Daily Mail, Friday, September 6, 2019 Page 11
QQQIS’ DEAL WITH SCOTS
Take back
control from
Cummings,
PM is urged
you present a platform that makes
you practically identical to Farage’.
He added: ‘If that is what the Con-
servative Party becomes then you
are no longer seeking to appeal to
the “small C” conservatives who wel-
come stability, who welcome compe-
tence and just getting the job done –
not revolutionaries but people who
provide a degree of reassurance.’
Urging the Prime Minister to ‘step
back from the brink’, Mr Gauke– MP
for South West Hertfordshire – said
he should abandon Mr Cummings’
strategy and ‘engage seriously with
the negotiations’.
‘There are still many Conservative
MPs who have more in common with
my position than with the messianic
Vote Leave strategy,’ he said.
He also warned that the attempt to
appeal to Leave voters at all costs
would damage the Tories at the elec-
tion – which could happen within
weeks and see them losing seats in
Scotland, London, the Home Coun-
ties and the South West.
Mr Gauke voted Remain in the Brexit
referendum, but insisted he had ‘lots
of reservations’ about the EU. In a
direct challenge to Mr Johnson, he
said leaving without a deal threatens
the UK’s negotiating position.
‘I’ve always argued we should
respect the vote – but I think that
means leaving with a deal,’ he said.
‘Leave without a deal on October 31,
and like it or not the negotiations for
another deal begin on November 1.
My fear is our negotiating position
will be even weaker after No Deal.’A LEADING Tory rebel last
night told Boris Johnson to
get rid of his ‘revolutionary’
adviser Dominic Cummings
and ‘take back control’ of
Downing Street.
Former Cabinet minister David
Gauke accused the Prime Minis-
ter of abandoning traditional
Tory voters with his pursuit of Mr
Cummings’ ‘messianic’ strategy.
In an incendiary interview with the
Daily Mail, he said the Conservative
Party was in ‘crisis’ because Mr John-
son was trying to turn it into the
‘Vote Leave’ party – a reference to
the Brexit referendum campaign
group run by Mr Cummings.
As a result, Mr Johnson risked los-
ing a general election because he was
alienating Remainer Tories who
could switch to the Liberal Demo-
crats, he argued.
Mr Gauke said: ‘Things look a bit
out of control. I think, to coin a
phrase, the Prime Minister should
“take back control” and make sure
he is running the show.’ The com-By Jack Doyle
Associate Editor‘Extraordinarily
powerful’Direct challenge: David GaukeParty hopper: Ex-labour and Change UK MP luciana Berger is embraced by Jo swinson ments came as Sir John Major
branded Mr Cummings a ‘political
anarchist’. Last night the former
Tory prime minister said Mr Johnson
should ‘get rid of these advisers
before they poison the political
atmosphere beyond repair’.
Mr Gauke, the former justice secre-
tary, was one of 21 Tory MPs expelled
from the party this week after voting
to seize control of the Commons.
Yesterday, he said Mr Cummings
was ‘extraordinarily powerful’ and
pursuing a ‘very confrontational’
approach, adding: ‘I don’t get the
impression he’s someone who crosses
the street to avoid a fight. Rather the
other way around.’
Describing the No 10 strategy of
trying to ‘unify the Leave vote at all
costs’, he warned it will alienate tra-
ditional conservatives. The logic of
Mr Cummings’ strategy would mean
either ‘a deal with Nigel Farage, orMajor condemns ‘brutal bullies’
BORIS Johnson is presiding
over an unelected ‘faction of a
faction’, Sir John Major claimed
last night.
The former Tory prime minis-
ter accused Mr Johnson of run-
ning a ‘Government by bluster
and threat in a climate of
aggressive bullying’ and turning
the Conservatives into a ‘mean-
minded sect’.
Sir John said Cabinet ministers
have issued ‘abuse’ and special
advisers have told businesses
they will be ‘frozen out’ if they
speak out against Brexit.
During a speech to business
leaders in Glasgow, Sir John also
condemned the decision towithdraw the whip and deselect
21 rebel Tory MPs. He said their
millions of constituents would
not forget how ‘brutally’ they
had been treated.
Mr Johnson said he stood by
his decision to expel the group
last night. But Chancellor Sajid
Javid said he hoped there was
‘room for redemption’, telling
LBC’s Nick Ferrari programme
that the Tory MPs kicked out of
the party ‘really care’ about the
UK. He added: ‘I would like to see
them come back at some point.’
In further criticism of thePrime Minister, Sir John said he
did not believe that any previ-
ous leader would have contem-
plated suspending Parliament
simply to hinder MPs trying to
stop a No Deal Brexit.
He said: ‘The new Cabinet is...
not a Cabinet of all available
talents. It is a faction of a faction,
with no counter-balance of
opinion to hold it back.’
With the country ‘being torn
apart by the divisions of Brexit’,
Sir John said: ‘If we are to meet
[our challenges] we need gov-
ernment of the highest quality,
not government by bluster and
threat, in a climate of aggres-
sive bullying.’By Michael Blackley
Scottish Political EditorLITTLEJOHN
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