Live: Rebel numbers creep up ahead of critical Brexit vote
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The number of Conservative MPs willing to rebel and go against the government in tonight’s critical vote are creeping up, with a swathe of resignations, defections and rejections of the Prime Minister’s position.
Sir Nicholas Soames has said he would “with a heavy heart” defy the whip and vote for the motion enabling backbenchers to take control of the order paper tomorrow. This in turn will allow MPs to debate and vote on a more critical bill, which seeks to prevent a no-deal Brexit.
Soames, who is Sir Winston Churchill’s grandson, now risks having the whip withdrawn and effectively being sacked as a Conservative MP by Boris Johnson, biographer and self-confessed idol of his wartime predecessor.
Earlier today, Johnson’s spokesman told journalists he stood by earlier threats to deselect MPs if they go against the government tonight, including abstentions, saying it would be “handing power to Jeremy Corbyn”.
He added: “To vote against the government would be to lose the whip.”
Many MPs have pre-empted Johnson. This morning former ministers including Justine Greening and Alistair Burt both confirmed they would not stand at the next election, while fellow Tory Phillip Lee crossed the floor to join the Liberal Democrats just as the Prime Minister stood at the dispatch box.
They join others, including Ken Clarke, in being able to vote without having to follow party lines.
But it is not all in one direction: Kate Hoey, a prominent Leave supporter, has also said she will not stand as a Labour MP at the next election, freeing her to vote with the government tonight.
Former Conservative minister Nick Boles, who now sits as an independent MP, told rebel Tories: “Your country needs you. Do what you know to be right. Join me on these benches and together let’s build a new force in British politics.”
Ken Clarke, former chancellor and father of the House, echoed that sentiment, calling for more MPs to “come to the middle” and agree on a soft Brexit “where you keep the current economic ties… which British Conservative governments took a role in creating”.
But Tory MP Bernard Jenkin told colleagues that “unless we are to abandon referendums, then this house should be ready to implement popular decisions it does not like… If we refuse to do so… that will have consequences for the credibilty of parliament in the eyes of our electors.”
They were speaking after former Cabinet minister Sir Oliver Letwin told MPs he was bringing the motion forward to make more time to strike a deal.
Letwin added: “The Prime Minister is much in the position of someone on one side of a canyon shouting to the people on the other side of the canyon that, unless they do as he says, he will throw himself into the abyss. This does not strike me as a credible negotiating strategy.”
Several of his Conservative colleagues stood to back him, alongside opposition MPs. But Jacob Rees-Mogg accused him of “stunning arrogance”.
The Leader of the House urged backbenchers not to vote for the bill tomorrow, saying it would lead to “indefinite vassalage”.
“The aim is to create a marionette government,” he added, telling them they must not “bind [Johnson] hand and foot” to go to Brussels.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told MPs the bill did not “close off other options” but gave “vital breathing space to find an alternative way through the Brexit mess this and the previous government have created”.
He added: “Today is another historic day in Parliament. It is our chance to seize this last opportunity to stand up to a bullying government, that has shown itself ready to dodge scrutiny and silence debate. If we do not act today we may never get another chance.”
The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford said Brexit talks under the current regime were “a complete sham” and pressed other Scottish MPs to “stand up” for Scotland and block a no-deal Brexit. He said the Conservative party “has been taken over by a cult”, comparing Johnson to a dictator.
Main image: Getty