Tories ‘weaponising’ Queen
PRO-REMAIN MPs have accused Tory Brexit Ministers of trying to ‘weaponise’ the Queen by using next month’s Commonwealth summit to strike trade deals.
Whitehall officials hope to use the Heads of Government Meeting in London to ‘step up’ the pace of preparations for non-EU trade deals before Brexit Day in March 2019. But last night the MPs accused Ministers of planning to ‘turn the Queen into a mouthpiece’ for Brexiteers Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Liam Fox.
The claim comes as one diplomatic source told The Mail on Sunday that attempts by officials to use the summit to boost trade post-Brexit had met with resistance from many former British colonies, who mockingly dubbed it ‘Empire 2.0’. Pro-Remain Labour MP Chuka Umunna said: ‘The Government wants to turn the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit, hosted by the Queen, into a pro-Brexit political jamboree to showcase the myth that new trade deals with non-EU countries can make up for the lost trade resulting from the UK Government yanking us out of the single market and customs union.
‘The aim is to turn the Queen and Commonwealth leaders into mouthpieces for Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Liam Fox.’
The effort to strike new trade deals is being led by Dr Fox’s Department for International Trade. Dr Fox has promised that by the time of Brexit next March, he will have ‘around 40’ trade agreements in place.
A Government Minister said: ‘The idea we can use the summit to press the global Britain button will really p*** the Commonwealth off. They are fed up with our Brexit navelgazing and they hate being presented as the solution to our Brexit woes.’
A spokesman for Dr Fox said that the Commonwealth free trade plan ‘was not from the Department for International Trade and does not reflect Ministerial thinking’.