Brexit turmoil for PM as Boris and Davis quit
PRIME Minister Theresa May’s administration was thrown into turmoil yesterday by the sensational resignations in quick succession of Brexit Secretary David Davis and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
She will fight any attempt to unseat her through a vote of no confidence by Conservative MPs, Downing Street said last night.
The departure of the two Cabinet “big beasts” came just two days after Mrs May secured senior ministers’ agreement at Chequers for a Brexit plan about which both men had expressed reservations.
Jeremy Hunt was last night appointed Foreign Secretary to replace Mr Johnson, whose exit was announced by Downing Street moments before Mrs May faced the House of Commons to set out details of her plans.
The Prime Minister was greeted by loud cheers from Tory MPs and shouts of “resign” from the opposition benches as she arrived to deliver a statement in which she said her proposals would deliver “a Brexit that is in our national interest... the right Brexit deal for Britain”.
The PM told MPs she wanted to recognise the work of the former Brexit secretary on steering through
some of the “most important legislation for generations” and the “passion” that the outgoing foreign secretary had shown in promoting a “global Britain to the world”.
But she said: “We do not agree about the best way of delivering our shared commitment to honour the result of the referendum.”
After Mr Hunt was moved to the Foreign Office last night, Matt Hancock was appointed to replace him as Health and Social Care Secretary.
Mr Hancock said: “Really looking forward to joining @DHSCgovuk at such an important time for our great NHS. I can’t wait to get started.”
Then Jeremy Wright was appointed Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Downing Street said.
Geoffrey Cox was appointed as Attorney General and will attend Cabinet.
New Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he would be standing “four square” behind the Prime Minister in her efforts to secure a Brexit deal.
“My principal job at a time of massive importance for our country is to stand four square behind the Prime Minister so that we can get through an agreement with the European Union based on what was agreed by the Cabinet last week at Chequers,” he said.
“This is a time when the world is looking at us as a country, wondering what type of country we are going to be in a post-Brexit world.
“What I want to say to them is Britain is going to be a dependable ally, a country that stands up for the values that matter to the people of this country, and will be a strong confident voice in the world.”
Nigel Farage said he is ready to seek another stint as Ukip leader if the Brexit process is not “back on track” by March next year.
Mr Farage, who quit as leader following the 2016 EU referendum result, called on Conservative MPs to submit no confidence letters to get rid of the “appalling” Theresa May.
And he said that he would return to the political front line if the Brexit proposals which she brokered at Chequers last Friday were not ditched.
Speaking on his regular LBC radio phone-in, Mr Farage said: “I’ve already said that if Article 50 gets suspended beyond March 29, I will put myself back into full-time campaigning.”
Conservative MP Andrea Jenkyns said she believed Mrs May’s time as Prime Minister was “over”, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme she wanted a premier who would “provide true leadership and a positive post-Brexit vision for our country”.
And senior backbencher Bernard Jenkin said there had been a “massive haemorrhage of trust” in Mrs May.
Asked if Brexiteers needed to put the PM’s future to a vote of the Conservative Party, he replied “it may well come to that”.
However, prominent Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg, the chairman of the European Research Group of Eurosceptic backbenchers, said he had not submitted a letter of no confidence and expected Mrs May to remain at least until the official date of Brexit in March 2019.
Some 48 Tory MPs – 15% of the party’s 316-strong representation in the Commons – must write to the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady, to trigger a noconfidence vote.
Sir Graham refused to say whether he had received any such letters.
And asked whether Mrs May would fight a no-confidence vote if one was called, a senior Number 10 source said simply: “Yes.”
Mr Davis was first to go, announcing his exit just before midnight on Sunday.
But there was growing speculation about Mr Johnson’s plans yesterday after he failed to attend a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergencies committee as well as a summit of Western Balkan nations being held in London.
At 3pm, a statement was issued by Downing Street to say: “This afternoon, the Prime Minister accepted the resignation of Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary. His replacement will be announced shortly. The Prime Minister thanks Boris for his work.”
Brexiteer Dominic Raab was named as Mr Davis’ replacement as Secretary of State for Leaving the EU.
There is added pressure for a swift appointment because the foreign secretary is due to join Mrs May at the Nato summit in Brussels tomorrow and take part in the events of US President Donald Trump’s visit to the UK, which begins on Thursday.
