EU loyalist Dominic Grieve has warned that he and other Remainer Tories could topple Boris Johnson if he backs a No Deal Brexit, as opposition MPs plot to end the next Tory leader’s premiership in a day.
Grieve, who represents a Leave-voting constituency and has already lost a vote of no confidence by the Tory constituency association — but has been protected by Remain-voting party chairman Brandon Lewis MP — warned: “If the new prime minister announces taking the country on a magical mystery tour towards an October 31st crash-out, I don’t think that prime minister is going to survive very long.”
The former Attorney-General added that “Of course, the Prime Minister could exercise his absolute right of then going to the country and having a general election, but that is likely to be catastrophic for the future of the Conservative Party” — a surprising mischaracterisation of the law, as prime ministers lost their former power to trigger elections unilaterally by calling on the monarch to dissolve parliament with the passage of the Fixed Term Parliament Act of 2011.
Tory Elite Say Keep Grieve, Sack Local Activists as Remain MP Loses Confidence Vote https://t.co/4gJe2rsUbb
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 31, 2019
“If a prime minister insists that they are going to crash us out of the European Union on October 31 with no deal… then I am pretty sure that there are a large number of Conservative MPs who will object to that happening,” Grieve restated unequivocally.
“[They] will do everything possible to prevent it happening. I think the numbers are quite substantial.”
It is indeed the case that the Tories even now do not command an outright majority in the House of Commons, relying on Northern Ireland’s Brexit-supporting Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) for a slim Government majority — which would be easily overturned if enough of the Tory parliamentary party’s largely Remain-voting members sided with left-liberal opposition MPs against a prime minister determined to deliver Brexit, deal or no deal.
EU Loyalist Grieve Calls for ‘Polite Rebellion’ Against Brexit, National Unity Govt to Hold Second Referendum https://t.co/M4VXjGqpwA
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) October 1, 2018
Grieve suggested that this hypothetical coup need not necessarily involve handing the keys to Downing Street to Labour’s hard-left leader Jeremy Corbyn, as “if an administration falls on a vote of no confidence, there is 14 days to set up a new one.”
“It doesn’t have to be Jeremy Corbyn at the helm. It could be another Conservative prime minister,” he explained.
“It could be anybody who is able to command a majority in the House of Commons.”
The Remainer has previously suggested that MPs, most of whom are former Remain supporters, could form a so-called national unity coalition of anti-Brexit parliamentarians could trigger a second referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU — even though over 80 per cent of them, including Grieve himself, stood on election manifestos promising to deliver on the 2016 vote to Leave.
WATCH | The arrogant Dominic Grieve promises to "bring down" any new prime minister seeking to enact the referendum result and proceeding with a clean Brexit.
He threatens to resign the whip. His local members have already voted to deselect him TWICE. What's he waiting for?! pic.twitter.com/Tq07gxAOlW
— Leave.EU (@LeaveEUOfficial) June 12, 2019
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.