STICK IT UP YOUR CHUNTER!
How Philip Hammond led ‘Remain coup’ against arch-rival Boris as Tory party wrestles with worst split in 30 years
PHILIP Hammond gained his revenge over arch-rival Boris Johnson today as he spearheaded a Tory “Remain” coup over Brexit.
The ex-Chancellor led the charge as the Conservative Party fell into utter disarray and the Prime Minister’s working majority was slashed to zero.
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As bad feelings erupted, No10 aides accused him of repeatedly “interrupting” the PM and “chuntering” during a bitter Downing Street dust-up this morning.
They claimed that Mr Hammond revealed the anti-No Deal bill had been drafted with the help of the EU legal services department — a claim that his aides bitterly denied.
Mr Johnson had made a last-ditch bid to win round 15 rebels ahead of tonight’s Commons vote.
Mr Hammond — the right-hand man of former PM Theresa May — and others had been urged to side with the Tories rather than “handing power to a Junta including Jeremy Corbyn”.
Mr Johnson had pleaded with rebels to delay their mutiny until after the EU Council next month — telling them: “No PM would accept this.”
He added: “If you vote for this bill, I cannot negotiate with Brussels any longer. It will be ruinous.”
CONSERVATIVES AT WAR
But the rebels countered that Mr Johnson had yet to show any proof of momentum in Brexit negotiations with the EU that could lead to an agreement before the October 31 deadline.
Earlier, Mr Hammond had vowed to stage the “fight of a lifetime” to remain as the Tory candidate for Runnymede and Weybridge, despite de-selection threats.
He stormed: “This is my party.”
The bitter fallout came on an unprecedented day of Tory turmoil as:
- Former Tory Justice Minister Phillip Lee slashed the Conservatives’ majority to zero by defecting to the Lib Dems the moment Boris Johnson stood up to speak in the Commons;
- Sir Nicholas Soames, Winston Churchill’s grandson, was de-selected as he ended a day of deliberation by saying he would be voting against the Government;
- Three Tories — Justine Greening, Sir Alistair Burt and Keith Simpson — revealed they would be stepping down at the next election with Ms Greening saying a No Deal was “profoundly un-Conservative”.
The dramatic developments left the Tories facing their worst split in three decades tonight as No10 swiftly suspended the whip from every Tory rebel who voted against the Government.
My concerns about the Conservative Party becoming the Brexit Party have come to pass
Former Education Secretary Justine Greening
Among them are nine former Cabinet ministers, including Ken Clarke as well as Mr Hammond and Sir Nicholas.
The Sun can reveal that Mr Johnson made a massive personal effort to persuade his old friend and Mid Sussex MP grandee Sir Nicholas not to rebel, including a 20-minute phone call to him on Monday night.
But Sir Nicholas told The Sun just ahead of the vote that he had decided to defy Boris “with a very heavy heart”.
He added: “I don’t doubt Boris wants to get a deal, but I do not believe he has the means to will the end. His demands are unreal and I cannot condone No Deal.”
Mr Lee — a pro-EU MP for the safe seat of Bracknell who was already facing de-selection — blamed the party’s shift to the right on Brexit for his walkout.
Tories who rebelled
THE 21 Tories who rebelled in tonight’s vote are:
- Guto Bebb
- Alistair Burt
- David Gauke
- Sam Gyimah
- Richard Harrington
- Anne Milton
- Sir Nicholas Soames
- Richard Benyon
- Greg Clark
- Justine Greening
- Philip Hammond
- Margot James
- Caroline Nokes
- Rory Stewart
- Steve Brine
- Ken Clarke
- Dominic Grieve
- Stephen Hammond
- Sir Oliver Letwin
- Antoinette Sandbach
- Edward Vaizey
The defection rubbed out the PM’s wafer-thin majority of just one, making a General Election now all but certain.
In a bid to inflict maximum damage on Mr Johnson, he publicly crossed the Commons floor to sit on the opposition benches just as the Premier began a statement to a packed house on the G7 summit.
No10 also confirmed that the serial Tory rebel — who wants a second referendum — gave the PM no warning about his move.
Former Education Secretary Justine Greening began the walkouts this morning saying she would stand down at the next General Election to pre-empt the PM’s punishment.
She said: “My concerns about the Conservative Party becoming the Brexit Party have come to pass.”
But rebel leader Mr Hammond vowed to fight Mr Johnson’s threat through the courts having won re-selection from his constituency association on Monday night.
Other loyal Tories angrily hit out at Mr Johnson’s expulsion threat. Former de facto Deputy PM Damian Green dubbed the crackdown “foolish in the extreme”.
He added: “The threat of deselection used to be the preserve of the hard left of the Labour party. Think it should stay there.”
Former Tory defence minister Tobias Ellwood said earlier: “A party which threatens to remove Churchill’s grandson should check its tactics.”
The Sun Says
THE Remainer coup — to seize power and stop the biggest ballot box mandate in British history from being enacted — is now fully and shamefully under way.
The chaos, division and damage this could unleash is incalculable.
We are repulsed by the self-satisfaction and sickening disregard for our democracy of those behind it: Marxist Labour, the Lib Dems, deluded Tory “rebels”, grandstanding ex-Tory defectors.
Last week our streets were blocked by idiotic Europhile protesters, with zero sense of proportion or grasp of history, witlessly branding Boris Johnson a “dictator” orchestrating “a coup”. He must be the first dictator defeated within days by a Parliamentary majority.
But how can the Remainer antics be called anything but a coup?
When MPs who once vowed to honour the referendum result vote instead to proceed with a dodgy Bill, enabled by their puppet Speaker, surrendering power to the EU to determine a delay of its choosing — to be rubber-stamped by our Remainer-dominated Parliament.
Will three months suit Brussels? Six, maybe? How about ten years?
Remainers will, have no doubt, sign off whatever the EU decides.
They have no plan, beyond the second referendum some want. As for the Brexit majority, the 17.4million little people who voted Leave, they don’t count. Westminster Remoaners despise them.
Yesterday the PM lost his Commons majority as self-aggrandising turncoat Phillip Lee threw in his lot with the Lib Dems. What choice does Boris have but to trigger an election? He cannot govern. Remainers have forced him into it.
Yet Labour, incredibly, have bottled it, hiding their yellow cowardice behind a convoluted conspiracy theory. What an unprincipled joke of a party they are.
We will not mourn the disloyal Tories now being purged as Boris threatened. What did they expect?
What gives failed ex-Chancellor Philip Hammond a divine right to be a Tory after blowing up the Government’s central policy? His career deserves to end in treacherous disgrace.
Voters are watching with revulsion.
Soon, we hope, they will take ballot box revenge on those responsible.
Boris Johnson loses key Brexit vote but announces he will table motion to hold General Election
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