Iain DUNCAN SMITH
From the time of David Cameron, the Brexit debate has made the Conservatives seem narrow and inward-looking. This has to change, says Iain Duncan Smith
Ihappened to be crossing Lambeth Bridge quite early recently. It was a grey and overcast morning and the wind was cold. This was the first time, I reflected, that I had walked across the bridge since the morning the result of the Brexit referendum was announced. I recalled how elated I was back then as the early-morning sun rose over the city and reflected off the river. It all seemed so simple. We were leaving, and that was the vital point. Yet over two years later, standing on that same windswept bridge, it now looked so very different.
The problem goes right back to David Cameron. The biggest mistake was not to allow the civil servants to start planning for Brexit before the vote happened. This meant that after the vote, a great deal of time was wasted in re-organisation before we even started the necessary planning. Thereafter, from the prime minister downwards, the Government failed to prepare for an EU response that was heavy with demands about process and requirements.
This was compounded by the terrible decision to call a snap election, failing to realise that under the fixed-term Parliament Act snap elections are no longer really possible. The result was the current dreadful hung parliament in which the overwhelming majority of MPS simply hate the idea of Brexit.
Worse, the negotiation, inexplicably put in the hands of a civil servant, was based on damage limitation and, as predicted, the EU dictated terms. Since then we have seen a gradual collapse in collective responsibility, with Remain cabinet ministers breaking ranks to write articles and vote against the Government.
At the heart of this has been the growing question of leadership. You can feel what is left of the Prime Minister’s power ebbing away day by day as vote after vote has been lost. What is clear now is that one of two things will happen on Brexit. The MPS will vote either to add the requirement for a customs union into the Prime Minister’s deal, which the EU will agree to, or failing that the EU will demand that the UK accept a long delay, including taking part in the European Parliament elections. Either way, the most dangerous situation now faces the Conservative Party. We have placed ourselves fully in the hands of the Labour Party as well as the SNP – with the EU on their side.
As we enter the realm of the leadership election, we have to be realistic that whatever we might wish for, the first priority for the incoming PM is to bring this deeply riven and fractured party back together.
On top of that, they will need to recognise that this party has been consumed by Brexit to the exclusion of almost everything else and yet, frighteningly, has failed to deliver it.
Whoever takes over must be someone who believes in the possibilities of Brexit and is prepared to show real leadership in extolling the virtues of exiting the European Union.
It now looks like they will have to fight to reject any plan for a customs union or a long extension.
One of the downsides of the Brexit debate has been the way it has made the Conservative Party seem narrow and inward-looking. This has to change.
Our belief in the value of strong families, coupled with support for the most vulnerable, are at our heart. These need to be championed as we work to give people greater freedom to rise by reducing the burdens that hold them down.
In short, the leader who emerges will need all the upbeat communication skills of a Ronald Reagan and the intellectual grasp of a Margaret Thatcher if we are to re-emerge as the dominant political force the country needs to deny the very real threat of national collapse embodied in the Marxist philosophy of Corbyn.
‘You can feel what is left of the Prime Minister’s power ebbing away day by day as vote after vote has been lost’