YOU KEN NOT BE SERIOUS
Ken Clarke, 79, declares he wants to be caretaker PM — despite admitting he doesn’t know ‘what the devil’s going on’
VETERAN Tory Ken Clarke last night declared he wants to be caretaker PM, despite admitting he doesn’t know “what the devil’s going on”.
The pro-EU former Chancellor revealed he is ready to mount a coup with Remainer rebels and opposition MPs to try to oust Boris Johnson if it’s “the only way” to halt a No Deal Brexit.
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The plan to install him or Labour’s former deputy boss Harriet Harman - the Father and Mother of the House, as the longest serving male and female MPs - was proposed this week by Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson
But 79 year-old Mr Clarke’s power grab looked wobbly when he was forced to concede he was in the dark over this week’s frenzied Westminster plotting.
He told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme: “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 managed to raise me when I was on holiday, that I wouldn’t object to it, if that was the judgment of people.
“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 people in the last couple of days just to find out what the devil’s going on.”
'JUDGMENT OF THE PEOPLE'
Mr Clarke also likened Parliament’s Brexit crisis as akin to the days of a world war. He said: “A government of national unity is just one of the things that might be called for.
“We’re in a similar situation to 1931 and rather wildly to the two world wars when the same thing happened.”
But Tory ministers poured scorn on the plot to oust Boris with a no confidence vote in two weeks time when Parliament returns.
Energy minister Kwazi Kwarteng dubbed Mr Clarke too old for the job, saying it would be “an odd thing for him to lead a unity government, when he is nearly 80”.
Mr Kwarteng also predicted the coup would fail, adding: “I think we will continue as a Government. I don’t think the Labour Party have the numbers to win a no confidence vote.
“What we have to focus on is delivering Brexit on October 31.” Opposition MPs continued to feud yesterday on how best to try to stop a No Deal Brexit.
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Under pressure from furious party activists, rebel Tory leader Dominic Grieve said yesterday that while he will hold talks with Jeremy Corbyn he will not vote for the Labour leader to become PM. Mr Grieve said: “I am not about to facilitate Jeremy Corbyn’s arrival in Downing Street”.
The Lib Dems continued to call on Jeremy Corbyn to abandon his bid to become caretaker PM himself, with former leader Sir Vince Cable saying: “I urge him to do the right thing and support someone who can”.
The anti-Brexit Independent Group’s five MPs also signalled they would not vote for any caretaker PM unless they pledged to deliver a second referendum rather than a general election.
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Jeremy Corbyn begs Tory rebels to back him as PM and says he is disappointed with Jo Swinson
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