Rees-Mogg: Failed Brexit would be biggest humiliation since Suez

BRITAIN will suffer a national humiliation on the scale of the Suez crisis if the country stays tied to the EU after Brexit, Jacob Rees-Mogg warned yesterday.

The Tory MP said the UK must not stay tied to the EU by ‘sleight of hand’ because it would betray the millions who voted for Brexit. His comments form part of a speech he will deliver on Thursday to mark a year before the UK officially leaves the EU.

He warned that the transition deal means that when Britain leaves the EU on March 29 next year, not a single extra power will come back to the UK.

Writing in the Daily Express, Mr ReesMogg said: ‘If this was then to become the permanent state it would be one of the greatest failures in our island story. Is this a reasonable fear?

‘It is at least possible, many things that were meant to be temporary have ended up being perpetual. Income tax is perhaps the most famous example but it is by no means alone. The natural inertia of bureaucracies means that unless there is strong political impetus, the status quo pertains.

‘This would be a humiliation on the scale of Suez. It was then that the Establishment decided that the only option for them was to manage decline, that there were no more broad sunlit uplands and that by our own efforts we could never succeed.’

In 1956, Britain was left humiliated on the world stage when it ordered a botched invasion of Egypt to regain control of the strategically important Suez canal.

Mr Rees-Mogg’s comments came as a senior Cabinet member yesterday backed the ‘integrity’ of a No 10 aide accused of outing a former lover as gay in a Brexit funding row.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt declared his support for Theresa May’s political secretary Stephen Parkinson, who was a key member in the Vote Leave campaign before the EU referendum.

Whistleblower Shahmir Sanni, who also worked on the campaign, claimed at the weekend that Vote Leave broke election rules by using another organisation to get around strict spending limits.

As part of his response, Mr Parkinson revealed that he had been in a relationship with Mr Sanni.

Mr Sanni’s lawyers then claimed this was the first time he had been outed as gay. But Mr Hunt defended Mr Parkinson, saying on ITV’s Peston on Sunday that he was ‘someone of the highest integrity – there are two sides to these stories’.

Mr Sanni claimed through his lawyers that he was ‘outed’ by Mr Parkinson.

But the No 10 aide said: ‘I cannot see how our relationship, which was ongoing at the time of the referendum and which is a material fact in the allegations, could have remained private once Shahmir decided to publicise his false claims.’

Theresa May will visit all four nations of the UK during a 15-hour, 1,200-mile roadshow on Thursday, one year before Brexit.