Brexiteers fear chief whip’s talks with Labour may end in ‘soft exit’ from EU
THERESA MAY’S chief whip is being accused of “freelancing” by holding talks with his Labour counterpart several times a week as he tries to find a solution for Brexit that will be approved by Parliament.
Brexiteers said they feared Julian Smith could be discussing options for a soft exit from the EU in order to secure opposition votes for a deal.
Labour, which opposes Mrs May’s plan, says any deal should deliver the “exact same benefits” of the single market and customs union, both of which pro-Leave MPs insist the UK must leave after Brexit.
One source said Mr Smith should spend more time with senior Brexiteers to see where the Government and Eurosceptics could meet in the middle.
The row came as Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour front bench weighed their chances of success if they tabled a vote of no confidence in the Government this week, knowing that they would need support from Tory Brexiteer or Remainer rebels in order to win.
The party leadership is understood to be waiting to gauge the reaction of Tory MPs to a Commons statement Mrs May is due to give tomorrow, updating the House on her bid to secure new “legally binding assurances”.
Her attempts to sign up EU leaders to a commitment to provide such assurances fell flat last week at the summit in Brussels. Traditionally, chief whips from the main parties hold weekly meetings internally referred to as the “usual channels”. The meetings can be used to hammer out agreements over parliamentary procedure, including how many days should be allocated to particular debates.
Allies of Mr Smith denied that he was meeting Nick Brown, the Labour chief whip, more often than usual for anyone in his position.
But Tory sources said Mr Smith had been holding such talks several times a week and questioned why he was “wasting time” by doing so, given a belief among Tory MPs that Jeremy Corbyn would order his MPs to vote down any deal reached by a Conservative government.
One Brexiteer said: “For a long time, the Chief Whip’s plans seemed to be based on relying on the Opposition, whether it’s picking up Labour votes in rebellion or working directly with the Opposition chief whip.
“The plan has been doomed to failure since it started.
“It’s proven over the past few months it just doesn’t work. Why are we wasting time on this?
“He should be engaging with Tory colleagues to find something that works within the Tory party, not mess- ing around with Opposition whips. The Chief Whip should be spending time with senior Brexiteers to work out whether they can meet in the middle.”
However, following separate attacks on Mr Smith last week, Jacob ReesMogg, the chairman of the European Research Group (ERG) of Eurosceptic backbenchers, said that Mr Smith “deserves credit for his hard work and decency, not criticism for being unable to do the impossible”.
And a source close to the Chief Whip said: “He’s won hundreds of votes in the Commons with no majority and it’s easy to forget how difficult that is.”
Mr Smith is understood to have been holding talks with representatives of the ERG, including Mr Rees-Mogg and his deputy, Steve Baker.
Last night it emerged that David Lidington, the Prime Minister’s deputy, has held talks with Labour MPs including discussions about a possible second referendum. Gavin Barwell, Mrs May’s chief of staff, was alleged by The Sunday Times to have told a minister that another poll was “the only way forward”.
Mr Smith raised eyebrows last week when it emerged that he had allowed a television camera crew to film meetings with MPs over the Brexit deal.