CARETAKER KEN: I’LL BE PM
Tory stalwart Clarke willing to lead unity government if Boris is ousted
KEN Clarke said last night he would be willing to become caretaker Prime Minister to stop Britain leaving the EU without a deal on October 31.
The Tory former Chancellor declared that a government of national unity could be necessary because he believes the country is now facing a crisis similar to the 1930s recession and two world wars.
MPs who want to stop a No Deal Brexit are considering ousting Boris Johnson from Downing Street through a vote of no-confidence, but disagree on who should replace him. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has put himself forward but he has been rejected by Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson, who has suggested an alternative figure such as Mr Clarke or Harriet Harman.
Last night Mr Clarke said he had been away on holiday for a fortnight and not following the news, but had now returned and would be willing to step in. He told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme: ‘If it was the only way in which the plain majority in the House of Commons that is opposed to a No Deal exit could find a way forward, I actually said to Jo when she managed to raise me when I was on holiday that I wouldn’t object to it, if that was in the judgment of people, the only way forward. A government of national unity is just one of the things that might be called for.
‘It’s not inconceivable – I mean we’re in a similar situation to 1931 and rather wildly to the two world wars when the same thing happened.
‘But there’s an awful lot to be gone through before then and I haven’t been taking part in any talks with anybody for the last fortnight. I’ve been on the phone to one or two people in the last couple of days just to find out what the devil’s going on.’
His suggestion was met with a stinging rebuke last night from Nigel Evans, a member of the 1922 committee of Tory MPs.
He told the PM programme: ‘We’ve filled the vacancy with Boris Johnson and so I really don’t know what Ken is talking about. It does seem to be Westminster meets La La Land because it’s not as if these ideas are half-baked, I really don’t think they’ve been anywhere near an oven.’ It came as:
Former Attorney General Dominic Grieve, one of the Tory MPs looking to stop a No Deal Brexit, insisted he would not back Mr Corbyn becoming a caretaker PM – despite agreeing to meet him to discuss the issue;
Mr Corbyn savaged Miss Swinson after she rejected his plan to lead an emergency government to block a No Deal Brexit; and
The Labour mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, urged the Liberal Demalignment,
‘Westminster meets La La Land’
ocrats to seriously reconsider Mr Corbyn’s offer.
Yesterday Mr Clarke, the Father of the House, said Mr Corbyn would have to stand aside for a government of national unity.
‘What I just heard him saying is constitutionally wrong and... the precedents of the three national governments I’ve described, in no case was the national government led by the leader of the largest political party,’ he added.
‘Now, he obviously is the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament – he’s the person who hopes to win an election. Personally I think it’s very unlikely he can win an election but he can’t just say, “well if there’s any other government it has got to be me” – that is, I’m afraid, wrong, factually and constitutionally.
‘He’ll have to do what similar party leaders did on previous occasions and let somebody else lead it because I think it is the only way to get a multiparty group to come together.’
Mr Clarke said his government of national unity would be a ‘singleissue, short-term government’ with a policy to ‘sort out Brexit’.
‘I think it would seek an extension, actually put together a mandate for discussions that the majority of the House of Commons approved of, and a mandate that the Europeans would not resist – such as staying in the customs union, staying in regulatory keeping our free flows of trade and investment, protecting our jobs and our key sectors of business and agriculture in this country.
‘Then, once it had got that under way, it would call an election probably or resign and let’s see if Parliament could form a party government of any kind that took it all forward and started resuming other politics.’
Mr Clarke’s comments came as others rejected the idea of Jeremy Corbyn becoming a caretaker PM.
Mr Grieve said he would not back such a move following a backlash to the idea from party colleagues, while David Gauke – the ex-Justice Secretary who also opposes No Deal – tweeted: ‘If anyone thinks the answer is Jeremy Corbyn, I think they’re probably asking the wrong question.’
Mr Clarke is our longest-serving MP having being first elected in 1970. As well as Chancellor, he had served as Health Secretary, Education Secretary and Justice Secretary.
But his pro-European stance put him at odds with many in his party and he was unsuccessful in three attempts to become Tory leader.
Energy minister Kwasi Kwarteng said he believed that at 79 Mr Clarke is too old to become Prime Minister.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I’m a great fan of Ken Clarke... he’s been around for a long time, he’s very experienced.
‘[But] all of this seems to me like speculation. I think we have a Prime Minister and we’ll deliver on the mandate and the referendum of 2016.’
nBoris Johnson is expected to fly to Berlin and Paris next week for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Emmanuel Macron ahead of a G7 summit in Biarritz next weekend.
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