A senior Conservative MP today warned Boris Johnson “we are better being like Churchill and NOT Stalin” as the Prime Minister came under mounting pressure to reverse a “purge” of anti-no deal rebels.
Simon Hoare, chairman of the Commons Northern Ireland Committee, told of “deep disquiet across the party” over the expulsion of 21 Tory MPs including Winston Churchill’s grandson Sir Nicholas Soames, Father of the House Ken Clarke, and former Chancellor Philip Hammond.
Damian Green, who was Theresa May’s defacto deputy, also criticised as “monstrously unfair” how MPs who backed just one revolt were barred from standing as Tories at the next election, with Brexiteer serial rebels having escaped such a fate in the past.
One of the expelled MPs, former culture minister Ed Vaizey, also signalled he may stand as an independent at the election, in light of a wave of support from constituents.
MPs were moved yesterday by a speech by ex-armed forces minister Sir Nicholas when he appealed to the Commons to “rediscover the spirit of compromise, humility and understanding”.
Mr Hoare tweeted a link to Sir Nicholas’s speech, adding: “There’s deep disquiet across the Party at the handling of this issue of the Whip.
"We can’t win unless our base is broad and representative of all strands of opinion. No10 needs to rethink and fast. I think we are better being like Churchill and NOT Stalin #toriesdontpurge”
Mr Green, the leader of the One Nation group of Conservatives which has called for reinstatement of the 21 rebels, said the expulsions looked like a “purge”.
He told BBC radio: “This is by any standards monstrously unfair. I’m afraid it does look as though somebody has decided that the moderate, progressive wing of the Conservative Party is not wanted on the voyage.”
Senior minister Michael Gove is said to have led calls for Mr Johnson to be more lenient on the rebels.
However, No10 is showing no sign of abandoning the hardline stance which MPs are blaming on No10 chief adviser Dominic Cummings.
Chancellor Sajid Javid defended the move, stressing the importance of achieving the “central mission” of Britain leaving the EU by October 31.
“I am sad to see 21 colleagues, 21 Conservatives, no longer carrying the Conservative whip. These are my friends, these are good people,” he told BBC Breakfast.
“But they also knew that when the Prime Minister of the day says a vote is a matter of confidence, what would be the consequences of opposing.”
He later told LBC: “I would like to see those colleagues come back at some point but right now the Prime Minister had no choice.”
