‘We have to get your vote’ pleads Chief Whip … but MP turns him down cold
Rare behind-the-scenes TV footage shows the problems facing Tories in bid to push through deal
THE size of the task facing Theresa May over her Brexit vote was illustrated last night after footage emerged showing the Chief Whip trying and failing to get a Conservative MP to back the Prime Minister’s deal.
In the heated exchange, Julian Smith failed to convince the Brexiteer Philip Davies to vote with the Government. “We have to get your support for this deal … how do we resolve this?” Mr Smith asked Mr Davies.
Mr Davies, whose main concern is the backstop, replied: “I’m not sure that you can. I don’t really see any alternative other than the Prime Minister going back to the EU and saying look, we need something in here, whether it’s a time limit, there’s got to be something in there.”
The exchange illustrates the difficulty government whips face over the next few days, as more than 100 Tory MPS have publicly criticised Mrs May’s deal. Mr Smith accused MPS of trying to “thwart” delivery of the 2016 referendum result.
Asked if a Plan B was being developed in the event the deal did not go through the Commons, Mr Smith said: “There is no plan, no plan for a vote loss, this is the deal, this deal that we are putting on the table, this is the deal that we need to get through Parliament.” When asked about his chances of success, he said: “I like winning.”
ITV News gained rare behind-thescenes access to the whipping opera- tion which has been going on in Westminster in the run-up to the vote.
In the most recent interview he gave, Mr Smith said he faced an “uphill challenge” to persuade MPS to back Mrs May’s deal, but insisted it was still “all to play for”. “We’ve certainly got our work cut out,” he said. “It’s a 24/7 job at the moment. I sleep very little and Brexit is always on my mind.”
He uses a colour-coded spreadsheet to track each Tory MP and their likelihood of voting for the Brexit plan – along with noting each of their concerns. The backstop is at the forefront of his attempts to win over MPS.
Parliament would be “sovereign” when it came to deciding whether or not to enter such an agreement.
John Bercow, the Speaker, presented another obstacle for the Government in getting its deal through, Mr Smith said. “We’re up against some other issues, like the Speaker has got a strong view on this [Brexit]”. Last year, Mr Bercow told a group of students he voted Remain in the referendum.
Asked if Mrs May would survive to the end of the month as Prime Minister, Mr Smith said he was “confident Theresa May will be the Prime Minister after the meaningful vote and will be the Prime Minister at and after Christmas”.