LESSON IN LEADERSHIP Ex-Tory prime minister calls UK’s negotiations ‘folly’ and wants MPs vote on final deal
SIR John Major has said Theresa May should give MPs a “free vote” in Parliament on a second Brexit referendum to let voters “accept or reject” the final deal.
The mild-mannered former prime minister launched an stinging attack on Theresa May yesterday.
He said Britain’s standing on the world stage has been “diminished” by the Leave vote.
In an extraordinary blue-on-blue assault, Major accused “ultra Brexiteers” of misleading the country about the consequences of leaving the European Union.
But he left his biggest criticism for May, describing her negotiating red lines as “not only grand folly ... also bad politics”.
Speaking to the Creative Industries Federation, he said: “Our negotiations, so far, have not always been sure-footed.
“Some agreements have been reached but, in many areas, only because the UK has given ground.”
The UK “will be weaker and less prosperous – as a country and as individuals” from quitting the bloc, he insisted.
He added: “Although it grieves me to admit it – our divorce from Europe will diminish our international stature.
“Indeed, it already has. For decades, we British have super-charged our influence around the world by our closeness to the US, which policy divisions are lessening, and our membership of the EU, which we are abandoning.”
The former Tory leader went on: “For the moment, our self-imposed ‘red lines’ have boxed the Government into a corner.
“They are so tilted to ultra Brexit opinion, even the Cabinet cannot agree on them – and a majority in both Houses of Parliament oppose them. If maintained in full, it will be impossible to reach a favourable trade outcome.
“Japanese car-makers warn they could close operations in Britain unless we maintain free access to the EU.
“That would be heart-breaking for many people in Sunderland or Swindon or South Wales.
“This isn’t ‘Project Fear’ revisited, it is ‘Project Know Your History’.”
Major said people should pause and reflect.
He added: “If the Brexit leaders were wrong in what they said so enthusiastically before, so are they not likely to be wrong in what they say now?”
Many voters now realise they were “misled” during the EU referendum, Major claimed, and said they should be given a chance to “reconsider” their decision.
He added: “It is already agreed that Parliament must pass legislation giving effect to the deal.
“A ‘meaningful vote’ has been promised. This must be a decisive vote, in which Parliament can accept or reject the final outcome, or send the negotiators back to seek improvements, or order a referendum.” Arch-Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg accused the former Tory PM of “humbug” and hypocrisy.
Rees-Mogg said: “Did John Major give a free vote on Maastricht? (a major EU treaty signed during Major’s time as PM in the 90s.)
“This is where he really is guilty of being a complete humbug.
“He whipped that through in the most aggressive whipping in modern history.
“For that PM to then say, ‘Oh, it should be a free vote’, is either forgetting how he behaved himself, ignoring how he behaved himself, or just straightforward hypocrisy.”