Page 14 QQQ Daily Mail, Saturday, August 17, 2019CARETAKER K
Tory stalwart Clarke willing to lead
unity government if Boris is ousted
By John Stevens
and Larisa BrownKEN Clarke said last night he would
be willing to become caretaker Prime
Minister to stop Britain leaving the
EU without a deal on October 31.
The Tory former Chancellor declared
that a government of national unity could
be necessary because he believes the
country is now facing a crisis similar to the
1930s recession and two world wars.
MPs who want to stop a No Deal Brexit are
considering ousting Boris Johnson from Down-
ing Street through a vote of no-confidence,but disagree on who should replace him.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has put himself
forward but he has been rejected by Liberal
Democrat leader Jo Swinson, who has sug-
gested an alternative figure such as Mr Clarke
or Harriet Harman.
Last night Mr Clarke said he had been away
on holiday for a fortnight and not following thenews, but had now returned and would be will-
ing to step in. He told BBC Radio 4’s PM pro-
gramme: ‘If it was the only way in which the
plain majority in the House of Commons that
is opposed to a No Deal exit could find a way
forward, I actually said to Jo when she man-
aged to raise me when I was on holiday that I
wouldn’t object to it, if that was in the judg-
ment of people, the only way forward.
A government of national unity is
just one of the things that might be
called for.
‘It’s not inconceivable – I mean we’re
in a similar situation to 1931 and
rather wildly to the two world wars
when the same thing happened.
‘But there’s an awful lot to be gone
through before then and I haven’t
been taking part in any talks with
anybody for the last fortnight. I’ve
been on the phone to one or two peo-
ple in the last couple of days just to
find out what the devil’s going on.’
His suggestion was met with a
stinging rebuke last night from Nigel
Evans, a member of the 1922 com-
mittee of Tory MPs.
He told the PM programme: ‘We’ve
filled the vacancy with Boris Johnson
and so I really don’t know what Ken
is talking about. It does seem to be
Westminster meets La La Land
because it’s not as if these ideas are
half-baked, I really don’t think they’ve
been anywhere near an oven.’
It came as:
nFormer Attorney General Dominic
Grieve, one of the Tory MPs looking
to stop a No Deal Brexit, insisted he
would not back Mr Corbyn becoming
a caretaker PM – despite agreeing to
meet him to discuss the issue;
nMr Corbyn savaged Miss Swinson
after she rejected his plan to lead an
emergency government to block a
No Deal Brexit; and
nThe Labour mayor of London,
Sadiq Khan, urged the Liberal Dem-alignment, keeping our free flows of
trade and investment, protecting
our jobs and our key sectors of busi-
ness and agriculture in this country.
‘Then, once it had got that under-
way, it would call an election probably
or resign and let’s see if Parliament
could form a party government of any
kind that took it all forward and
started resuming other politics.’
Mr Clarke’s comments came as
others rejected the idea of Jeremy
Corbyn becoming a caretaker PM.
Mr Grieve said he would not back
such a move following a backlash to
the idea from party colleagues, while
David Gauke – the ex-Justice Secre-
tary who also opposes No Deal –
tweeted: ‘If anyone thinks the answer
is Jeremy Corbyn, I think they’re
probably asking the wrong question.’
Mr Clarke is our longest-serving MP
having being first elected in 1970. As
well as Chancellor, he had served as
Health Secretary, Education Secre-
tary and Justice Secretary.
But his pro-European stance put
him at odds with many in his party
and he was unsuccessful in three
attempts to become Tory leader.
Energy minister Kwasi Kwarteng
said he believed that at 79 Mr Clarke
is too old to become Prime Minister.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today pro-
gramme: ‘I’m a great fan of Ken
Clarke... he’s been around for a long
time, he’s very experienced.
‘[But] all of this seems to me like
speculation. I think we have a Prime
Minister and we’ll deliver on the man-
date and the referendum of 2016.’
nBoris Johnson is expected to fly to
Berlin and Paris next week for talks
with German Chancellor Angela
Merkel and French president
Emmanuel Macron ahead of a G
summit in Biarritz next weekend.
Comment – Page 18Rejected: Mr Corbyn yesterdayocrats to seriously reconsider Mr
Corbyn’s offer.
Yesterday Mr Clarke, the Father of
the House, said Mr Corbyn would
have to stand aside for a government
of national unity.
‘What I just heard him saying is
constitutionally wrong and... the
precedents of the three national gov-
ernments I’ve described, in no case
was the national government led by
the leader of the largest political
party,’ he added.
‘Now, he obviously is the Leader of
the Opposition in Parliament – he’s
the person who hopes to win an elec-
tion. Personally I think it’s very
unlikely he can win an election but
he can’t just say, “well if there’s any
other government it has got to be
me” – that is, I’m afraid, wrong, fac-
tually and constitutionally.
‘He’ll have to do what similar party
leaders did on previous occasions and
let somebody else lead it because I
think it is the only way to get a multi-
party group to come together.’
Mr Clarke said his government of
national unity would be a ‘single-
issue, short-term government’ with a
policy to ‘sort out Brexit’.
‘I think it would seek an extension,
actually put together a mandate for
discussions that the majority of the
House of Commons approved of, and
a mandate that the Europeans would
not resist – such as staying in the
customs union, staying in regulatoryGERMANY expects Britain to
leave the EU without a deal, a
leaked document has revealed.
Angela Merkel’s government
believes No Deal is ‘highly likely’,
says the finance ministry memo.
This is because Boris Johnson is
demanding the Irish backstop
be dropped from Theresa May’s
Withdrawal Agreement.
The memo seen by Handelsblatt
newspaper states Mr Johnson is
unlikely to change his ‘hard
negotiating position’.BATTLE FOR BREXIT
‘Westminster
meets La La Land’
Berlin expects
a No Deal exit