May under threat, Tories in turmoil
Brexit Secretary rejects PM’s plans with his own political exit
The British Government is in deep crisis after David Davis’ dramatic resignation as Brexit Secretary. Prime Minister Theresa May is due to address all Conservative MPs at a meeting this morning to plead for their backing for her Brexit deal.
Davis shocked May by telling her he could not support the Brexit plan agreed at Chequers last weekend, and was quitting “in the national interest”.
Shortly after news of his departure broke, Steve Baker, his deputy in the Brexit department, also quit, prompting speculation that a wave of Cabinet resignations could follow.
Just 48 hours after May appeared to have united her Cabinet behind a vision for Brexit, her plans were in tatters, with a very real danger that she could now face a leadership challenge within days. The resignation exposed May to challenge by Conservative members outraged over what they see as her plan to keep Britain tied to many rules and regulations of the European Union after it leaves the bloc next year.
Hardline Brexit backers who argue that May should have a clean, decisive break from Brussels, spent the weekend complaining that her proposals were a timid capitulation, a “Brexit in name only,” that ignored “the will of the people” who voted 52 to 48 per cent in June 2016 to leave the European bloc.
Attention will turn to Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who described May’s Brexit blueprint as “a big turd”, to see if he too might quit in an attempt to oust May and replace her with a taking personal charge of Brexit and merging the Brexit department with the Cabinet office in the event of Davis’ resignation.
But Davis going could be a gamechanger in deciding May’s future, as MPs will ask why they should support her plan if the minister in charge of Brexit did not believe in it.
May believed she had strengthened her grip on power, but instead she finds herself more vulnerable than at any time since losing her majority in last year’s snap general election.
As well as Johnson, Cabinet Brexiteers including Liam Fox, Andrea Leadsom, Chris Grayling, Penny Mordaunt and Esther McVey will now have to decide if they can stay in the Government despite their objections to the Brexit deal.
In his letter of resignation, Davis told May that her tactics and proposals make it “look less and less likely” that Britain would leave Europe’s single market and customs unions — two promises May has made.
Davis said the Government’s approach will just lead to further demands from Brussels and will give Europe control of large swaths of the British economy.
May supports a middle way of compromise with Brussels, keeping Britain closely aligned with Europe on standards, “a common rule book for industrial goods and agricultural products.” This, her critic charged, would shackle Britain and make it a rule taker versus a rule maker.