Conservatives accused of seeking Brexit favours after backing Hungary's authoritarian leader Viktor Orban

Two Conservative MEPs refused to go along with the rest of the Conservative group and lend a supportive vote to Mr Orban 

Joe Watts
Political Editor
Wednesday 12 September 2018 22:05 BST
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'We would like to have a fair Brexit because we love the British,' says Hungary PM Viktor Orbán

Conservatives have been accused of seeking backing for Theresa May’s Brexit plans, by supporting Hungary’s authoritarian leader Viktor Orban in a crunch vote in the European parliament.

All but two of the party’s MEPs swung in behind the far-right populist leader in a bid to block the European Union from censuring him in an unprecedented move.

One Tory MEP who refused to vote with his colleagues told The Independent he had gone against the whip because of Orban’s “Islamophobia” and “antisemitism”.

The Tory leadership in London also distanced itself from the vote and Downing Street denied any support had been given to Mr Orban in exchange for backing in Brexit talks.

But Mr Orban himself arrived at the Strasbourg parliament building on Wednesday demanding a “fair deal” for Britain in the withdrawal negotiations.

Jeremy Corbyn slammed his political opponents for what he called the “absolutely shocking” move to publicly support the Hungarian leader.

One Tory politician in Westminster told The Independent: “No one will say it publicly, but it’s clear that we are going to gain brownie points with people who might be able to help us in the Brexit negotiations.

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“This is a critical moment, we need friends among national leaders and there is Orban stomping into the Strasbourg parliament calling for Britain to get a fair deal.”

Politicians from across the EU voted by a two-thirds majority 448-197 in favour of starting the ‘Article 7’ process – which could ultimately see Hungary stripped of its voting rights at the European Council.

As well as undermining civil rights, the judiciary and attacking Jewish businessman George Soros, Mr Orban’s government is subject to allegations of corruption relating to the alleged misspending of EU funds by his friends and family.

The only EU leader to publicly back Trump in the race for the White House, Mr Orban has described refugees as “Muslim invaders” and been accused of being deeply Islamophobic.

Sajjad Karim, Conservative MEP for North West England, was one of two in the Tory group to go against the whip and abstain.

He said: “As a European leader who has actively promoted a campaign of Islamophobia in an EU member state by singling out Muslim immigrants; has been accused of corruption by lining the pockets of his family and friends; has singled out the Jewish-Hungarian political activist George Soros in a xenophobic crusade on basic civil rights, I cannot vote in any way that Victor Orban may choose to mislead Hungarians.

“Conversely, I cannot vote for the motion because it goes beyond the remit of the European Union by encroaching on our members’ states sovereignty unduly.”

Mr Karim also hit out at Labour who he claimed was attempting to make political capital out of the situation. The other Tory MEP who abstained in the vote, Charles Tannock, declined to comment.

Ahead of the vote, Tories in the parliament claimed the EU’s process had been “politicised” and was counterproductive, with home affairs spokesman Dan Dalton saying: “This report crosses a boundary by politicising what should be a purely legal matter.

“If the EU’s treaties have been breached by any member state, it is for the European Commission to build a legal case against it.

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“MEPs have no role to play in the process and their involvement leaves any subsequent legal action open to the accusation that it is politically motivated.”

Conservative sources in Strasbourg denied the vote had anything to do with Brexit, and their counterparts in London highlighted that the European group is autonomous and decides its own whipping arrangements independently.

However, Mr Orban arrived at the meeting of the European parliament saying: “We would like to have a fair Brexit because we love the British and because we cooperated always well – and you deserve a good deal, a fair deal.”

The prime minister welcomed Mr Orban to Downing Street in 2016 for a bilateral meeting to maintain the “strength” of relations between the countries as she embarked on Brexit.

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Theresa May’s spokesman said on Wednesday: “The outcome was the result of a democratic vote in the European parliament and is now a matter for the European Council.

“We await the process going forward which is to be set out by the Austrian presidency.

“We place great values on the importance of the rule of law. We hope a resolution can be found that respects a nation’s right to set its own constitutional arrangements within the framework of international norms.”

He also denied that any support Mr Orban might derive from the vote by Tory MEPs was in return for any support from the Hungarian leader for Brexit.

But Labour reacted with anger at the governing party’s support for a leader who has become something of a poster-boy for far-right European populism.

The Labour leader’s spokesman said: “Viktor Orban’s government in Hungary has clearly attacked judicial and media independence and denied refugee rights and pandered to antisemitism and Islamophobia and it was absolutely right that motion of censure and investigation under the disciplinary process of the European Union was launched, and was voted on just now by the European parliament.

“It’s absolutely shocking that the Conservative MEPs voted against that motion.”

As well Mr Orban’s administration, it is likely that the Polish government will also view the vote by the Tory MEPs favourably, as they have been on the receiving end of the commission’s censure too.

Both Polish and Hungarian leaders will be among those from whom Ms May will seek support at a crucial meeting of EU leaders at a meeting in Salzburg next week.

It is being seen as the last chance for Ms May to really pressure EU leaders into changing the mandate guiding Brexit negotiators, to open the way for a Brexit deal in October or November.

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