Chequers ‘as dead as a dodo’
Tory who helped May to No10 warns Eurosceptics will kill off her Brexit plan Memo suggests challenge to PM in April
ONE of Theresa May’s hitherto most loyal allies has said her Chequers plan is as “dead as a dodo” as he accused the Prime Minister of trying to “blackmail” her own MPS into supporting it.
Sir Mike Penning, the former minister who helped orchestrate Mrs May’s 2016 leadership campaign, said she was “deluded” if she thought she could persuade Tory Eurosceptics to vote for any Brexit deal based on Chequers.
It came as a secret memo circulated among Tory MPS suggested backbenchers would force Mrs May from office next April, as soon as Britain formally left the EU.
The memo, seen by The Daily Telegraph, discusses the chances of her potential successors, with Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, described as a “dark horse” who may well succeed. Boris Johnson has been written off because “the front-runner never wins”.
Sir Mike’s intervention was timed to cause maximum damage as Mrs May tries to sell the Chequers plan to fellow EU leaders at a summit in Salzburg.
Last night Mrs May told EU leaders they must agree a Brexit deal at a specially convened meeting in November as she would not allow the Article 50 process to be pushed back. But Donald Tusk, the European Council president, told her that Chequers would need to be “reworked” first.
Sir Mike, nominated by Mrs May for his knighthood, said yesterday that he and other Tory moderates were being driven to join the European Research Group, the Eurosceptic wing of the party led by Jacob Rees-mogg.
He accused the Prime Minister of playing “Russian roulette” with the country over Brexit and treating her own MPS “like children who belong on the naughty step”.
In a sign of the growing mutiny within the Tory party, Sir Mike, who as policing minister was effectively Mrs May’s deputy when she was home secretary, was described as being among a “growing phenomenon” of moderate MPS poised to join the ERG, which wants to “chuck Chequers”.
He said: “If Chequers comes back to Parliament, unless Labour vote with her, it will not get through Parliament.
“They are not going to be able to peel off people in the numbers they did in Maastricht. She has to wake up and smell the coffee and take us, her colleagues and the country with her.”
The comments coincide not only with Mrs May’s trip to Salzburg but also with the emergence of a dossier detailing the runners and riders primed to replace the Prime Minister should she be forced out of office after Brexit.
Written in April but re-circulated, the dossier – believed to have been the work of a Tory MP – is based on the “assumption” that the backbench 1922 Committee will “invite the PM to standdown soon(ish) after March 2019”.
Advising colleagues to “manoeuvre immediately”, it provides an unflinching assessment of 27 of Mrs May’s potential successors, describing Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary, as being “on manoeuvres”, Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, as “thinking he has a chance” but “not a hope” and Liam Fox, the International Trade Secretary, as “fading”. Mr Johnson, the “bookies’ favourite”, is considered an unlikely successor and Mr Rees-mogg
is described as “the party’s favourite” but “unlikely to succeed”. It claims David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, pretends “not to be interested, but is”. Andrea Leadsom, fellow Brexiteer and Leader of the House of Commons, is branded “totally unsuitable”, while Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, a favourite among younger Tories, is described as “wanting it” but “trying to recover from a Referendum positioning error”.
Mr Hunt is a “dark horse near the front of the pack coming up the rail”. Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, is
considered “ambitious”, while Damian Hinds, the Education Secretary, is “a threat”. Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, is described as “in full campaign mode”, while David Lidington, Mrs May’s de facto deputy, is dismissed as “a Remainer, but not incredible”. Liz Truss, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, is also described as “being on manoeuvres”. Brexiteer Penny Mordaunt, International Development Secretary, has “insufficient authority” compared to Priti Patel, her predecessor, who is “definitely on manoeuvres” despite “issues of judgment”. Dominic Raab, the
Brexit Secretary, has “discreet ERG support” and “might well succeed”.
Amber Rudd is thought “credible, notwithstanding Windrush”, noting she had “hired CT”, a reference to Crosby Textor, the strategy firm that advised Mrs May on her general election campaign. Justine Greening has “no caucus of support”, while “unpopular aggressive Remainer” Nicky Morgan’s “only hope is to block Brexit”.
Other MPS named were Ruth Davidson, Tobias Ellwood, Rory Stewart, Tom Tugendhat, Johnny Mercer and Owen Paterson.