Clarke backs bid for unity government
TORY grandee Ken Clarke last night said he is willing to lead a government of national unity to avoid a no-deal Brexit.
The former chancellor gave his support to a proposal by Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson for an emergency
government led by him or Labour’s Harriet Harman.
His comments came after Jeremy Corbyn criticised Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson for rejecting his plan to lead an emergency government to thwart a no-deal Brexit.
During a visit to Machynlleth, the Labour leader said that “it’s not up to Jo Swinson to decide who the next prime minister is going to be” after she swiftly dismissed his proposal to force a general election as “nonsense”.
Just hours later, Mr Clarke said it was “not inconceivable” that a government of national unity may be needed to
resolve the impasse, suggesting politics was in a similar situation to 1931 and the two world wars.
He told the BBC: “If it was the only way in which the plain majority in the House of Commons that is opposed to a nodeal exit could find a way forward... I wouldn’t object to it, if that was the judgment of people, the only way forward.”
Mr Clarke added: “A government of national unity is just one of the things that might be called for – it’s not inconceivable – I mean we’re in a similar situation to 1931 and rather wildly to the two world wars when the same thing happened.
“But there’s an awful lot to be gone through before then and I haven’t been taking part in any talks with anybody for the last fortnight. I’ve been on the phone to one or two people in the last couple of days just to find out what the devil’s going on.”
Ms Swinson’s proposal came after she rejected Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s suggestion that he could lead an emergency government to thwart a no-deal Brexit, despite agreeing to meet with him to discuss a no-deal prevention plan.
Mr Clarke – known as the Father of the House, a title bestowed on the longest-serving male MP – said such an administration would be a “single-issue, short-term government” with a policy to “sort out Brexit”.
He suggested it would seek an extension to Britain’s EU membership and put together a “mandate for discussions that the majority of the House of Commons approved of, and a mandate that the Europeans would not resist...
“Then, once it had got that under way and set, it would call an election probably or resign and let’s see if Parliament could form a party government of any kind that took it all forward and started resuming other politics.”
But he said Mr Corbyn would have to stand aside and let somebody else lead it because that is the “only way to get a multi-party group to come together”.
Nigel Evans, a member of the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbench MPs, told the same programme: “We’ve filled the vacancy with Boris Johnson and so I really don’t know what Ken is talking about.”
Mr Evans added: “It does seem to be Westminster meets La La Land because it’s not as if these ideas are half-baked, I really don’t think they’ve been anywhere near an oven.”