MAY HIJACKS BORIS’S RED BREXIT BUS
She trumps his £350m pledge in bid to bring hard Brexiteers to heel But Remainer rebels plot new ambush ahead of crunch vote
THERESA MAY will hope the massive boost to the NHS will shore up her leadership ahead of a crucial Brexit vote on Wednesday.
Allies hope that the move will not only restore Mrs May’s fragile authority, but also help to neutralise Labour’s traditional advantage as the ‘party of the NHS’.
The move – which more than matches the £ 350 million pledge on Boris Johnson’s campaign bus during the referendum – comes on the eve of a parliamentary showdown which could determine her fate.
Remain peers are tomorrow expected to vote once more to give Parliament the final say on the Brexit negotiation process – setting up a critical Commons clash two days later when it is debated by MPs.
Brexit Tory MPs, al ready angry at ‘concessions’ to the Remain camp, will vent their fury if the Prime Minister loses the key vote and gives MPs the power to order Mrs May back to the negotiating table with Brussels if they are unhappy with the proposed exit deal.
In a sign of the febrile atmosphere within the party, Deputy Chairman James Cleverly revealed he would stand to be leader if Mrs May stepped down.
As Downing Street was preparing the final details of the spending plan this weekend, Remain Tory MPs were plotting their ambush. The Government’s NHS ‘Brexit dividend’ is designed to head off the anger of Mr Johnson and his pro-Brexit allies if they defeat the Government.
Mr Johnson’s claim that the UK sends £350 million a week to the EU was hotly disputed throughout the campaign – with the Remain camp claiming the Foreign Secretary was wildly exaggerating the sum.
But Mrs May has faced growing pressure to dispel mounting pessimism over Brexit and show the process can benefit the country.
Pro- Brexit Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns reveals in today’s Mail on Sunday that she personally urged Mrs May at a meeting this week to provide a more ‘positive vision’ of Britain’s future under Brexit.
But yesterday, Solicitor General Robert Buckland appeared to warn leading Tory Brexit rebel Dominic Grieve and allies that whatever their i ntentions, the Prime Minister could fall if she lost this week’s vote.
He even appeared to compare Mrs May’s position to that of wartime Conservative l eader Neville Chamberlain who was replaced by Winston Churchill after a simple Commons vote on adjourning for the day turned into a confidence motion.
Mr Buckland, who last week acted as the Government’s go-between with the rebels, said: ‘ There’s a political effect t o motions in Parliament. When Neville Chamberlain fell as Prime Minister and Winston Churchill became PM in the Norway debate, do you know what the motion was? That this House do now adjourn.’
This week’s votes come amid claims from anti-Brexit Tory MPs that the Government had welched on a deal promised by Mrs May in a private meeting last week to ensure the Commons had a proper ‘meaningful’ vote on the final exit settlement.
Remain Tory MP Antoinette Sandbach warned that the Government’s handling of talks with the rebels last week had ‘ actually strengthened resolve [on the rebellion] rather than weakened it’.
Leading Brexiteer Jacob ReesMogg raised the stakes by accusing the Remainers of trying to engineer a ‘Brexit veto’ or a mechanism to rejoin the EU by using parliamentary procedure to allow the courts to intervene. Mr Rees-Mogg warned the Tory rebels’ real agenda was to ‘provide a legal backdoor’ to return the UK to the EU.
The renewed fears over Mrs May’s future came as Tory Deputy Chairman Mr Cleverly declared his own leadership ambitions.
Asked if he wanted to lead the Tories into the next election if the PM stood down, former Army Officer Mr Cleverly, said: ‘Yes, yes, yes. And I make no apologies for that. When I was a soldier if anyone
The handling of talks has strengthened rebels’ resolve
asked would I like to be Chief of Defence staff, I’d say, “Of course.” ‘When I played rugby if anyone asked if I would I like to be captain, I’d say the same.
‘I see nothing strange that someone who is in the first XV of Conservative politics saying he’d like to captain that team,’ he told a private event in Oxfordshire on Thursday, adding he remained loyal to Mrs May. Mr Cleverly, whose mother is from Sierra Leone, is the third Tory with an ethnic minority background to reveal his leadership ambitions, along with Home Secretary Sajid Javid and ex-Cabinet Minister Priti Patel.
Last night, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt hailed the boost to the NHS budget as an ‘historic’ gift in its 70th year and a recognition of the ‘superhuman efforts’ of doctors, nurses and other staff. He said: ‘This long-term plan and funding boost is a fitting birthday present for our most loved institution.’