Cabinet conflict over EU strategy as May ‘shuts down’ dissent
Unhappy ministers lick their wounds and talk of rebellion before proposal goes to Commons vote
WHEN Theresa May emerged on the steps of Downing Street last night and said there were “difficult days ahead”, she was far from exaggerating.
The Prime Minister had just seen a Cabinet meeting that was scheduled to finish at 5pm overrun by two hours after what she described as an “impassioned” debate by ministers. And while Mrs May assured the public that she had secured “collective” support from the Cabinet for her deal, No 10 was said to be on resignation watch last night.
According to Cabinet sources, 11 ministers – equivalent to a third of the Cabinet – spoke out against the plans during furious exchanges.
Esther Mcvey, the Work and Pensions Secretary, was among the most vocal with Cabinet sources describing her as “emotional” and “aggressive” towards the Prime Minister.
During a tense, three minute confrontation she repeatedly demanded a vote in Cabinet so that ministers could put their positions on the record, but was rebuffed by both Mrs May and Mark Sedwill, Cabinet Secretary.
Sources have described the confrontation as a “massive bust-up”, as Mrs Mcvey warned that the Government would lose the vote on the deal in Parliament.
One source said Mr Sedwill “shouted down” Ms Mcvey as he gave the Prime Minister his support. However another said that he was “exceptionally polite” and referred to a physical copy of the Cabinet manual, which bars votes during meetings.
When Ms Mcvey first referred to the idea of a Cabinet vote some ministers assumed she was voting. “There was nervous laughter,” a source said. “Until we realised she was being serious.”
Two other ministers – Penny Mordaunt, the International Development Secretary, and Andrea Leadsom, the Leader of the Commons – will be considering their positions in the coming days. Ms Mordaunt has made no secret of her concern for the deal on offer. During Cabinet she took the extraordinary step of asking Mrs May for a free vote on the Brexit deal.
Her request was rejected by the Prime Minister, who has insisted that ministers must back her deal in the Commons. Mrs May implied that the offer, secured after 18 months of tortuous negotiations, was very much “take it or leave it”.
Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, and Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, are understood to have raised significant concerns about Britain’s ability to strike free trade deals after Brexit and concerns about the customs backstop.
However, Liam Fox, the International Trade Secretary, and James Brokenshire, the housing minister, were both supportive of the deal. Mr Brokenshire said that the Prime Minister should “follow her judgment”.
Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary, and Geoffrey Cox, the Attorney General, were also said to have been supportive of the Prime Minister’s position. Mr Cox compared the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal to a “life raft” which “constructed as it was of oil drums and a plastic sail, needed to make it out on to the open ocean”.
Dominic Raab, the Brexit Secretary, did not speak against the deal but is said to have been “down” about it.
David Lidington, the Prime Minister’s de facto deputy, argued that ministers should not focus their concerns on the exit mechanism from the backstop, pointing out that the Lisbon Treaty did not have one.
According to several sources Cabinet approved the deal with the support of 18 ministers to 11. Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, said those with concerns about the deal had effectively been “railroaded”.
A Cabinet source said that the majority of members signed up to the deal amid concerns that “it’s this or Corbyn”. “There was a lot of unhappiness,” one source said.
The Daily Telegraph understands that before the meeting Eurosceptic ministers decided that they would not quit immediately over the plans.
They are instead hoping to persuade the Prime Minister to drive a harder bargain with Brussels while making explicit their concerns that the deal is unlikely to get through Parliament.
If they are unsuccessful in changing the deal, ministers are expected to tender their resignation on the eve of the Commons vote on the deal.
The threat of resignations, Cabinet sources said last night, is very real.
“It’s a matter of principle for them,” said one source. “This isn’t about leadership positioning, it’s about farreaching concerns that the deal on the table does not deliver on the referendum result.”
The trouble began even before Cabinet had started. Moments before ministers gathered, 13 Scottish Tory MPS – including David Mundell, the Scotland Secretary – handed Downing Street an ominous letter.
They warned it would be a “betrayal” of the fishing industry if Britain was unable to take back control of its waters after the transition ends in 2021.
Speaking after Cabinet, however, Mr Mundell backed the deal. He said: “I am absolutely part of the Cabinet because I am satisfied with the deal. We are clear we are leaving in 2020 and becoming an independent coastal state.
“I am satisfied that the deal will allow us to do that.”
Ministers arrived at Cabinet at 2pm with all 28 ministers intent on having their say in full. In recognition of the extraordinary circumstances, Mrs May dispensed with the usual Cabinet format in which members have their say and she provides a summary at the end.
She instead responded to each minister after they had spoken in a bid to directly address their concerns, which centred on the customs “backstop” which will be triggered in 2021 in the event that no deal is agreed.
The backstop, intended to prevent a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, would see Britain remain in a customs union with the European Union.
Nearly half the Cabinet had demanded a “unilateral” right to break off from the backstop amid concerns that the UK could otherwise be tied to the Customs Union indefinitely.
The proposal, however, was flatly rejected by the European Union, leaving Mr Cox to draft an alternative “independent review mechanism”.
Under the plans, both the UK and the EU would have the right to request the end of the backstop if they considered that the other side was failing to act in “good faith”.
An independent arbitration body would then make the final decision.
The stakes could not have been higher, with Eurosceptics across the Cabinet expressing concerns about the plans. Ministers highlighted previous comments made by Mrs May when she told Cabinet that the UK should have a “unilateral ability to withdraw from the agreement”.
Immediately after the Cabinet meeting, Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, and Greg Hands, the Business Secretary, held a conference call with 200 business leaders.
Mr Hammond briefed chief executives on the draft agreement and thanked them for their help in warning about what he called the “horrific” impact of a no-deal Brexit.
In her speech outside Downing Street, the Prime Minister said that the choice had been her deal, no deal or “no Brexit at all”. Some ministers and Tory MPS are now considering another way – removing the Prime Minister.
Tory MPS and Cabinet ministers alike became increasingly concerned during Prime Minister’s Questions, two hours before Cabinet. Asked about the backstop by Jeremy Corbyn, the Prime Minister repeatedly refused to say that the UK would have a “unilateral” break clause.
Peter Bone, a Eurosceptic Tory MP, highlighted the mounting anger on the Tory benches by suggesting that the Prime Minister would cost the party
the next election. “If the media reports about the EU agreement are in any way accurate, you will not be delivering the Brexit people voted for and today you will lose the support of many Conservative MPS and millions of voters across the country,” he said.
Mrs May responded: “What we have been negotiating is a deal that does deliver on the vote of the British people. In the list that I set out earlier I left out one of the things that the British people are very keen to see from this deal, which is an end to free movement, and we will ensure that we are delivering on that.”
As Mrs May left Cabinet to deliver her address, ministers were given a glass of wine each. It is not known whether they toasted her.