PM’S ‘BODY AND SOUL’ VOW
IT IS a letter that could seal the fate of her Premiership.
The missive Theresa May today issues to the nation is part of a Herculean effort by the Prime Minister to persuade MPs to support her Brexit deal when it comes to the Commons – and keep her in Downing Street.
With up to 90 Tory MPs threatening to vote against her deal and the DUP in open revolt over locking Northern Ireland to EU rules, Mrs May will need all her Houdini-like political skills to survive.
So No10 has mounted a last-ditch publicity blitz over the heads of MPs, releasing pictures of Mrs May looking statesmanlike on the plane to Brussels yesterday afternoon to accompany the letter.
The furious reaction by Tory MPs to the Spanish concession – handing Spain a veto over the territory’s inclusion in a future UK-EU trade deal – reveals the intensity of opposition within the party to the number of compromises being forced on the UK to secure the EU’s approval.
They were appalled by the gloating response of Spain’s Europe Minister, Josep Borrell Fontelles, who claimed the agreement with Britain that Gibraltar would automatically be outside of the ‘territorial scope’ of the UK was the most ‘important since the Utrecht Treaty’.
Under the 1713 accord, the Spanish surrendered the sovereignty of the Rock to the British. The people of Gibraltar have twice declared overwhelmingly at the ballot box that they wish to remain a UK overseas territory.
The Tory splits run up to the Cabinet. As part of Downing Street’s plan to ‘sell’ the Brexit deal to her party, Mrs May will next week rush forward an immigration clampdown to cut the number of unskilled migrants coming to Britain from Europe if they earn under £30,000. In her letter today, Mrs May states: ‘We will take back control of our borders, by putting an end to the free movement of people once and for all. Instead of an immigration system based on where a person comes from, we will build one based on the skills and talents a person has to offer.’
But The Mail on Sunday understands that crucial elements of the Immigration White Paper have yet to be signed off by Cabinet, with Chancellor Philip Hammond and Home Secretary Sajid Javid both objecting.
It is understood that Mr Hammond has warned that the clampdown would have a serious impact on house building rates.
And an ally of the Home Secretary said: ‘Sajid is much more open to immigration. For him, it is about control rather than a sweeping cut-off point’.
The White Paper was due to be published in late January before it was brought forward to take place ahead of the crunch Commons vote on Mrs May’s Brussels deal in a bid to win over Brexiteer Tory MPs.
But last night there were angry allegations swirling around Westminster that No10 was attempting to ‘bounce’ Ministers into backing the more controversial elements of the immigration plan. One Cabinet source said: ‘This is not the sort of thing to use to try to swing a vote. It needs to be done properly.’
And Whitehall officials are deeply concerned ‘mistakes will be made’ as the usual stress testing of the document has not yet taken place, just a week before publication.
Another idea being considered in No10 to ‘sell’ the Brexit deal is for Mrs May to challenge Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to a public debate about her Brexit deal.
Downing Street insiders have discussed the unusual stunt, but some of Mrs May’s inner circle fear the idea could massively backfire if the Labour leader hijacked the event and confronted the PM live on air about other Government policies like Universal Credit and cuts to public services.
As part of its ‘charm offensive’ to try to win round party rebels, No 10’s chief of staff Gavin Barwell has been giving ‘pep talks’ to Ministers.
He is understood to have compared the gruelling Brexit negotiations with the EU to a football match in which ‘we are one-nil down in the first half but we’ll win
in the second half’. But that has produced a withering response from Brexiteers, with former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith telling one Cabinet Minister: ‘We are not one-nil down – we’re three-nil down in the first half and we’ve had a bunch of players sent off and we’re playing Barcelona. We’re f ***** .’
Arch-Brexiteer Tories also privately blame the ‘trio’ of Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington, Hammond and Business Secretary Greg Clark for being the main obstacle to a real Brexit. One said: ‘They are the trio that literally sit in her office with her, backing and egging on [No10 Brexit adviser] Olly Robbins. The Treasury, the Foreign Office and these three have worked like billy-o to ensure Robbins delivers this kind of Brexit.
‘The Treasury and Hammond have deliberately not done anything about No Deal. These are fifth columnists in the heart of government and the problem is, because May lacks any political nous, she just doesn’t focus on the fact she is being manipulated.
‘She is now a prisoner of these conspirators. And that’s what they are, conspirators.’
Meanwhile, in Scotland, Edinburgh South Labour MP Ian Murray said: ‘This letter is a work of fiction and shows how desperate the Prime Minister has become. The people of Scotland and Britain won’t buy this deal.
‘There is simply no Parliamentary majority for this deal, because it is the worst of both worlds.’