Philip Hammond: Deselecting Tory MPs over Brexit 'hypocritical'

From The BBC

31st August 2019

It would be "staggeringly hypocritical" for the government to sack Conservative MPs who rebel over its Brexit plans, former chancellor Philip Hammond says. It comes after the Sun reported No 10 would stop any Tory MP who votes to block a no-deal Brexit from standing for the party in a general election. Government sources haven't denied this. But Mr Hammond said eight current cabinet members had themselves defied the party whip this year by voting against Theresa May's Brexit deal. Mr Hammond tweeted that he wanted to honour the party's 2017 manifesto promise for a "smooth and orderly" exit and a "deep and special partnership" with the EU and "not an undemocratic No Deal". Another senior Conservative MP, who is likely to back moves to prevent a no-deal Brexit next week, said they would be "disappointed" if it appeared that the government was "threatening" colleagues. They added that Downing Street looked like it was "spoiling for a fight".

Government sources told the BBC that Prime Minister Boris Johnson wanted all MPs to "recognise their duty" and "give him their support" to get the UK out of the EU by 31 October 3. A government spokesperson said: "All options for party management are under consideration, but first and foremost the PM hopes MPs will deliver on the referendum result and back him on Parliament."

Mr Hammond's intervention came after his successor, Sajid Javid, backed Mr Johnson's decision to suspend Parliament. Despite insisting during the Tory leadership campaign that he thought proroguing Parliament was a bad idea, Mr Javid has now defended the plan. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It is quite usual this time of year, Parliament goes into what's called a conference recess and it doesn't usually sit for some time in September and early October. It's right because we are focusing on the people's priorities." Thousands of people took to the streets across the UK to protest the suspension on Saturday. Demonstrations were held in central London, near Downing Street, and in Manchester, Leeds, York and Belfast.

[Aaah… Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister that’s putting the “F” back into Fascist….. I guess that the Conservative Party is no longer ‘a broad Church’ and is now more like a personality cult….. I mean, what could POSSIBLY go wrong?]