Minister warns Cameron he could be ousted even if UK votes to remain in EU
PM’s error of judgments mean his fate would be more secure after a Brexit verdict, claims Eustice
DAVID CAMERON’s future as Prime Minister will be in doubt if Britain remains in the EU because Conservatives may not be able to forgive him for the way he has conducted the referendum, a government minister has said.
George Eustice, the farming minister, suggested that Mr Cameron was likely to face a leadership challenge after a Remain vote because he “maxed out and used the Government machine to give an unfair advantage to the Remain campaign”.
Mr Eustice said that if Britain votes to Leave, the Prime Minister’s “position is safer”.
However, the minister added that Mr Cameron would then be forced to give senior Cabinet jobs to such as Boris Johnson.
“In many ways David Cameron’s position is safer after a Leave vote,” Mr Eustice wrote in an essay about a potential Brexit at the June 23 referendum. “The Conservative Party would forgive him for the way he maxed out and used the Government machine to give an unfair advantage to the Remain campaign, but only if he lost the referendum in the end.
“Leadership contenders who had campaigned to leave would not want to ruin it by demonstrating ugly haste. Leadership hopefuls from the losing side would hope that time will be a healer and will want to wait until their error of judgement was forgotten.” Previously, Eurosceptic campaigners have refused to discuss Mr Cameron’s future after the referendum, saying only that he will remain as Prime Minister regardless of how the country votes.
However, in his essay, which is published by communications consultancy Portland, Mr Eustice suggested that Mr Cameron may also have to consider resigning in the event of a Leave vote.
He said: “The only final consideration is whether David Cameron would feel duty bound to resign as he said he would have done (after the event) had the Scottish referendum gone the wrong way. I do not think the two compare.” Mr Eustice demanded that in the event of a Brexit vote, Mr Cameron hold an immediate reshuffle to promote senior Eurosceptics.
“Much as David Cameron has always hated reshuffles, in the immediate aftermath of a decision to leave he will need to deliver a big reshuffle and do it early in order to refresh the Government and deliver reconciliation,” he said. “There should be a major position for Boris Johnson.”
Mr Eustice also called on Mr Cameron to put Michael Gove and Oliver Letwin, a Cabinet Office minister, in charge of the process of Britain’s withdrawal from the EU together with “a group of ministers” around them chosen from those involved in the Leave campaign.