Europe-loving Ms U-turn awarded key Brexit job
Labour back her in Treasury role to attack May
ARCH- REMAINER Nicky Morgan was elected chairman of the Commons Treasury committee last night, as Labour MPs joined forces to give Theresa May a bloody nose.
The former Education Secretary, who was dubbed ‘Ms U-turn’ in government, took the plum job after seeing off a challenge from prominent Eurosceptic Jacob Rees-Mogg.
Mrs Morgan, one of the most outspoken Remainers on the Tory benches, will now have a key role in scrutinising the economic aspects of Brexit, with the power to summon ministers and officials to give evidence, and the casting vote on the influential committee’s report.
Overall, the result of the elections means that Brexit-supporting MPs now chair just six of the 28 select committees in the Commons. But the election of Mrs Morgan is the one likely to cause most irritation in Downing Street.
It completes a remarkable return for a politician brutally sacked by Theresa May last year.
Under Commons rules, party whips agree which party will chair each select committee. But all MPs are entitled to vote on who should be chairman, giving opposition parties a big say.
One senior Labour MP said there had been a deliberate attempt to install Mrs Morgan to create a thorn in the side of the Government.
In her manifesto for yesterday’s election, Mrs Morgan, who wants to keep Britain in the single market, said it was ‘more important than ever to forge a wide consensus on Brexit and for parliament to question ministers on their decisions’.
She also made an explicit appeal for the female vote, pointing out that she would be the first woman MP ever to hold the post.
Mrs Morgan, a former Treasury minister, was backed by a string of formerAnna Tory Soubry ministers Remainers,and KennethAlistair includingBurt. Clarke,
But it appears to have been Labour votes that swung the contest. After five rounds of voting, she beat Mr Rees-Mogg by 290 votes to 226. One senior Labour MP said: ‘On our side it was all about stopping Rees-Mogg. We wanted someone who would give the Government a hard time, particularly over Brexit, and Nicky Morgan fitted the bill.’
Remainers scored a further victory in the election for the chairman of the Foreign Affairs committee, where former soldier Tom Tugendhat defeated the sitting chairman Crispin Blunt, who was a prominent supporter of Brexit.
Former Labour cabinet minister Hilary Benn held on to the chair- manshipdespite a without Brexit-report supportingproducingof abouta the deal Brexit leavingso that MPs committee,pessimisticseveraltheon theEU committeeFormer Labour refused frontbencherto support it. Rachel Reeves, another prominent Remainer, also landed a key role as chairman of the influential Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy committee.
And Remain- supporting Tory MP Neil Parish has held on to the chairmanship of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee, which will oversee one of the most critical parts of the Brexit process.
However, veteran Eurosceptic Julian Lewis saw off a challenge from former soldier Johnny Mercer for the chairmanship of the Defence Committee.
Former corporate lawyer Mrs Morgan, who considers herself a future Tory leadership contender, has made no effort to hide her bitternesswaslast aides bannedyear after by criticisingover fromthe her Prime Downing sacking.Mrs Minister’sMay Street Shefor wearing a pair of £995 leather trousers, which she said would not go down well with constituents ‘in Loughborough market’. She was accused of hypocrisy after it emerged that she carries a £950 designer handbag herself. Mrs Morgan was dubbed ‘Ms Uturn’ after changing her mind on issues and adopting a politically correct stance. In 2013, she voted against gay marriage, telling her local paper that it ‘tied in with my own Christian faith’ and adding: ‘Marriage, to me, is between a man and a woman.’ But the following year, after her appointment as education secretary and equalities minister was attacked by gay rights activists, she told the BBC she had changed her mind and ‘probably would’ vote in favour of gay marriage.
‘Give government a hard time’