Inside the membership backlash
MPS face furious backlash from constituents as party rounds on Prime Minister and ‘lily-livered’ Cabinet
Blue-on-blue infighting spilt out of Westminster and into the Tory shires last night as calls for the Prime Minister’s resignation intensified following her bombshell Brexit U-turn.
Having been expected to back nodeal following Tuesday’s marathon seven-hour Cabinet meeting, Theresa May incurred the wrath of her MPS and Tory voters by opting instead to extend Article 50 while seeking a customs union compromise with Jeremy Corbyn.
Within minutes of her 6pm Downing Street statement, Conservative MPS reacted with incredulity, flooding the party’s Whatsapp groups with expletive-ridden vitriol as a full-scale Tory rebellion was mounted.
One MP said the PM had “gone mad and needs sectioning”. Another implored: “How the hell do we get her to resign?”
Summing up the mood, one MP posted a picture of the Tories’ famous “Coalition of Chaos” poster, with the nostalgic caption: “The good old days.” Having once mocked Corbyn, now the Conservatives appeared to be getting into bed with him.
Such was the anger that one MP even suggested that at last night’s meeting of the 1922 Committee, Conservative backbenchers should hold an indicative vote on whether to boot out the PM. “Many colleagues are calling for this for the very survival of our party,” the MP insisted.
It came after Brexiteer Andrea Jenkyns earlier refused to rule out voting against her own Government in another no-confidence motion. Sir Graham Brady, the 1922 Committee chairman, later indicated he had no intention of entertaining the idea of an indicative vote – although it did gain traction with one minister. Unsurprisingly, Mrs May swerved the 5pm meeting and sent Liam Fox, the International Trade Secretary, to face the music.
Of course, the anger was not solely reserved for Mrs May, with Tories also taking aim at her “lily-livered’’ Cabinet. As one Tory insider put it: “Anti-cabinet feeling is at the highest I’ve ever seen. Everyone knows that some want her gone but they are keeping quiet because they like having their red box and their Jag.”
By now there had been not one but two more resignations, taking the payroll tally up to 33. The day began with Nigel Adams quitting as minister for Wales over the Prime Minister’s “grave error” of “legitimising and turning to” the Labour leader. It ended with Chris Heaton-harris, a Brexit minister responsible for no-deal preparations, falling on his sword – becoming the eighth DEXEU minister to go in under three years.
He wrote in his resignation letter: “I truly believe our country would have swiftly overcome any immediate issues of leaving without a deal and gone on to thrive. Every time we seek an extension ... we diminish faith in our political system and the good people, from all political parties, who serve within it. I simply cannot support any further extension to Article 50 and this obviously means I cannot stay in government.”
Mr Heaton-harris had earlier orchestrated a letter signed by 174 MPS calling on Mrs May to shun a customs union in favour of a managed no-deal.
On Monday night, two delegations, one Remain led, one comprising senior members of the European Research Group, had both urged the PM to adopt a no-deal stance but as ever there was “no way to gauge her reaction”, according to one MP who attended No10.
Iain Duncan Smith, the former party leader, could not hide his abject dismay at the turn of events as he wrote in The Daily Telegraph: “The spectre of Corbyn lording it over us in a prime ministerial way as he wrecks Brexit makes my blood run cold and fear for my party and my country.”
Showing how the ill-feeling had spilt on to the streets, Tory MP Michael Fabricant posted a photograph of a poster which simply read: “We trusted you”, saying: “I feel ashamed #Brexit”.
As inboxes began filling with angry emails from disgruntled constituents accusing Mrs May of betrayal, a former MP messaged colleagues to say: “She’s totally f------ your local councillors.”
John Strafford, chairman of the grassroots Campaign for Conservative Democracy, was equally scathing: “The Prime Minister needs to go now,” he told The Telegraph. “We can’t go on like this. The feeling is that this is a complete disaster for next month’s local elections. Some associations have already had difficulty finding candidates, others have had candidates pull out over this. It’s an unmitigated disaster.”
For many MPS who had spent last weekend canvassing, the lady turning proved to be the final straw.
As one said: “The whole thing is utterly, utterly f-----. How on earth are we meant to sell this pile of s--- on the doorstep? It’s like the 2017 election all over again.
“Our only hope is that Corbyn fails to take the opportunity presented. But if he behaves in the next 24 hours in a semi-reasonable way, we’ve shafted ourselves beyond repair”. (The Labour leader later reported that the two-hour meeting had gone “very well”.)
Another MP added: “Sadly the damage has been done. Even my most loyal supporters are furious. We will find it near impossible to row back from her statement last night, even with different leader.”
As a number of Tory members cut up their party membership cards on social media, one of their elective representatives said: “The joke doing the rounds now is that Theresa May’s security detail is to protect her from her own MPS, not the public.”
Mrs May’s attempt to calm frayed tempers by writing to all Tory MPS calling for national unity did not appear to have the desired effect at PMQS, as she was rounded on by her own side.
She had earlier given them the written ultimatum: “With some colleagues unwilling to support the Government in the division lobbies, this is the only
way to deliver the smooth, orderly Brexit that we promised.”
The Opposition benches largely remained silent as Tory MP after Tory MP laid into their boss.
Julian Lewis asked why Mrs May had taken no deal off the table. He said: “Why is a Conservative Prime Minister who repeatedly told us that no deal is better than a bad deal approaching Labour MPS to block a WTO Brexit when most Conservative MPS want us to leave the EU with a clean break?”
Tory Lee Rowley asked: “What qualifies Corbyn now for his involvement in Brexit?” The Prime Minister’s meek reply was that all MPS in the House are involved in Brexit.
At his first PMQS after resigning the Tory whip, Nick Boles twisted the knife by sitting with the Lib Dems.
As the No10 spin machine went into overdrive trying to silence the many voices of dissent, a Yougov poll gave confirmation that the Westminster bubble had burst – and feelings were being echoed in the Conservative Home Counties.
Asked if Theresa May should remain as Conservative leader or stand down and make way for somebody else, 46 per cent of 2017 Tory voters called for her resignation, compared with 44 who wanted her to stay in post.
In trying to put the country ahead of her party – it seemed Mrs May only succeeded in alienating both.
‘The whole thing is utterly, utterly f-----. How on earth are we meant to sell this pile of s--- on the doorstep?’