Mr Johnson was the figurehead of the Leave campaign in the 2016 referendum, but dramatically pulled away from an expected leadership bid after losing the support of fellow minister Michael Gove.
Mrs May surprised many by appointing him to the Foreign Office, a position he has frequently used to forge a distinctive position on Brexit.
FIRST Minister Carwyn Jones has called for a general election to resolve the Brexit crisis caused by the resignations of Boris Johnson and David Davis.
He told BBC Wales the situation was an “utter shambles” and “Britain can’t carry on like this”.
After the resignations of the two Cabinet members, Mr Jones tweeted: “This endless infighting is a betrayal of those who want Britain to secure the best possible #Brexit deal. The UK Gov is in complete disarray over #Brexit. We need action now to resolve this chaos – businesses need certainty and the country needs leadership and direction.”
Later he said: “It’s beyond parody now. We need a different government with a different view on Brexit in order for us to see a Brexit that’s sensible and not one that’s driven by the internal dynamics of a party that’s riven into pieces.
“Now is the time for sensible people to come forward, and businesses are doing this, and say, OK, we respect the result of the referendum. But let’s get a Brexit that works best for Britain, not one that works best really for a small group of very rich people, I’ve noticed, who are calling for the hardest form of Brexit.”
Former Welsh Secretary and Neath MP Lord Peter Hain, who served in the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, said: “What we’re seeing is basically a collision between dogmatic fantasy and reality.
“What David Davis and the other Brexiteers want is impossible to achieve.
“They have sold the voters a pup, namely that we can have all the benefits of membership of the EU without the obligations.
“It’s like saying England can be in the World Cup but doesn’t have to abide by the offside rule and all the other rules of the game.
“What Theresa May has been forced after two years to admit to herself is that such a stance is untenable.
“She’s come up with a hybrid proposal that I think is still unworkable. What we need is a solution that enables us to retain free trade and travel to and from the EU, and to keep the Northern Ireland border open.
“Frictionless trade with the EU is especially important for Wales, which has more than two-thirds of its overseas trade in goods and services with the EU. It’s more important for Wales than for England, in fact.”
Lord Hain said he believed the likes of David Davis and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox didn’t actually want a negotiated deal and would prefer the UK to crash out of the EU.
He said: “Such an outcome would be absolutely catastrophic.
“It’s vitally important that the Houses of Parliament insists on a strategy that involves the UK staying in the Single Market and the Customs Union.”
When it was put to him that the Labour Party did not hold such a position, he said: “I think it’s moving in the right direction. Jeremy Corbyn recently made a speech that was positive about the Single Market.
“There’s a need to be more fully fledged in support of an outcome that protects the UK and Welsh economy.”
Plaid Cymru’s leader in Westminster, Liz Saville Roberts, said: “Westminster is in crisis as a result of both main parties continuing to mislead the public towards thinking that we can somehow leave the EU, the Single Market and the Customs Union without giving up the benefits.
“The EU has made it perfectly clear that the UK cannot simply cherrypick certain aspects over others. Either we stay in the Single Market and Customs Union, protecting people’s jobs, wages and standard of living, or we don’t.
“We are running out of time to find an agreement, and for the two main parties to continue to present delusion and fantasy as official party policy is deeply irresponsible. It’s time to come clean and commit to staying in the Single Market and Customs Union after we leave the EU.
“If neither the Tories nor Labour can come to that conclusion now, then it is imperative that we seek an extension to the Article 50 process to make sure we don’t fall out of the EU without a deal, which would cause irreparable harm to our country.”
Monmouth Tory MP David Davies, who has often been confused with the outgoing Cabinet Secretary, tweeted: “Sorry to disappoint the many people who have congratulated me for resigning. I have no intention of standing down as Chair of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee.”
Mr Davies told us: “The deal put forward by Theresa May is not what many people on both sides of the argument want, but it’s a compromise people should live with. Whether the EU accepts it is another question. They may think that if they reject it, Britain will come back with its tail between its legs and say, ‘You’ve won, we’ll stay in the EU’. But that would be a very dangerous game to play and I could see the UK crashing out without any deal, which would not be good for anyone.”
Former Tory Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb, the MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire, also backed Mrs May’s proposal, saying it represented “a commonsense realisation that modern manufacturing in Europe will be done along the lines of EU regulations. And by us taking a decision once we leave the EU, to still be part of that rulebook, then I think that’s just common sense, pragmatism.”