House of hypocrites
They swore if we voted to leave that Brexit would mean Brexit, then vowed to honour the result. Here, ANDREW PIERCE exposes how MPs and grandees have U-turned... starting with the politician who outlawed ‘No Deal’ – and paraded the royal assent on Twitter. Doesn’t it make you proud!
Yvette Cooper, Labour MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford
THEN: ‘I will not vote to block Brexit’ – GENERAL ELECTION LITERATURE, 2017 NOW: ‘My amendment is a vote against the chaos of a No Deal Brexit’ – FEBRUARY 2019
Hilary Benn, Labour MP for Leeds Central
THEN: ‘You vote to Leave. We are out. We are going’ – BEFORE THE BREXIT REFERENDUM IN JUNE 2016 NOW: ‘It is now clear that... leaving the EU without an agreement would be a disaster. If it turns out that there is no alternative deal that can win a majority in the Commons, then... the only way we will resolve this is to go back to the people’ – DECEMBER 17, 2018
Anna Soubry, Independent Group MP for Broxtowe
THEN: ‘We are leaving the EU and must now get a good deal... Many people voted Leave for genuine and respected reasons. We have to respect the result.’ – AFTER REFERENDUM IN JUNE 2016 NOW: ‘We have to plan for a People’s Vote. The current deal we have with the EU is the best deal’ – FEBRUARY 2019
Sir Keir Starmer, Labour MP for Holborn and St Pancras
THEN: ‘We all have to accept and respect the referendum outcome. I campaigned to stay in the EU. I would have expected the result to be honoured if we had won it’ – AFTER THE 2016 REFERENDUM NOW: ‘A public vote ought to be between the option of a credible Leave deal and Remain’ – MARCH 2019
Chuka Umunna, Independent Group MP for Streatham (below)
THEN: ‘We will Leave if Leave wins even by one vote’ – ON THE EVE OF THE 2016 REFERENDUM NOW: ‘A People’s Vote is our final chance to get it right for generations to come’ – OCTOBER 2018
Sir Vince Cable, Lib Dem leader and MP for Twickenham (below)
THEN: ‘The public have voted and it’s seriously disrespectful and politically utterly counter-productive to say: “Sorry guys, you’ve got it wrong. We are going to try again”’ – AFTER THE 2016 BREXIT VOTE NOW: ‘We are a Remain country now with 60 per cent wanting to stop the Brexit mess’ – PEOPLE’S VOTE RALLY, MARCH 2019
Sarah Wollaston, Independent Group MP for Totnes
THEN: ‘We must accept the [Brexit] result.’ She added: ‘A second
referendum... is a direct incentive for us to get the worst possible deal. We should not be going back and saying we don’t accept the result’ – DURING 2017 ELECTION NOW: ‘I don’t think we have anything to fear from a second referendum now. It’s not about blocking Brexit; it’s about saying to people: I think you have the right to give informed consent’ – AUGUST 20, 2018
Heidi Allen, Independent Group MP for South Cambridgeshire (left)
THEN: ‘We must respect the democratic outcome of the referendum and work positively together to ensure we make Brexit a success’ – 2017 ELECTION NOW: ‘There is no alternative. We need to go back to the public to decide what they want us to do next. The referendum should include the option of staying in the EU under existing terms’ – SEPTEMBER,2018
Dominic Grieve, Tory MP for Beaconsfield [below]
THEN: ‘What is clear to me is that the decision of electorate in the referendum must be respected and I should support a reasoned process to give effect
to it,’ – 2017 ELECTION LITERATURE NOW: ‘I believe that a further public consultation through a referendum offers the best way forward’ – JANUARY 2019
Philip Hammond, Chancellor and Tory MP for Runnymede and Weybridge
THEN: ‘We are leaving the EU. Because we are leaving the EU, we leave the single market, and by the way, we are leaving the customs union’ – JUNE 2017 NOW: ‘A second referendum is now a perfectly credible proposition that deserves to be tested in Parliament’ – LAST WEEK ON ITV’S PESTON SHOW
Jeremy Corbyn, Labour leader and Islington North MP
THEN: ‘This is a one-off vote... between staying in the EU or leaving completely’ – JUNE 2017 NOW: ‘We are committed to... supporting an amendment in favour of a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit being forced on the country.’ – FEBRUARY 2019
Sam Gyimah, Tory MP for East Surrey
THEN: ‘Our country is clearly divided but the majority view must hold’ – AFTER THE 2016 REFERENDUM NOW: ‘I would campaign for Remain in a second referendum versus May’s deal’ – APRIL 2019
Sir Oliver Letwin, Tory MP for West Dorset
THEN: ‘We are leaving the single market. We are leaving the customs union. We are going to have control over our own migration. We are hoping to be able to negotiate our own trade deals with the rest of the world. That’s all pretty clear’ – DECEMBER 2016 NOW: ‘When I surmised there was a real possibility the Prime Minister... was going to end up taking us out without a deal... I started to work with many colleagues on both sides of the House to try to find a solution.’
– MARCH 2019, AS CO-AUTHOR OF AMENDMENT THAT TOOK POWER IN COMMONS AWAY FROM GOVERNMENT
AND THE POLITICAL GRANDEES... Sir John Major, former Prime Minister
THEN: ‘There will not be another referendum on Europe. This is it.’ – MAY 2016, BEFORE THE REFERENDUM NOW: ‘The moral case for a second vote has never been more powerful’ – EVENING STANDARD, OCTOBER 2018
Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London (above)
THEN: ‘If we as a country decide to quit then we are out. There is no going back’ – BEFORE THE 2016 REFERENDUM NOW: ‘She [Theresa May] must revoke Article 50, stopping the clock on Brexit to give us time to sort out her mess – and the British public must get the final say on what happens next’ – MARCH 2019
Lord (Peter) Mandelson, former Cabinet minister and EU Commissioner
THEN: ‘This is a once-andfor-all decision. We will not be taking a decision like this again in our lifetime. I say that with all the conviction and sincerity that I have’ – JUST BEFORE THE JUNE 2016 REFERENDUM NOW: ‘We have got to make sure everyone feels able to live with the result’ – APRIL 2019, CALLING FOR SECOND REFERENDUM