Tory rebel Sir Oliver Letwin left a political outcast after tripping Boris Johnson inches from Brexit finishing line
TORY toff Sir Oliver Letwin was a political outcast last night after he tripped up Boris Johnson within touching distance of the Brexit finishing line.
The former minister left MPs spitting with rage as he cynically blocked the PM’s attempt to win Parliament’s approval for his hard-won EU departure deal.
Sir Oliver fronted a Remainer plot to hijack the deal, just as Mr Johnson was convinced he had enough support to get it through.
He launched a procedural ploy that rendered any vote on the deal meaningless and forced the Government to delay Brexit again.
His phone lit up with angry texts and calls from Leavers and Remainers after his amendment was voted through by the rabble alliance of Brexit-wreckers.
One senior Tory said: “Letwin has gone and f***ed it again.”
Another added: “He’s either set out deliberately to wreck Brexit or, if as he insists, this is a genuine attempt to help it along, then he’s a prize c**k.”
Eton and Cambridge-educated Sir Oliver, 63, was once seen as a rising Tory party star but had the whip removed last month and now sits as an Independent.
He had earlier fallen from grace after a string of mishaps that would put Mr Bean to shame.
POLL TAX TO ZOMBIE PARLIAMENT
He championed the poll tax which led to Margaret Thatcher’s downfall and devised the Fixed Term Parliament Act, which created the zombie Parliament partly to blame for the Brexit deadlock.
He once fell victim to a conman who knocked on the door of his South London home in the early hours and asked to use his loo.
The Dorset West MP, who is standing down at the next election, dressed in pyjamas and dressing gown, let him in — only to find his credit cards had been stolen.
Sir Oliver also went into hiding during the 2001 election after he denied being the source for a newspaper story about the Tories’ £20billion spending cuts plan.
Official documents from 1985, released five years ago, revealed that Sir Oliver recommended Mrs Thatcher “use Scotland as a trail-blazer” for the poll tax before potentially rolling it out nationwide.
What happens next?
Is the deal dead?: No. Jacob Rees-Mogg told MPs yesterday the Government would hope to give them another meaningful vote on Mr Johnson’s Brussels deal as early as tomorrow.
Downing Street has said the legislation — the Withdrawal Agreement Bill — will be introduced this week. Treasury Minister Simon Clarke insisted: “We will get this done next week.”
Are we going to crash out with No Deal?: MPs backing the Letwin amendment say it offers an insurance policy against leaving the EU without a deal on October 31.
However, it does cast doubt over leaving by the October 31 deadline as scrutiny of the legislation drags on.
Will the EU agree to an extension?: All 27 EU states will decide on what extension to offer but it could be either shorter or longer than the three-month one envisaged by the Benn Act.
They could respond to the letter but wait to see if the Government can get its withdrawal legislation through next week. It could lead to an EU emergency summit on October 28.
And during a night fuelled by takeaway pepperoni pizza, Sir Oliver, along with Labour and Lib Dem representatives, set up a new Press regulator in response to the Leveson inquiry.
Sir Oliver’s career stalled further when he had the Tory whip removed — forcing him to sit as an independent — for voting for Labour MP Hilary Benn’s Bill to make the PM beg the EU for a delay if he was unable to clinch a deal.
Cries of “what a surprise” echoed around the Commons chamber when Remainer Speaker John Bercow announced he had chosen Sir Oliver’s amendment to be voted on.
But the MP’s ploy in forcing the PM to seek a delay when he already had a deal were seen by many as the final straw.
Former Tory co-chairman Lord Ashcroft rounded on Sir Oliver and his Tory partner-in-crime Dominic Grieve asking: “Is there any problem that Oliver Letwin and Dominic Grieve cannot make more difficult?”
A leading Brexiteer said: “Oliver is like a modern-day James I. He’s the wisest fool in Christendom.
“He regards himself as a bit of an intellectual but he’s got absolutely no common sense.
'PRIZE BUFFOON'
“He’s a prize buffoon who has been privately educated beyond his own intelligence.”
One minister responded: “Oliver has a very high opinion of himself but his actions today have only gone to prove what many of us have believed for some time — that he’s a complete dork.”
Labour MP Caroline Flint said Sir Oliver’s underhand manoeuvre had exposed the real intention of those fighting to block No Deal — to stop Brexit altogether.
She said it was a panic measure in reaction to the PM securing a deal which would ensure Britain’s departure in 11 days.
Ms Flint said: “It is because they had no idea or confidence that a deal would be before us today which would allow those in this House who want to secure a deal so we can move on and leave the EU by October 31 would happen.
“As a result, by today’s measures, in voting for the amendment by Sir Oliver Letwin, we will be forced, even if a deal is approved, to seek an extension to January 31, underlying that the sponsors of the Benn Act had only one motivation, to delay Brexit and stop it.”
'PLAYING WITH DEMOCRACY'
Tory MP Lucy Allan responded: “Well done Caroline Flint for speaking up for people up and down our country.
“The elite playing games with our democracy at the expense of the people is so deeply shameful.”
Fellow Conservative Damian Collins added: “The Letwin amendment is another of those Brexit ideas which is too clever by half. It effectively renders today’s Saturday sitting of Parliament meaningless, at a time when the country and the EU needs to know whether Parliament accepts the new withdrawal deal or not.”
However, the Letwin amendment was given the thumbs-up from Independent MP Dominic Grieve.
He said: “I am very pleased with the result of today’s vote. It prevents us from crashing out with no deal, which the Government provided no reassurance it wasn’t going to do.”
At the European Commission, chief spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said it had noted the outcome of the vote and urged the Government “to inform us about the next steps as soon as possible”.
SNP MP Joanna Cherry said she would pursue the PM through the courts to ask for an extension under the terms of the Benn Act.
She said: “We’re back in court on Monday morning and it will be possible then to secure the court’s assistance if the Prime Minister has flouted the law and the promises he gave to the court.”
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