Race to lead Britain out of EU pits old foes
THE race to become Britain’s next premier heated up on Sunday as Environment Secretary Michael Gove joined an already crowded field of hopefuls with competing visions of how to finally pull their divided country out of the EU.
Gove’s bid for t he leadership i n the aftermath of the 2016 Brex it referendum scuppered the chances of his one-time a lly Boris Johnson, who is a lso running this time around and is seen as t he current favourite.
Whoever is selected in t he contest, which is expected to finish in July, will face increasingly fr ustrated European leaders who say they have made t heir final of fer on Brex it af ter long and acrimonious ta lks.
May is bowing out with her legacy in tatters and the country in agony over what to do about the voters’ decision to abandon the European project after more than four decades.
The markets v iew the risk of Britain crashing out of t he EU bloc when the t wice-delayed departure date arrives on October 31 as uncomfortably high.
Their main concern is that some of t he current f rontrunners to head May’s Conser vative Part y say t hey will
get Brex it done at any cost.
“We will leave the EU on October 31, deal or no deal,” former foreign minister Boris Johnson said on Friday in Switzerland.
Prefer a deal
Johnson’s main challenges will come from former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab, who is viewed as an even more committed eurosceptic, as well as Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Gove.
A total of eight MPs have so far declared.
Raab and Hunt announced t heir candidacies in t he Sunday papers.
Raab wrote in the Mail on Sunday that “I would prefer that we leave with a deal”.
But “we will not be taken seriously in Brussels unless we are clear that we will walk away on World Trade Organisation [ WTO] terms, if the EU doesn’t budge,” Raab stressed.
Hunt had campaigned against Brexit in 2016 but has since reversed his stance.
“We can never take no-deal off the table but the best way of avoiding it is to make sure you have someone who is capable of negotiating a deal,” he told the Sunday Times.
Gove was to announce his intention to run at a literary festival later on Sunday, the BBC reported, positioning himself as a unity candidate able to heal his party.
Former House of Commons leader Andrea Leadsom, whose resignation on Thursday pushed May towards stepping down, a lso confirmed she will run.
Rise of Brexit Party
The contest is being held against the backdrop of European Parliament elections t hat t he new Brex it Part y of t he anti-EU populist Nigel Farage is expected to win with about a t hird of t he vote.
Polls indicate that the Conservatives will be punished for their bickering over Brexit and could finish as low as fifth – their worst result in a national election.
The candidates are also mindful of a party revolt over May’s fateful decision to court the pro-EU opposition with the promise of a second Brexit referendum.
The concession last week was designed to help ram her withdrawal agreement through parliament at the fourth attempt.
But it won her no converts and sparked a part y coup attempt that forced May to walk away before she was pushed out.
Dark horses
Parliamentary party members will begin whittling down the field of contenders to a final two from June 10.
The finalists will then be put to a postal ballot of around 100,000 party members in July.
The field grew further on Saturday when Health Secretary Matt Hancock entered the race with a promise to take a more moderate approach.
Leaving the EU without an agreement is “not an active policy choice that is available to the next prime minister”, Hancock told Sky News.
Hancock is viewed as one of the dark horses who might make it through a crowded field of more than a dozen names.
International Development Secretary Rory Stewart is also positioning himself as a more consensus-seeking alternative to Johnson.
“It now seems that [ Johnson] is coming out for a no-deal Brexit,” Stewart told BBC Radio.
“I think it would be a huge mistake. Damaging, unnecessary and also dishonest.”
Yet neither Hancock nor Stewart would say if they would push ahead with May’s current agreement or try to secure added concessions from Brussels.