Former British foreign minister Boris Johnson has announced that he has no intention of challenging Prime Minister Theresa May’s leadership if she drops her plans for a controversial Brexit deal with the European Union.

Johnson, who resigned from May’s cabinet in early July in protest to the premier’s Brexit strategy, which is known as Chequers, said Saturday that the prime minister had his support and it was the government proposals for leaving the EU that was irking other Conservative Party members.

“It’s not about the leadership. It’s about the policy. It’s not about changing prime minister. It’s about chucking Chequers,” he told the Daily Telegraph in an interview from the US capital Washington.

PressTV-Lack of viable Brexit deal to force May exit: MP

A senior Labour Party MP has said that Britain’s opposition party is set to vote against any Brexit deal reached by Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May.

Johnson is believed to have high chances of replacing May if she fails with her Brexit plans. The former top diplomat and other senior Conservative Party members have called on May to revise her plans for a deal on Brexit or face a rebellion in the party. Such an action, which is believed to have the support of at least 80 Tory lawmakers, would leave May fighting for the approval of her Brexit deal in the British parliament where the opposition Labour Party has announced it will reject the pact.

Johnson and allies have openly criticized May’s Chequers plan, saying agreeing to a free trade of goods with the EU based on a “common rulebook” would leave Britain subject to decisions made in Brussels without any say from London after it leaves the EU in March next year.

May hopes she can reach a deal with the EU on Brexit in mid-October or early in November. She has insisted that her Brexit strategy is the only tangible solution for quitting the EU with the least economic damage possible.