New blow for Boris as Amber Rudd quits Cabinet and Tories
CABINET Minister Amber Rudd resigned from the Tory Party last night in protest at Boris Johnson’s sacking of the rebel Tory MPs who voted last week to block a No Deal Brexit.
In a devastating parting salvo, the Pensions Secretary – one of only a handful of Remain-supporting Ministers in Mr Johnson’s Cabinet – said she had seen no evidence that Mr Johnson was trying to strike a deal with Brussels.
Announcing that she would be standing as an independent Conservative in her Hastings and Rye constituency, Ms Rudd attacked the Prime Minister’s decision to deselect 21 Tory rebels as an ‘assault on decency and democracy’. Ms Rudd was criticised by her former Remain allies after pivoting to sign up to Mr Johnson’s Cabinet and backing his pledge to leave the EU ‘do or die’.
Last night Tory sources said her brother Roland, a multi-millionaire lobbyist who was a leading figure in the Remain campaign, had exerted ‘huge amounts of pressure on his sister to walk’.
In her resignation letter to the Prime Minister, Ms Rudd said: ‘I no longer believe leaving with a deal is the Government’s main objective. The Government is expending a lot of energy to prepare for No Deal, but I have not seen the same level of intensity go into our talks with the European Union...
‘I must also address the assault on decency and democracy that took place last week when you sacked 21 talented, loyal One Nation Conservatives. This short-sighted culling of my colleagues has stripped the Party of broadminded and dedicated Conservative MPs. I cannot support this act of political vandalism.’
In an interview with The Sunday Times Ms Rudd made clear that she no longer trusts Mr Johnson’s word. ‘If you say, “I don’t want a General Election and I don’t want No Deal”, you have to take the steps to make that happen,’ she said in the interview.
‘If instead you take the opposite steps, people have to come to their own conclusions. My mother used to say, “Judge a man by what he does and not by what he says.” I am concerned that he’s not doing enough to make true what he says is his priority.’ She also said she was ‘ignored’ by Mr Johnson when she urged him to calm his increasingly ‘aggressive’ rhetoric.
‘He should not be putting Parliament against the people,’ she added. ‘The constant escalation of the combat between Parliament and the people leading to protests is really unwise and will lead to dangerous outcomes.’
Last night a furious No10 source said: ‘As the polls show, the voters are quite happy for the PM to get rid of people who don’t want us to sort out Brexit. There are plenty of talented younger MPs to replace any deadwood.’
Roland Rudd last night praised his sister for resigning. ‘So proud of my sister,’ he wrote on Twitter. ‘She’s principled, brave, honest and loyal to her friends.’
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he was ‘gutted’ and rebels booted out of the Tory Party also lined up to praise her. David Gauke, the former Justice Secretary, tweeted that she had been ‘extraordinarily brave’ and Rory Stewart described Ms Rudd as a ‘true One Nation Conservative’.
But Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage tweeted: ‘Why did Boris give ministerial posts to all these Remainers in the first place? Confused thinking to say the least.’
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson was yesterday accused of planning to set the EU ‘on fire’ as the only way to keep his grip on power and hit next month’s Brexit deadline.
Amid fevered speculation in Whitehall that the PM could be on the brink of quitting, his advisers are this weekend plotting to thwart those MPs who voted last week to force Mr Johnson to seek a Brexit extension. One plan is to be so disruptive to the EU that Brussels is obliged to eject us – while a second is to act on new legal advice from a senior QC which No 10 sources say gives them the authority to simply ignore the Commons order.
Mr Johnson has said he would ‘die in a ditch’ rather than obey the MPs, making his resignation seem inevitable if no alternative can be found, unless he breaks the law by simply ignoring the will of MPs.
Many of Mr Johnson’s closest allies believe the battle for Brexit will be decided in the Supreme Court.
Senior civil servants started making preparations on Friday for Mr Johnson to leave Downing Street as early as tomorrow – giving Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn the chance to form a rival administration.But No10 sources insist that Mr Johnson’s immediate resignation is not under consideration.
The PM will tomorrow make a second attempt to try to break the deadlock by asking the Commons to back a General Election on October 15. Labour’s opposition to a pre-Brexit poll means he is likely to fail, and one option being considered in Downing Street is for Mr Johnson to trigger a vote of no confidence in himself in order to get an Election.
Under the new ‘kick us out strategy’, if Brussels fails to strike an acceptable deal the UK Government will use legal chicanery to sabotage the EU from within. However, last night a senior source close to chief negotiator Michel Barnier described the plan as ‘desperate’, while a British MEP likened Mr Johnson to ‘the drunk at the party’ and accused him of ‘trying to get thrown out by setting the whole house on fire’.
Under the disruption strategy, Mr Johnson’s allies believe that, by refusing to appoint a UK Commissioner to Brussels beyond the end of October, from the start of November the EU will ‘no longer be legally constituted’ – unless they vote to reduce the number of member countries to 27. This process would then be vetoed by the UK, which his allies think the EU ‘cannot accommodate’ and would therefore kick the UK out.
After a torrid week of high drama, in other developments:
Downing Street sources described as hysterical a warning by former chief prosecutor Lord Macdonald, who said ‘the law should be followed’ by the PM. The crossbench peer said: ‘A refusal in the face of that would amount to contempt of court which could find that person in prison’, adding that it was ‘not an extreme outcome;’
Special adviser to the Government Dominic Cummings told aides to hold their nerve in the face of the Remainer ‘meltdown’ and be ‘cool like Fonzies’ and they would ultimately ‘trounce Corbyn’;
Downing Street plans to suspend Parliament as early as tomorrow if MPs vote down Mr Johnson’s second attempt to trigger an Election;
Last night, a poll showed the Conservatives had extended their lead over Labour. The Opinium poll for the Observer puts the Tories on 35, Labour on 25, the Lib Dems on 17 and the Brexit Party on 13;
Theresa May emerged as the figurehead in a campaign to reverse Mr Johnson’s controversial purging of rebellious Tory MPs;
Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom announced that the Tories would run a candidate against Speaker John Bercow at the next Election;
Nigel Farage offered the Tories a pact to ‘destroy Corbyn’ if Mr Johnson goes for a No Deal Brexit;
Leaked Cabinet details showed that Michael Gove is preparing to mobilise 1,600 troops to drive petrol tankers to deal with fuel shortages in the event of no deal.
On Friday Mr Cummings warned Government special advisers ‘we have a different interpretation of the legislation’ barring a No Deal Brexit, going further than Mr Johnson, who said on Friday that the Bill only obliged the Government to delay our EU departure ‘in theory’. The source said that Downing Street and Conservative Campaign HQ were ‘ramping up’ preparations for a vote.
The source added that Brussels would only grant the UK a Brexit extension if the UK engaged in ‘sincere co-operation’ – which is not the plan. ‘If we engage in obstructive behaviour it would lead to the undermining of EU interests and would leave them questioning the UK’s membership’, the source said.
‘I cannot support this act of political vandalism’
‘Plenty of talented MPs to replace deadwood’