Another bout of Boris footsie after talks with ‘rattled’ Cameron
A RATTLED David Cameron spent 40 minutes yesterday trying – and failing – to persuade Boris Johnson to sign up to his referendum deal.
Fears are mounting inside No 10 that the campaign for Britain to leave the EU is about to land a political ‘ big hitter’ who would ignite the contest.
Friends of the MP and London mayor insist that he is ‘genuinely conflicted’ over who to back amid concern that a plan by the Prime Minister to reassert the sovereignty of British law is falling apart.
Speculation is also mounting that Michael Gove, the Justice Secretary, and close friend of the Prime Minister, could declare for the Out campaign. Mr Gove, an avowed Eurosceptic, is considered the more likely of the two men to ‘take the leap’.
The Cabinet ministers Iain Duncan Smith, Chris Grayling, Theresa Villiers, John Whittingdale and Priti Patel have already told colleagues that they will campaign to quit the Brussels club.
They are expected to show their hand in the days after Mr Cameron returns from Brussels with his deal tomorrow. Once the Prime Minister has put the deal to Cabinet, the gag will finally be removed from ministers who have been banned from airing their Eurosceptic views.
Those who remain on the fence – with No 10 desperate to keep them onside – include Sajid Javid, the Business Secretary.
Government officials denied that Mr Cameron’s decision to call Mr Johnson into Downing Street yesterday morning was a sign that he was ‘stressed’. One said: ‘I do not recognise that description’.
But ministerial sources insisted that the Prime Minister was ‘feeling the strain’. An insider said: ‘It is getting to him. It looks like he is starting to take it all personally.’
In the past two days, Mr Cameron and George Osborne have held meetings with and made calls to dozens of junior ministers and backbenchers. It is estimated up to 100 Tory MPs could come out for Brexit. No 10 had hoped to woo them with the promise of legislation stating Britain’s Supreme Court takes precedence over the European Court of Justice.
But the plan for a so-called British constitutional court is understood to have run into serious trouble. Sources suggest the best it can achieve is to give Britain the opportunity to delay implementation of judgments by the ECJ while the court is asked to think again. This would fall far short of Eurosceptic demands that Britain and Parliament should be sovereign.
Mr Johnson was called in to No 10 early yesterday, where Mr Cameron tried to sell his renegotiation in ‘granular’ detail. But, 40 minutes later, he emerged and said: ‘I’ll be back. No deal, as far as I know.’ He later said he wished the PM ‘every possible success’ in his talks in Brussels today.
Sources said the mayor remained ‘genuinely conflicted’ on the issue and rejected suggestions that he was seeking to exploit the issue to maximise his chances of succeeding Mr Cameron as Tory leader.
The Supreme Court plan is one of concerns for Mr Johnson, who has questioned whether it would be a ‘bazooka or popgun’ in taking on European judges and bureaucrats.