Heseltine: Nationalism is threat to Tories
The Conservative Party risks being captured by the“narrow nationalism, phobiafilled and poisonous politics of Nigel Farage”, Lord Heseltine has warned.
In a speech to mark his appointment as the president of the pro-eu pressure group European Movement, the former deputy prime minister called on Tory leadership candidates to reject no deal as an option.
He said: “Such a decision, which would deny either Parliament or the people a say on a No Deal outcome that neither wants, would be nothing short of a democratic and constitutional outrage.
“If successful, the consequences for businesses, for young people and for the integrity of the United Kingdom itself would rightly be hung around the neck of the Conservative party for a generation to come.”
Lord Heseltine admitted he voted Liberal Democrat at the recent European Parliament elections, and had the Tor y whip removed before - hand after he stated his intention to do so.
The peer said: “What is it you want me to do? To betray everything I’ve believed all my adult life? To explain why every Conservative PM except the last one was wrong?
“Am I to tell the young generation ‘go hang’ or is it that I should stay silent, to wait for Conservative Central Office to send me a little blue book, thumb through the index under European dread out the party line?
“I can think of a party that does believe that. And it does begin with aC. But it is not the Conservative party I know and to which I have devoted my life.”
He added: “Turn yourselves into branch offices of Brexit if you wish. But if you do so, you are on your own. Those upon whom you depend to win power in a general election will not come back. Good luck. Goodbye. Indeed, the prospect of a new prime minister being chosen by perhaps little more than 100,000 Conservative party members in the current circumstances fills me with dread. There will be an arms race in which candidates vie against each other for who can be the most Faragiste.”
Lord Heseltine said it is not too late for the Conservative party to change direction on Brexit and to back a second referendum.