Page QQQ Daily Mail, Friday, September 6, 2019
BATTLE FOR BREXIT
Boris brothe
S
ay what you like about
those ruddy Johnsons,
they’re never dull.
Up we schlepped to
yorkshire yesterday to
hear Boris unveil his
flagship plans to put 20,000 new
Bobbies on our streets in the next
three years.
This was supposed to be the PM’s
attention-grabbing curtain raiser to
a general election, should he ever be
able to nail one down, not to mention
a brief respite from the Styx-like
swamp he currently finds himself in
back in Westminster.
But no sooner had we chugged into
Doncaster station than news dropped
that brother Jo, the studious one
with the career diplomat looks, had
announced he was quitting.
Kebab-knifed in his hour of need by
his own brother! Some ropey cable
TV channel needs to sign that family
up to one of those fly-on-the-wall
docu-soaps pronto.
Our location was a police training
academy off a busy a-road in Wake-
field. Bold.
Maggie Thatcher closed the first
coal mines here during those bad olddays of industrial strife. Until
recently, the mere mention of the
word ‘Tory’ round these parts was
accompanied by that ‘hhhhhockkkk
pttttt!’ noise Tiswas puppet Spit the
Dog used to make.
arrangements were far from
smooth. Security inside the Plod
factory was tighter than two coats of
Dulux. I’ve boarded El al flights that
required less bag rummaging.
Boris was late as usual, meaning we
were kept in lock-down for over
two hours.
Eventually we were led out to a
garden where three-dozen trainee
police officers in pristine uniforms
stood to attention in front of what
appeared to be a Doctor Who Tardis.
Such was the delay that one poor
female recruit’s cheek had turned
crimson in the sun and had to be
checked on by one of her superiors.
after much watch-tapping the PM
appeared. Taking his place at the
lectern, that familiar crouched-toad
posture, complexion pastier than
milk of magnesia, he launched into a
long, rambling monologue about the
importance of the police.
‘always know the caution,’ he
advised the recruits. ‘you know, theHENRY DEEDES
on a speech to forget from the put-upon PM
A woozy young
lassie collapsed.
This might be
the moment
to stop, he said
when Parliament votes on it again
on Monday;
■ The Prime Minister gave a ram-
bling speech at a police college in
West yorkshire after dropping
plans to deliver a tub-thumping
election address minutes before he
took to the stage;
■ Ex-ministers Dame Caroline
Spelman and Nick Hurd became
the latest Tory moderates to say
they will not fight the election;
■ Jacob Rees-Mogg came under
fire from the Chief Medical Officer
after comparing a doctor who
warned of the dangers of No Deal
to disgraced MMR scaremonger
Dr andrew Wakefield;
■ Hecklers shouted at Boris John-
son to ‘stop playing games’ and
focus on Brexit negotiations during
a walkabout in West yorkshire;
■ Ministers abandoned efforts in
the Lords to thwart a law that
would block a No Deal Brexit.
Jo Johnson, once tipped as a
future Tory leader, quit the Gov-
ernment last year in protest at
Theresa May’s deal, calling for
another referendum. Despite their
Brexit differences, friends say he
had no choice but to back his
brother’s leadership campaign and
accept a job in his Cabinet.
Privately, he believed his brother
was committed to securing a deal.
But his resignation yesterday sug-
gests his view may have changed.
In a short statement on Twitter,
he said: ‘In recent weeks I’ve been
torn between family loyalty and
the national interest – it’s an unre-
solvable tension and time for oth-ers to take on my roles as MP and
minister. Over and out.’
Ex-justice secretary David Gauke,
one of 21 Tory rebel MPs who lost
the whip this week, said: ‘Lots of
MPs have had to wrestle with con-
flicting loyalties in recent weeks.
None more so than Jo. This is a bigattack on Mr Corbyn’s ‘cowardly’
decision to order his MPs to block
a snap election. But instead he
gave a short, rambling speech in
which he seemed to be ad libbing.
at one point he tried and failed to
recite the caution issued by police
officers making an arrest.
Insiders indicated that, following
a change of plans, he had been
handed a different speech shortly
before he took to the stage. One
said: ‘The machine that is there to
support the PM got it wrong today
and we need to reflect on that.’
The change of tactics caused a
delay to his speech, leaving dozens
of police cadets standing out in the
sun for more than an hour.
Towards the end of the event, a
female cadet collapsed behind thePM. No10 later said he had checked
on her welfare and apologised.
Downing Street said yesterday
that it would make another bid to
force an October 15 election on
Monday after Mr Corbyn blocked a
similar move on Wednesday night,
saying it would be ‘cowardly’ for
him to refuse.
The PM said it was a ‘no-brainer’
that an election was needed after
MPs passed a law that will require
him to seek another Brexit exten-
sion unless he has secured a new
deal with Brussels by October 19.
It is expected to reach the Stat-
ute Book on Monday, potentially
trapping Boris Johnson in a night-
marish dilemma if an election is
delayed beyond that point. But
last night Labour sources indicatedBy Jason Groves
and Claire Ellicott
Career diplomat looks: Jo Johnson yesterdayBORIS Johnson suffered his worst day
in No10 yesterday as his brother resigned
from Government, saying he could no
longer back him on Brexit.
In a body blow, Jo Johnson quit as universi-
ties minister, saying he was ‘torn between
family loyalty and the national interest’.
The Remainer, who wants a second referendum,
said he had felt an ‘unresolvable tension’ serving
in his brother’s Cabinet and would stand down
from Parliament at the next election. Sources said
the Prime Minister was unable to persuade his
younger brother to think again when they dis-
cussed his resignation by phone yesterday.
It came as speculation mounted that Boris John-
son could resign rather than obey the new anti-
No Deal law after he said he would rather ‘be dead
in a ditch’ than allow another Brexit delay.
The Prime Minister yesterday heaped praise on
his ‘brilliant’ brother but acknowledged he ‘does
not agree with me about the European Union
because it’s an issue that obviously divides fami-
lies and divides everybody’.
The extraordinary rift echoes the split between
Labour’s Milibands, after Ed defeated elder
brother David in the race for the Labour leader-
ship. Government sources insisted Jo Johnson’s
resignation was ‘not malicious’. But Labour seized
on the Prime Minister’s family troubles, with
shadow education secretary angela Rayner say-
ing: ‘Boris Johnson poses such a threat even his
own brother doesn’t trust him.’
In what looks set to become a Labour attack
line, shadow policing minister Louise Haigh added:
‘If your own brother doesn’t believe you’re acting
in the national interest, why should the country?’
The Johnson family psychodrama capped a bleak
day for the Prime Minister in which:
■ Labour indicated Jeremy Corbyn would keep
blocking his demand for an October 15 election
loss to Parliament, the Govern-
ment and the Conservative Party.’
Boris Johnson had planned to use
yesterday’s visit to a police college
to launch his election campaign.
No10 briefed reporters in advance
that he would also launch an÷Jo quits as a
minister after
struggle with
family loyalty
÷PM says he’d
rather ‘be dead
in a ditch’ than
delay Brexit
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