Heseltine: Brexit will be worse for Britain than Corbyn as PM

TORY grandee Lord Heseltine has suggested Brexit could be more damaging to the country than a Corbyn government.

In comments Tory Europhiles could see as a further disloyalty to Theresa May, the prominent Remainer said leaving the EU could have a worse long-term effect than Labour taking power.

Lord Heseltine warned he would try his best to stop Brexit by ‘any means’ at hand – whether it be a second referendum or a vote in the Lords.

And the former deputy PM said many pro-Remain Tories were considering leaving the party as Mrs May’s insistence on driving through Brexit made them question their loyalty to the ‘tribe’. Last night Tory MP Nigel Evans said: ‘Only a euro-fanatic of the pedigree of Michael Heseltine could believe that a Venezuela-loving Corbyn government would be preferable to leaving his beloved EU.

‘A run on the pound and a return to the damaging state-controlled industries of the 60s would inflict immense damage on the UK. It’s about time Tarzan hung up his loincloth and got behind Theresa May, who is delivering what the UK voted for and is doing it rather well without irrelevant interventions of the Jurassic Park era.’

His fellow Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg added: ‘ It shows how deep-seated his love for the EU is that he would rather bankrupt the nation than leave it. Most people become wise with age, Lord Heseltine is the exception that proves the rule.’

Lord Heseltine said Labour would have a negative effect on the UK – but Brexit would be worse. Asked what would happen under five years of a Corbyn government, he said: ‘Well, we have survived Labour governments before.

‘Their damage tends to be short-term and capable of rectification. Brexit is not short-term and is not easily capable of rectification. There will be those who question whether the short-term pain justifies the avoidance of long-term disaster.’

Lord Heseltine also claimed Brexit would become ‘ more unpopular as people realise what it’s all about’. ‘If you look at the polls there is probably a bigger majority against Brexit than the referendum secured but that, I think, will continue to happen,’ he told the Limehouse podcast.

‘I think a second referendum would be a vehicle for ending Brexit, but personally I would rather Parliament to do it – either if this present parliament became hostile or because in an election the issue was rethought and a subsequent parliament did it. My preoccupation is ending Brexit.’

Ken Clarke, the pro-EU former Tory chancellor, told another episode of the same podcast that he would ‘love to reverse the referendum if I thought we could’, but added: ‘I don’t think we can.’ Lord Heseltine has long been one of his party’s most vociferous Europhiles. He walked out of Margaret Thatcher’s Cabinet in 1986 following a row over Europe. Later he became a prominent supporter of joining the euro.

Since the referendum he has repeatedly called for the result to be reversed.

Last week he told Channel 4 News: ‘My problem is so simple: I believe that Brexit is such a disaster for this country that my wish is to see Brexit fail.’