Cameron to let his ministers campaign for exit from EU
PM WOULD BE A ‘GLOBAL LAUGHING STOCK’ IF HE ALLOWED TEAM TO MOVE FOR BREXIT
David Cameron will allow eurosceptic cabinet ministers to campaign for Britain to leave the EU in this year’s referendum, in a move intended to manage Conservative tensions over Europe.
Ministers, including Iain Duncan Smith, work and pensions secretary, Chris Grayling, leader of the Commons, and Theresa Villiers, Northern Ireland secretary, will be able to campaign for a Brexit while holding on to their jobs.
But Cameron’s allies stress that the government will have a formal position in the referendum: the prime minister is expected to lead the campaign for Britain to remain in a “reformed EU”.
The prime minister, who was make a House of Commons statement yesterday about his EU renegotiation, will tell MPs that collective cabinet responsibility will apply until he concludes his talks: a deal is expected in February.
Thereafter he will accept that Europe is “a personal issue” for some cabinet ministers and that they will be able to campaign on both sides of a referendum, which could happen in June or July.
Cameron has told cabinet colleagues in private meetings that he expects them to conduct a civilised and respectful campaign, if they choose to fight on the opposite side of the debate. The big question is whether any other cabinet ministers will decide to join the Brexit campaign; Eurosceptics include Michael Gove, justice secretary, Sajid Javid, business secretary, and John Whittingdale, culture secretary.
However, Cameron is confident that the vast majority of his top team will campaign for Britain to stay in a “reformed EU”, including home secretary Theresa May and London mayor Boris Johnson.
Johnson, whose term at City Hall ends in May, could be rewarded in a limited cabinet reshuffle before the referendum; some have suggested he could be given health, education or the Foreign Office. Cameron would then hold a “reconciliation” reshuffle after the referendum to try to heal a party that will be deeply split by the campaign.
Will not be kind
Although he will give his cabinet a free vote in the EU referendum, the prime minister will not look kindly on any ministers who make hostile comments about him or his renegotiation.
Many Tory MPs assume that if Mr Cameron loses the referendum he would quit as prime minister, rather than spending his remaining years in Number 10 negotiating Britain’s exit from the EU.
Eurosceptic cabinet ministers joining the Brexit campaign could therefore be — in effect — also campaigning for the ousting of Cameron as prime minister.
On that basis, the prime minister is hoping to count on the loyalty of a number of eurosceptic ministers during the campaign, including Gove, Javid, Whittingdale and Michael Fallon, defence secretary.
Lord Heseltine, the pro-European Tory veteran, said last month that Cameron would be a “global laughing stock” if he allowed members of his top team to campaign for Brexit without being sacked.