Boris: Public would feel betrayed by second vote
Britain
A second Brexit referendum would provoke ‘‘instant, deep and ineradicable feelings of betrayal’’, Boris Johnson warns yesterday, as two of the prime minister’s most senior allies were accused of secretly preparing for a new vote.
Gavin Barwell, Theresa May’s chief of staff, allegedly said a second referendum was ‘‘the only way forward’’, while David Lidington, her de facto deputy, was accused of trying to build a ‘‘cross-party coalition’’ for a new vote.
Johnson suggests they must be ‘‘out of their minds’’, as he warns the public would be ‘‘utterly infuriated’’ if Britain were to be put through the ‘‘misery and expense’’ of another referendum.
Johnson describes the idea that the Government would put a second referendum to the public as sickening and adds: ‘‘They would know immediately that they were being asked to vote again simply because they had failed to give the ’right’ answer last time. They would suspect, with good grounds, that it was all a gigantic plot, engineered by politicians, to overturn their verdict. A second referendum would provoke instant, deep and ineradicable feelings of betrayal.’’
May will warn today that a second referendum would break faith with the British people and ‘‘do irreparable damage to the integrity of our politics’’ as she appears in the Commons after a disastrous Brussels summit last week. Remainers in the Cabinet have been emboldened by her failure to secure any concessions from Brussels over the Irish border backstop, which could tie the UK to the customs union ‘‘indefinitely’’ if a deal cannot be reached. A group of five Cabinet ministers – Amber Rudd, Lidington, David Gauke, Philip Hammond and Greg Clark – is understood to be leaning toward a second referendum in the event May’s deal is rejected. However, 11 other Cabinet ministers back a ‘‘managed no deal’’.
The Telegraph also learnt that Geoffrey Cox, the Attorney General, allegedly told Cabinet ministers that May must be removed after Brexit so others could renegotiate the deal.