Putting country before the party
DIVISION: CONSERVATIVES STAND AS INDEPENDENTS
They are protesting prime minister’s promise to leave EU with no deal.
Only a few months ago, David Gauke was a Conservative minister. Now he’s standing in Britain’s upcoming election as an independent, hoping to deprive the party and its prime minister of victory.
“With a majority, Boris Johnson would be able to proceed with a reckless course of action over Brexit,” Gauke said.
Gauke quit as justice minister in July when Johnson became Conservative leader, in protest over his threat to leave the European Union without a deal with Brussels.
Two months later, Johnson expelled him and 20 other MPs from the party for trying to block him in parliament, in the process losing his majority in the House of Commons.
Most of the rebels have since been readmitted or retired, but Gauke and two others are now standing against the Tories in their old constituencies on December 12.
Both the Conservatives and main opposition Labour party have been split over their EU strategy, and several MPs from both have defected to the anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats in recent months.
Gauke backed a previous exit deal but now believes a new EU referendum is the only way to address the divisive issue – and hopes the majority of his constituents who opposed Brexit in 2016 will support him.
Having been a Tory MP for 14 years and campaigned for the party in every election since 1987, he has no time for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who also wants a new referendum. He emphasises that he would be an independent voice.
Today, Gauke is accompanied by just one local volunteer, a member of the local Liberal Democrats, and polling indicates he will not keep his seat.
A few miles south, through the glorious autumnal woods of Chiltern Hills, Gauke’s former Tory colleague Dominic Grieve is also upbeat about running as an independent. “I have no idea if I’ll win. But it might just happen,” the former attorney general said in the picturesque town of Marlow. Grieve has led highly successful efforts in parliament to block a “no deal” Brexit, and like Gauke, hopes his call for a second referendum will appeal in his Remain-backing seat. James McKinlay, a 22-year-old, said: “The whole idea of putting the country before the party. I think a lot of people like that.”
I think a lot of people like that