Boris Johnson ‘ups tempo’ in Brexit talks as Ruth Davidson urges rebel MPs to back him
BORIS Johnson got a Brexit battle boost last night from outgoing Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson.
The PM, who claimed he was upping the tempo on talks with Brussels, lost one of the party’s brightest stars when she announced she was stepping down from her role.
But she went out with a rallying cry for rebel MPs, telling them to get behind the PM and support whatever deal he offered them.
Ms Davidson, who is quitting to spend more time with her partner and baby Finn, said opponents had had three easy chances to stop No Deal in Commons votes but had “hit the ball over the bar each time”.
She added: “Vote for a deal. You’ve had three opportunities. You blew every one of them. Don’t blow a fourth!
“Make it clear now that if a deal comes back to the House of Commons, you will vote for it.”
The surprise endorsement came despite Ms Davidson, 40, backing four of Mr Johnson’s opponents in the Tory leadership contest.
It also bolstered the PM as he announced a new push on talks with Brussels.
He said he had told his Brexit negotiators to meet EU officials at least twice a week in September in a concerted bid to resolve the Irish backstop impasse.
Mr Johnson said: “It’s time to up the tempo. The increase in meetings and discussions is necessary if we are to have a chance of agreeing a deal for when we leave on October 31 — no ifs, no buts.”
It also came as he battled to calm a Westminster rocked by his decision to suspend Parliament for five weeks, enraging MPs who say it leaves them too little time to bring in laws to block No Deal.
In developments on Thursday:
- Defence Secretary Ben Wallace was caught on camera in Helsinki saying the Government has to prorogue as it has no majority in the Commons;
- Sources claimed Boris Johnson’s Ulster unionist allies in the DUP have been told to prepare for a November General Election;
- Figures revealed the Conservatives raised more than £5million in donations this spring, fuelling talk of a snap poll;
- Lord George Young, the Government’s whip in the Lords, quit in protest at Mr Johnson “undermining” democracy;
- Downing Street launched a leak inquiry amid claims a politicised civil servant tipped off Labour about the suspension;
- Bulgaria’s hardline PM Boyko Borissov joked: “Can you imagine what would happen if I shut down Parliament? The accusations of dictatorship.”
Up to 20 Tory rebels could side with Labour and the Lib Dems in efforts to stall No Deal.
Ex-Justice Secretary David Gauke on Thursday admitted some of them opposed to prorogation “don’t want to leave at all”.
But ex-Defence Minister and fierce No Deal critic Tobias Ellwood urged the plotters to give Boris Johnson time.
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He told The Sun: “Boris has elevated and energised the Brexit debate and is opening doors that we closed to Theresa May. This is a big change.”
And one No Deal opponent admitted: “Boris has won so we might as well get used to it.”
But Eurocrats were less easily bowed. One of Angela Merkel’s senior allies Norbert Röttgen said: “The executive denying parliament its democratic say at this decisive moment, cannot be rewarded by the EU. If the rationale was to scare the EU into renegotiation by removing parliament as the final obstacle to No Deal Brexit, the UK government has been gravely misled.”
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