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Brexit: Anna Soubry says Jacob Rees-Mogg is now 'running our country' with Theresa May no longer 'in charge'

Pro-EU Tory calls for 'government of national unity' to cope with the crisis – including Labour backbenchers

Deputy Political Editor

Wednesday 18 July 2018 08:16 BST

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Anna Soubry: Jacob Rees-Mogg is 'running the country'

Anna Soubry says Jacob Rees-Mogg is now “running our country”, warning Theresa May is no longer “in charge” after caving in to Brexit hardliners in key Commons votes.

The leading pro-EU Tory also called for a “government of national unity” to take on the growing crisis – urging the prime minister to reach out to Labour backbenchers.

Ms Soubry spoke out after the powerful European Research Group (ERG) – led by Mr Rees-Mogg – forced Ms May into concessions which appear to torpedo her Chequers proposals.

In stark contrast, a dozen pro-EU Conservatives failed to defeat her over a customs union, after the prime minister threatened a vote of no confidence – raising the spectre of a general election.

“I don't think that she's in charge anymore. I've no doubt Jacob Rees-Mogg is running our country,” Ms Soubry said.

She acknowledged that Jeremy Corbyn and his fellow “old Trotskyists in charge” of Labour were unlikely to agree to a coalition agreement to deliver a workable Brexit.

But she said: “I personally would abandon the Labour frontbench and I would reach beyond it and I would encompass Plaid Cymru, the SNP and other sensible, pragmatic people who believe in putting this country's interests first and foremost.”

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Ms Soubry dismissed the threats of a no-confidence vote and a snap election as “hollow and rather ridiculous”.

But she warned: “We simply cannot go on like this. People in this country are fed up to the back teeth with Brexit.”

Brexit casualties

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Brexit casualties

Andrea Jenkyns - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary at the ministry for housing, communities and local government role

May 2018 - The Morley and Outwood MP said: “We want to see a new relationship with Europe, with a new model not enjoyed by other countries – nothing that leaves us half-in, half-out. “And in order to achieve this, we need to leave the customs union.” Ms Jenkyn’s also said she wished to dedicate more of her time to Parliament’s influential Exiting the European Union select committee, after a series of “unbalanced” reports produced by MPs

PA

Brexit casualties

David Davis - Resigned from Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union role

July 2018 - quit following a major row with May over her plans for post-Brexit relations with the EU. Davis resignation letter said: “As you know there have been a significant number of occasions in the last year or so on which I have disagreed with the Number 10 policy line, ranging from accepting the [European] Commission’s sequencing of negotiations, through to the language on Northern Ireland in the December Joint Report. “At each stage I have accepted collective responsibility because it is part of my task to find workable compromises, and because I considered it was still possible to deliver on the mandate of the referendum, and on our manifesto commitment to leave the Customs Union and the Single Market. “I am afraid that I think the current trend of policy and tactics is making that look less and less likely.” He went on to argue that the “general direction” of Ms May’s policies would leave the UK “in at best a weak negotiating position, and possibly an inescapable one”.

AFP/Getty

Brexit casualties

Steve Baker - Resigned from Minister at the Department for Exiting the European Union role

July 2018 - Mr Baker, a key Tory figure in the Leave campaign, was David Davis’s main lieutenant at Dexeu, and was hailed as ”courageous and principled” by other Brexiteer Tories as he also left.

Reuters

Brexit casualties

Boris Johnson - Resigned from Foreign Secretary role

July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. In his resignation letter to the prime minister, Mr Johnson said: "On Friday, I acknowledged that my side of the argument were too few to prevail and congratulated you on at least reaching a Cabinet decision on the way forward. "As I said then, the government now has a song to sing. "The trouble is that I have practised the words over the weekend and find that they stick in the throat."

Reuters

Brexit casualties

Conor Burns - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary to Foreign Secretary role

July 2018 - A Brexit supporter who worked alongside Boris Johnson stated in his resignation letter: “I've decided it's time to have greater freedom. I want to see the referendum result respected. And there are other areas of policy I want to speak more openly on.”

