Boris has fishy start to last few days by campaigning in Labour heartland

With just three days of campaigning left before the general election, Boris Johnson has rolled up his sleeves to make one last desperate attempt to sway traditional Labour voters.

Things got off to a fishy start as the prime minister was heckled while helping out at an auction at Grimsby Fish Market this morning, before he posed for selfies.

It was the first stop in Mr Johnson’s whsitle-stop tour of Labour strongholds across the north of England this week, where he will accuse Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn of sticking ‘two fingers up to the public’ on Brexit.

He is hoping to get Labour supporters who voted Leave in the 2016 referendum on side, telling them Mr Corbyn’s position on leaving the EU is akin to a ‘great betrayal’.

With the smell of fish in the air, the Conservative leader was given a tour as one worker shouted ‘nice to see you, Jeremy’ before another yelled ‘boo Boris’.

Mr Johnson will spend Monday in the Leave-voting regions of the Humber and Wearside where he hopes to crack a so-called ‘red wall’ of Labour seats.

Places like Grimsby have not been held by a Tory MP since the Second World War.

In Sunderland – where Mr Johnson said Brexit’s ‘roar’ was heard for the first time on referendum night after the city’s quick count showed a huge swing towards Leave – the PM will tell North East voters that it is Labour that has ‘let you down most of all’ on Brexit.

He will say: ‘It’s been the great betrayal, orchestrated from Islington by politicians who sneer at your values and ignore your votes.’

The PM’s own Brexit pledges were brought into question after a second leak poured doubt on the country’s ability to be ready to exit the European Union within a year.

Mr Johnson will tell voters on Wearside that there are only ‘three days to get Brexit done’ – but a leaked Government document suggests delivering customs arrangements related to Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit relationship with Britain by December 2020 would be a ‘major challenge’.

The ex-foreign secretary has consistently vowed to take the UK out of the EU by January 31 and then finalise a trade deal with Brussels within 11 months to meet the transition period deadline.

But arrangements would also need to be signed off that allow Northern Ireland to continue to follow Brussels and Dublin rules on the trade of goods to ensure there is no hard border.

A Whitehall report seen by the Financial Times highlights the difficultly involved for the Government in bringing in the infrastructure in time for the UK to leave when the PM has pledged.

A Department for Exiting the European Union document, according to the FT, states that: ‘Delivery of the required infrastructure, associated systems, and staffing to implement the requirements of the (Northern Ireland) protocol by December 2020 represents a major strategic, political and operational challenge.’

Last week, Labour released a leaked Treasury report that concluded customs checks and possibly even tariffs could be required on goods travelling in both directions between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Mr Johnson yesterday said the report obtained by Mr Corbyn was ‘wrong’ and said the six counties would have ‘unfettered access’ to the UK market.

Meanwhile Labour, in a further digging exercise through Mr Johnson’s past writings, have unearthed further controversial comments made by the former London mayor.

Party officials had previously discovered an article from 1995 in which the ex-journalist wrote about single mothers and he has been criticised in the past for describing Muslim women wearing burqas as looking like ‘letterboxes’ in a column.

According to the latest comments dredged up by Labout in articles Mr Johnson wrote for the Daily Telegraph and Spectator magazine, the PM said it was ‘right’ that Tories should wish its leadership to ‘speak up more strongly against…gays in the military’.

He is also alleged to have complained that police were ‘deployed in desperate attempts to catch paedophiles in ancient public schools’.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said: ‘The more we learn, the worse it gets.’