Gove writes his own obituary, as Brexiteers insist that their moment is about to arrive
As a former cheerleader for Leave, it is hardly surprising that Tory Eurosceptics should be directing so much anger at Michael Gove. By accusing the European Research Group (ERG) of thwarting Brexit by voting down Mrs May’s deal, the Environment Secretary appears to have sounded the death knell on his leadership hopes.
As one irate backbencher told The Daily Telegraph: “Like Mrs May’s deal, Michael is a dead duck, a lost cause. He’s played fast and loose and now he’s completely discredited.”
Far from believing they have risked a softer Brexit or even no Brexit at all by voting down the withdrawal agreement, ERG members think they have done the Prime Minister a favour by finally giving her the leverage she needs to renegotiate with Brussels.
Indeed, so emboldened are they by the fact that no less than 118 Tory MPS rebelled they are now describing ERG thinking as “the mainstream”. As ERG chairman Jacob Rees-mogg put it: “The pro-europeans consist of 20 MPS at the most. As Tuesday’s vote proved, we are 111, we are the heart and soul of the party. Rather than trying to appeal to Labour, Mrs May should be winning round her own backbenchers.”
The Brexiteers are also united by a Plan B which, rather than the “default managed no deal” so despised by Remainers, could actually stand a chance of uniting the party.
Former Brexit secretary David Davis calls it “Plan A Plus and A Better Deal”; ERG deputy chairman Steve Baker calls it “A Better Deal and A Better Future”; but both proposals amount to the same thing: a call to Mrs May to replace the Irish backstop with a Northern Irish border protocol based on an interim free trade agreement and customs and trade facilitation agreement.
Pitched to Michel Barnier, the EU’S chief negotiator, before Christmas by a delegation including former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, former Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson and David Trimble, former First Minister of Northern Ireland, the protocol went down so well in Brussels that it made it into the text of the political declaration.
Brexiteers also want the £39billion financial agreement linked to progress towards a trade agreement, mutually beneficial cooperation in areas such as terrorism, research, flights and data exchange, and for the UK to leave the Common Fisheries Policy and negotiate reciprocal access. No deal planning should continue while the renegotiation takes place.
Mr Duncan Smith told The Telegraph: “Barnier has not only been receptive to the protocol but has already offered us a free-trade agreement. The problem is not that the EU won’t negotiate but that Theresa May hasn’t ever told Brussels exactly what she wants. I’ll go over and lead a renegotiation if she wants. Owen and I will go and do it. Anything is surely preferable to Remainer civil servants treating the negotiation like a damage limitation exercise.”
Having negotiated with the EU for two years before his resignation last July, Mr Davis agrees with his former leadership rival that the fragile German economy, combined with new figures suggesting the eurozone is on the brink of recession, makes now the perfect time to strike.
“The EU was very receptive to Iain and Owen’s plan and particularly respectful of Trimble, as one of the architects of peace in Northern Ireland,” said Mr Davis. “It’s plain as a pikestaff – if it’s coming down to no deal they’ll renegotiate, either before March 29 or shortly afterwards.”
But will Mrs May be willing to lead such a bold renegotiation? As one Tory MP put it: “Does she really have a choice? She’s just had a massive smack around her tin ear. Let’s hope it’s dislodged some earwax.”