Rex

Brexit casualties

Chris Green - Resigned from Department for Transport role

July 2018 - The Bolton West MP said: "Parliament overwhelmingly decided to give the decision of whether to leave or remain in the European Union to the British people and they made an unambiguous decision that we ought to leave. "I have always understood the idea in 'Brexit means Brexit' is that the final deal should be clear to me and my constituents - that we have, in no uncertain terms, left the European Union. Twitter Ads info and privacy "The direction the negotiations had been taking have suggested that we would not really leave the EU and the conclusion and statements following the Chequers summit confirmed my fears. "I recognise that delivering Brexit is challenging, however I had hoped at tonight's meeting that there would be some certainty that my fears were unfounded but, instead, they have been confirmed. "I have been grateful for the opportunity to serve as Parliamentary Private Secretary and it is with regret that I offer my resignation with immediate effect."

PA

Brexit casualties

Maria Caulfield - Resigned from Conservative Party vice-chair for women role

July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. Lewes MP warned that the direction of travel did “not fully embrace the opportunities that Brexit can provide”. Ms Caulfield said in her letter to the PM: “The policy may assuage vested interests, but the voters will find out and their representatives will be found out. This policy will be bad for our country and bad for the party. “The direct consequences of that will be prime minister Corbyn.”

PA

Brexit casualties

Ben Bradley - Resigned from Conservative Party vice-chair for young people role

July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. The Mansfield MP said: “I admit that I voted to Remain in that ballot. What has swayed me over the last two years to fully back the Brexit vision is the immense opportunities that are available from global trade, and for the ability for Britain to be an outward looking nation in control of our own destiny once again. “I fear that this agreement at Chequers damages those opportunities; that being tied to EU regulations, and the EU tying our hands when seeking to make new trade agreements, will be the worst of all worlds if we do not deliver Brexit in spirit as well as in name, then we are handing Jeremy Corbyn the keys to No10.”

PA

Brexit casualties

Robert Courts - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary role

July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. MP Mr Courts said: “I have taken a very difficult decision to resign my position as [parliamentary private secretary] to express discontent with the Chequers [plans] in votes tomorrow. “I had to think who I wanted to see in the mirror for the rest of my life. I cannot tell the people of Woxon that I support the proposals in their current form.”

Getty

Brexit casualties

Scott Mann - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary role

July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. "I fear elements of the Brexit white paper will inevitably put me in direct conflict with the views expressed by a large section of my constituents. I am not prepared to compromise their wishes to deliver a watered-down Brexit. "The residents of North Cornwall made it very clear that they wish to have control over our fishery, our agricultural policy, our money, our laws and our borders. I will evaluate those principles against the Brexit white paper and ensure that I vote in line with their wishes."

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The interview laid bare what one Tory called the “poison now dripping” into the party, as civil war erupts over how to deliver Brexit.

The clashes over the taxation and trade bills appear to have put the Brexiteers back in the driving seat – using their threats of a leadership challenge to bend Ms May to their agenda.

On Tuesday, one hardline anti-EU Tory, Nadine Dorries, said the prime minister had “saved her own skin basically”, by agreeing to the ERG demands.

She agreed to amend the taxation bill so the UK can only collect EU duties after Brexit if Brussels agrees to collect them in return - something the EU will also certainly refuse to do.

A second change – rejecting even a temporary separate customs arrangement for Northern Ireland – would seem to rule out the “backstop” proposed by the EU, without which there can be no withdrawal deal.

Nicky Morgan, the former education secretary, tweeted: “This is why I and others feel so strongly about the events of the last few days & the deliberate attempts to derail Chequers.”

After prime minister’s questions, Ms May faces a two-hour grilling by senior MPs on the liaison committee and must then face her backbenchers at an end-of-term session of the 1922 committee.

Many of those present have been considering how to bring her down, but the prime minister now appears safe for the summer at least.

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