Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Saturday he was making a "huge amount of progress" towards a Brexit deal with the EU, in an interview in which he compared Britain to the Incredible Hulk. 

"It's going to take a lot of work between now and October 17" when EU leaders gather for their final summit before Britain's scheduled exit from the bloc, he told the Mail on Sunday newspaper. 

"But I'm going to go to that summit and I'm going to get a deal, I'm very confident. And if we don't get a deal then we'll come out on October 31."

His comments came ahead of talks with European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker and the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, in Luxembourg on Monday. 

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UK's Johnson says 'cautiously optimistic' for Brexit deal  

In an odd analogy, Johnson compared Britain to the comic book character Hulk. 

"The madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets and he always escaped, no matter how tightly bound in he seemed to be – and that is the case for this country," he said. 

"We will come out on October 31 and we will get it done, believe me." 

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But the extent of the parliamentary opposition to Johnson's approach was laid bare on Saturday when one of his Conservative MPs defected to the pro-European Liberal Democrats. 

Former universities minister Sam Gyimah has strongly criticized Johnson's threat to leave the EU with no deal, and has called for a re-run of the 2016 Brexit referendum. 

Former British prime minister David Cameron also launched a blistering attack on Johnson in extracts of his memoirs published Sunday, accusing him of only backing Brexit to further his own career.

The publication of Cameron's memoirs came at an explosive time, with Britain mired in political turmoil ahead of its scheduled exit from the bloc on October 31.