Major: ‘Tories must be on centre right’
Theresa May’s successor must be a national leader rather than a factional one, according to Sir John Major.
The former Conservative prime minister said he found it “extraordinarily odd” that some MPS opposed Mrs May’s Brexit deal on the basis it would turn the UK into a “vassal state” before supporting it when a chance of them becoming leader emerged.
Tory former foreign secretary Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-mogg, chairman of the Tory Brexit-backing European Research Group, have both issued “vassal state” warnings during the Brexit talks but gave their support to the Withdrawal Agreement last week.
Sir John also warned the Conservative Party must be on the centre-right of politics, “not the far-right”, if it wishes to win elections.
Asked about those Tory MPS outlining their leadership ambitions, Sir John told the BBC One Andrew Marr Show: “I think they should concentrateonthedecisionweshould make next week, not who is
going to be prime minister at some future stage.
“I find it extraordinarily odd that there are people who decided that the Prime Minister’s deal was going to turn us into a vassal state and they voted against it. Once it is apparent there’s going to be a leadership election and one of them might become prime minister, the question of a vassal state disappears and they support it.”
He added: “I don’t know when the Prime Minister will go and nobody can be certain… but when we elect a new prime minister I think it has to be someone who can be a national leader, not a factional leader.”