Departing Justice Secretary David Gauke warned Boris Johnson today that he will lose the next general election if he allows Brexiteers to purge the party of Centrists.
Just as Mr Johnson was named Tory leader yesterday, Mr Gauke confirmed he was quitting Cabinet so he could oppose no deal from the backbenches.
In an interview with the Evening Standard, he said: “Were we to become a second version of the Brexit Party then our appeal would be very narrow.”
He went on: “I don’t believe that’s where Boris wants to take us. And I hope and expect that in the choices he makes in the composition of his government and the approach he takes to the negotiations that will be very clear.”
Mr Gauke, who recently fended off deselection moves in his constituency, said the whole party needed to take a stand to prevent moderate MPs being driven out by hardliners, some of whom had joined the party recently.
“If we want to have parliamentary majorities in future then we are going to have to attract the votes of people with a range of views,” he said.
“Clearly there are those, some of whom frankly are from outside the Conservative Party, who are trying to narrow the party, to drive out pragmatic voices from the party.”
Asked if Mr Johnson’s key pledge to get out of the EU “do or die” by October 31 was possible, Mr Gauke said: “The short answer is no, I don’t think it is viable.”
