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Esther McVey: hard for May to stay if she can't renegotiate Brexit deal Johnson, McVey and Raab each hint at Tory leadership ambitions
(about 1 hour later)
Esther McVey has said she believes it would be very difficult for Theresa May to stay on as prime minister if she fails to renegotiate the Brexit deal – and refused to rule out running for the top job if a vacancy were to arise. Three Brexit-supporting former cabinet ministers have signalled in television interviews that they would be interested in running for the Tory leadership if Theresa May is forced to resign after Tuesday night’s critical Brexit vote, in a sign of the prime minster’s crumbling authority.
Giving her first television interview since she resigned as work and pensions secretary last month, McVey said May also had to withhold paying the £39bn divorce bill, and if she could not renegotiate on that and the backstop the UK should go for a no-deal Brexit instead. Boris Johnson, Esther McVey and Dominic Raab all refused to rule out leadership bids and called on May to persuade the EU to ditch the backstop and withhold some of the £39bn divorce bill, though Brussels has said no further negotiation is possible.
Asked if May should stay on as prime minister given the Brexit deal she has negotiated, the former minister said that if May “goes out and gets this deal we want on those key points then she will remain as our prime minister”, adding: “If she doesn’t it is going to be very difficult for her.” Thousands protest against Tommy Robinson Brexit march amid Tory infighting - Politics live
May is battling to get the Brexit vote through parliament on Tuesday, with 100 Conservative MPs, including McVey, saying they will vote against it. Despite repeated rumours of delay, the junior minister Kwasi Kwarteng said the vote would take place, adding: “I think we have a good shot at winning.” The former foreign secretary said he felt a “deep sense of personal responsibility” for the 2016 referendum result and when asked directly about whether he would rule out trying to become prime minister, declined to do so.
“I will give you an absolute, categorical promise that I will continue to advocate what I think is the most sensible plan,” Johnson said, although he insisted speculation he had begun offering Tory colleagues jobs in a future administration was “nonsense”.
An hour earlier, McVey, the former work and pensions secretary, said she believed it would be “very difficult” for Theresa May to stay on if she failed to renegotiate the Brexit deal.
McVey did not rule out running for the leadership herself, saying she would do so “if people asked me”. But she said she was “looking for a person who can unite the party behind the Brexit deal” and said Brexiters should get behind one candidate, but did not name anyone.
May is facing a battle to get her Brexit deal approved by MPs on Tuesday, with 100 Conservatives including McVey saying they will vote against it. Despite repeated rumours of delay, the Brexit secretary, Steve Barclay, said on Sunday the vote would happen as scheduled.
“The vote is going ahead,” he told the BBC. “That’s because it is a good deal, it’s the only deal and it’s important we don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”
No 10 sources played down the prospect of May making a dash to Brussels to ask for further concessions, before the scheduled EU summit at the end of the week, saying there would be little political benefit.
Instead the whipping offensive, which will involve the prime minister making multiple calls to colleagues in the coming days, is likely to focus on the risk to hard Brexiters of a defeated deal leading to a Norway-style agreement or a second referendum.
But with no obvious concessions on the horizon, speculation about the leadership has intensified over the weekend with talk that the cabinet ministers Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt and the former Brexit secretary David Davis would also run if May were to quit.
Appearing on Sky News, Raab, another former Brexit secretary, said when asked about his leadership ambitions: “I’ve always said I wouldn’t rule it out, but I’m just not going to get sucked into that debate.” He said the public would think it indulgent to do so.
Raab said he believed May could still hang on as leader “even in the event of a big loss on the vote” because he thought “she could still turn it round” by immediately trying to renegotiate the deal. “If parliament has voted the deal down I think she can go and say this deal doesn’t work for the United Kingdom.”
Raab he said a no deal could be a better outcome if May could not force further concessions. “Ultimately we need to be willing to walk away,” he said.
Johnson and McVey made similar points about the need to remove the backstop and withhold some of the £39bn divorce bill until a comprehensive free trade agreement is signed between the UK and the EU.
The former foreign secretary, speaking on the BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, said the backstop arrangements meant “we should consign ourselves to a future in which the EU effectively rules us in many, many respects and yet we have no say round the table in Brussels”.
Refusing to pay some of the divorce bill would concentrate minds in any negotiation with the EU, Johnson said. “That is the way to put a tiger in the tank.”
McVey argued the party’s support for May as prime minister was conditional on renegotiation. She told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday that if May “goes out and gets the deal we want on those key points then she will remain as our prime minister”, adding: “If she doesn’t it is going very difficult for her.”
The prime minister resigns after a humiliating defeat. Many MPs believe she will have to go if she loses by more than 100 votes. An interim prime minister would have to be chosen while the Tory party plans a leadership contest.The prime minister resigns after a humiliating defeat. Many MPs believe she will have to go if she loses by more than 100 votes. An interim prime minister would have to be chosen while the Tory party plans a leadership contest.
May begs Michel Barnier, the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator, left, to go the extra mile and reopen the talks. She asks for concessions over the Irish backstop, and then puts whatever she can secure to a second vote in the Commons.May begs Michel Barnier, the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator, left, to go the extra mile and reopen the talks. She asks for concessions over the Irish backstop, and then puts whatever she can secure to a second vote in the Commons.
