alps, said it was a scandal that it was “virtually impossible” for Britons to work as instructors there.

He said French and Dutch bus firms ran services in London, but he could not see the same thing happening on the streets of Paris.