Brexit sceptic Morgan wins top committee job at Treasury
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 Tory Education Secretary 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.
In a surprise development, and one that might bemuse her Paisley and Renfrewshire South constituents, it emerged that Nationalist MP Mhairi Black was among those who nominated Mr Rees-Mogg.
Miss Black – the youngest MP at Westminster – has previously spoken about her fondness for Mr Rees-Mogg, jokingly referring to him as her ‘boyfriend’.
The result of the elections means that Brexit-backing MPs now chair only 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 sacked by Theresa May last year.
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’.
Former Treasury minister Mrs Morgan, the first woman ever to hold the post, was backed by a string of Tory Remainers, including Kenneth Clarke, Anna Soubry and Alistair Burt.
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: ‘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 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 chairmanship of the Brexit committee, despite producing so pessimistic a report about leaving the EU that several Brexit-supporting MPs on the committee refused to support it.
Former Labour frontbencher Rachel Reeves, another promi- nent 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 Johnny Mercer for the chairmanship of the Defence Committee.
‘Give Government a hard time’ ‘Nicky Morgan fitted the bill’