Boris to set up 100-day Brexit war cabinet
Tory leadership frontrunner planning ‘crack team’ to ensure UK leaves EU on time
BORIS JOHNSON is forming a Brexit war cabinet to force through Britain’s departure from the European Union in his first 100 days in office, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.
The “crack team” – as one source described it – would comprise a tightly knit unit of senior ministers and advisers charged with mapping out and tackling every possible obstacle on the way to Britain exiting on Oct 31.
It would then report back to the broader Cabinet, which itself will be comprised entirely of ministers who signed up to Mr Johnson’s deadline.
The plans are being developed by Sir Eddie Lister, who is heading up Mr Johnson’s putative transition team with Oliver Dowden, a Cabinet Office minister, and Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary.
One source said: “There will be a Brexit workstream and there are people signed up to it. It is expected to have senior figures and expertise from across the spectrum looking into it.”
Iain Duncan Smith, Mr Johnson’s new campaign chairman, warns in today’s Telegraph, in his first interview in his role, that if Brexit does not happen by Oct 31, as has been promised, “then the tsunami that hits us of anger from the British public will this time be irreparable”.
In further developments: Mr Johnson is also considering adopting the title “Minister for the Union” to go alongside his official position of “First Lord of the Treasury” should he win the Conservative leadership election, to make it clear that he will put the interests of England’s 300-yearold link with Scotland at the heart of his administration;
Penny Mordaunt, the Defence Secretary, who campaigned to leave the EU in 2016, takes a swipe at Mr Johnson, telling the Telegraph that party members should vote for a candidate who has a deliverable Brexit plan;
Sir Mark Sedwill, the Cabinet Secretary, is being lined up to move to Washington to be the new British ambassador to avoid any clash with Gavin Williamson, who is expected to return to a Johnson Cabinet;
Olly Robbins, Theresa May’s chief negotiator for exiting the EU, was repoted to have resigned last night;
John Bercow is planning to stay on as Speaker until Christmas, raising fears he intends to derail the Brexit process again.
Mr Johnson is said to be determined to learn the lessons of the way Brexit became mired in several Cabinet subcommittees under Mrs May. He has
already started to lay down some ground rules, saying last week that he would expect any member of his Cabinet to sign up to the Oct 31 deadline.
A spokesman for Mr Johnson’s team confirmed that “a transition team headed by Eddie Lister” is looking at plans for Mr Johnson’s time in No10. He added: “Boris and his team are totally focused on the task at hand, which is selling his vision for Brexit to be delivered on Oct 31 with or without a deal.”
The proposals were welcomed by Steve Baker, the deputy chairman of the European Research Group of Conservative MPs, who is tipped to be the new Brexit secretary. He said: “The idea of a small Cabinet subcommittee to secure our exit from the EU is absolutely right – it is imperative that with so little time to go, such a committee is agile and absolutely resolute.”
Theresa Villiers, the Brexiteer former Cabinet minister, added: “The key thing is that we need people in these positions who believe in delivering Brexit.”
Yesterday, Mr Johnson came out fighting against Mrs May’s “indecision” over Brexit at a leadership hustings, saying the lack of clarity has been “fatal for business”.
Mr Johnson took aim at Geoffrey Boycott, Mrs May’s cricketing hero, saying it was time that a “Botham” became Tory leader. Speaking in Cumbria, he said the UK’s approach to the EU negotiations needed to change dramatically.
“There is only one way to do this thing now,” he told a 250-strong crowd of Tory members at Carlisle Racecourse. “If I may venture a cricketing metaphor, I think we’ve had quite a lot of Boycott at the wicket and it is time for Botham to come in.
“We cannot have the same old, same old. We cannot have a can-kicking approach. We kick the can and we will kick the bucket.”
One party member asked him if “with the chequered private life, can we trust you with the great lady Britannia?” Mr Johnson replied: “Don’t look at what I say I do, look at what I do.”
Separately, Mrs May has escalated a row with Philip Hammond over her 11th-hour “legacy” projects, insisting that she is still Prime Minister and entitled to push ahead with the demands despite quitting in just over three weeks’ time.
Last week, The Sunday Telegraph, which revealed Mrs May’s £27billion demand earlier this month, disclosed that the Prime Minister had backed down over her insistence on the initial three-year funding plan for schools.
In her first public comments on the row, Mrs May said: “Look, government is continuing. I’ve still got work to do as Prime Minister until I hand over to my successor.
“I think it’s important that we continue to take decisions, that are right decisions for this country.”