Rudd: I’ll return if 21 rebels are let back into the party

AMBER Rudd yesterday said she would take back the Tory whip if Boris Johnson allows the 21 Brexit rebels to return to the Conservative Party.

She quit as Work and Pensions Secretary and surrendered the whip in protest at their expulsions after they voted to allow MPs to seize control of the Commons agenda to block a No Deal Brexit.

Yesterday Miss Rudd said she was hopeful that the 21, including ex- chancellors Ken Clarke and Philip Hammond, will be welcomed back into the fold. The Tory chief whip on Wednesday wrote to the group setting out an appeals process but Downing Street has played down chances of a reprieve.

Miss Rudd told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I would like to see the Conservative whip put back to all of that group so we can be part of the Conservative Government going forward. I think the group needs to be considered as a whole to be brought back.’

She added: ‘I do take issue – and this is one of the reasons I resigned – with the idea that them voting against the Government on that issue that week was somehow more egregious than the constant voting against the Government under Theresa May. If Conservatives MPs had not constantly voted against her withdrawal agreement we would have left the EU.’

Miss Rudd said she will not join another party and will stand as an independent Conservative if the whip has not been restored to her before a general election.

She insisted: ‘I will not be fighting for another party. I hope to be fighting as a Conservative and, if not, with up to 20 people as an independent Conservative.’

The 21 rebels expelled last week also include former justice secretary David Gauke and Sir Nicholas Soames, a grandson of Sir Winston Churchill.

‘Group needs to be brought back’