Plenty of Conservative and Labour MPs would be happy to see a soft-Brexit, Norway-style solution that keeps Britain in the single market, as suggested by Amber Rudd, the work and pensions secretary. Although she has previously rubbished the idea, May could do a U-turn and try to sell it as a compromise to avoid the disaster of no deal.Plenty of Conservative and Labour MPs would be happy to see a soft-Brexit, Norway-style solution that keeps Britain in the single market, as suggested by Amber Rudd, the work and pensions secretary. Although she has previously rubbished the idea, May could do a U-turn and try to sell it as a compromise to avoid the disaster of no deal.
With her deal ditched, and if “no deal” is also ruled out by parliament, May’s least worst option could be to go back to the people. Many Tory MPs are pushing her to do so. If Labour officially backs the idea, a second referendum –as suggested by Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary – could happen.With her deal ditched, and if “no deal” is also ruled out by parliament, May’s least worst option could be to go back to the people. Many Tory MPs are pushing her to do so. If Labour officially backs the idea, a second referendum –as suggested by Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary – could happen.
If parliament cannot agree on what kind of exit from the European Union it wants, and if there is no majority for a second referendum, Britain hurtles towards a no-deal departure on 29 March 2019. A hardcore group of Brexiters led by Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg would rather accept trading with Europe on basic World Trade Organisation terms than May’s deal or any form of soft Brexit.If parliament cannot agree on what kind of exit from the European Union it wants, and if there is no majority for a second referendum, Britain hurtles towards a no-deal departure on 29 March 2019. A hardcore group of Brexiters led by Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg would rather accept trading with Europe on basic World Trade Organisation terms than May’s deal or any form of soft Brexit.
If there is no agreement on anything, and “no deal” has been blocked off as an option by parliament, the other choice available is no Brexit. May or whoever is in charge could form a cross-party government of national unity, revoke Article 50 and call the whole thing off.If there is no agreement on anything, and “no deal” has been blocked off as an option by parliament, the other choice available is no Brexit. May or whoever is in charge could form a cross-party government of national unity, revoke Article 50 and call the whole thing off.
Few in Westminster believe the prime minister has a chance unless she can come up with significant concessions before then, prompting speculation that she could be out as soon as Tuesday night depending on the scale of any defeat. McVey resigned last month a day after a stormy cabinet meeting in which ministers were asked to sign off the legally binding withdrawal agreement negotiated with Brussels. She told Ridge she had demanded a vote in cabinet “on the most crucial issue of a generation”.
May is under intense pressure from aides and senior ministers to consider pulling the vote on Tuesday, though a decision is unlikely to be taken until the 11th hour. McVey denied having a “meltdown” at the meeting, as leaks had suggested. Describing herself as a “straight talker”, she said: “If there was a meltdown it was from people not wanting to put their names to a vote”.
No 10 sources also played down the prospect of May making a last-minute dash to Brussels to ask for further concessions, before the scheduled EU summit at the end of the week, insisting there would be little political benefit. Barclay said ministers would continue making the case for the deal up until the vote and said there would be no more negotiations with Brussels. “The risk for those who say simply go back and ask again, the risk is that isn’t necessarily a one-way street,” he said. “The French, the Spanish and others will turn round, if we seek to reopen the negotiation, and ask for more.”
Instead, the whipping offensive, which will involve the prime minister making multiple calls to colleagues in the coming days, is likely to focus on the risk to hard Brexiters of a defeated deal leading to a Norway-style agreement or a second referendum.Speaking on BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, the Brexit secretary, Steve Barclay, said the vote would take place on Tuesday. “The vote is going ahead,” he said. “That’s because it is a good deal, it’s the only deal and it’s important we don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” The Tory Brexiter Jacob Rees-Mogg, writing in the Mail on Sunday, said May should stand down immediately and proposed that “leading figures from either side” of the Conservative party, “such as Boris Johnson and Amber Rudd”, could come together to “deliver the Brexit people voted for”.
Barclay said he would continue making the case for the deal up until the vote and said there would be no more negotiations with Brussels. “The risk for those who say simply go back and ask again, the risk is that isn’t necessarily a one-way street,” he said. “The French, the Spanish and others will turn round, if we seek to reopen the negotiation, and ask for more.”
McVey did not rule out running for leader, saying she would do so “if people asked me”. But she said she was “looking for a person who can unite the party behind the Brexit deal” and said Brexiters should get behind one candidate, although she did not name anybody in particular.
“At the moment I’m looking at who is in papers, who we can get behind, but it shouldn’t be about the personality, it should be about the country and this deal.”
McVey resigned last month a day after a stormy five-hour cabinet meeting after minister were asked to sign off the legally binding withdrawal agreement negotiated with Brussels. She told Sophy Ridge on Sky News she had demanded a vote in cabinet “on the most crucial issue of a generation”.
The former minister denied she had a “meltdown”, as had been suggested by leaks from the cabinet meeting, and said she was a “straight talker”, adding: “If there was a meltdown it was from people not wanting to put their names to a vote.”
The shadow Cabinet Office minister, Jon Trickett, refused to confirm that Labour would table a confidence motion in the prime minister if she lost the Brexit vote, saying: “Let’s see what happens.”
He told Ridge: “If you can tell me whether she will still be prime minister on Tuesday evening, then perhaps I can tell you what exactly we will do next.”
Labour’s policy is to call for a general election, but if that is not possible then all options – including a second referendum – remain open.
Trickett said passing legislation and organising another referendum may take until May or June 2019, after the UK’s scheduled exit from the EU on 29 March.
He said: “If people feel that the privileged political elite has decided by subterfuge to find a way of reversing the previous referendum, that would cause us some difficulty, and rightly so.”
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Esther McVeyEsther McVey
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