Gordon Brown has described plans to install Jeremy Corbyn at the helm of a national unity government as “self-indulgent madness”.
Writing exclusively for the Sunday Mail, the former Prime Minister has demanded the Labour leader, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson “stop wasting time filling Government positions that are not vacant”.
He has instead urged them to meet urgently with European leaders in a bid to convince them to drop the October 31 Brexit deadline that could see the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal.
Brown has intervened as Prime Minister Boris Johnson continues to insist he will lead Britain over a cliff edge on Halloween if the EU refuses to bow to his demands to drop the Northern Irish backstop from the Withdrawal Agreement.
He writes: “Of course some still believe we should keep up the threat of a No Deal to get Europe to the negotiating table but even the Europeans we are bargaining with can see that putting a gun to your own head – and saying you’ll shoot yourself if you don’t get your own way –is a self-defeating tactic.
“It is time for MPs to listen to the rising opposition of British people – and do everything in their power to stop us crashing out on October 31.
“Instead of the silly season madness of self indulgently nominating each other to a so-called ‘national unity government’, Britain’s opposition parties should this week be talking to European leaders, and calling on them to drop the October 31 deadline.”
A number of leading politicians have called for a national unity government including Corbyn, Sturgeon and Swinson.
The Labour leader has said he would like to lead an emergency cabinet and Sturgeon has backed his proposal.
Swinson, meanwhile, has supported the idea of a national unity government but called for it to be led by Conservative grandee Ken Clarke or Labour’s Harriet Harman.
A caretaker prime minister could be installed in the event that Johnson lost a vote of no confidence, and opponents of no deal came together to appoint a new interim leader.
The new government could potentially prevent no deal by seeking an extension to Article 50 and then resolve Brexit.
But the plan would face huge hurdles as it would require a majority of MPs to back the new government – something which remains unlikely.
In a damning assessment of Johnson’s premiership to date, Brown has also praised Scottish voters for leading the way in resisting a catastrophic Brexit.
He added: “Just as Boris Johnson digs in on his October 31 deadline, Scottish voters are leading the way in resisting Boris Johnson’s No Deal Brexit.
“Exactly 64 per cent of Scots now think a No Deal Brexit is bad for us – and only 10 per cent think it good for us, according to a Hope not Hate poll out this weekend.
“No amount of flying visits to European capitals nor expensive Government advertising campaigns can dislodge the Scottish hostility to us crashing out of Europe in 65 days’ time.”
Brown has also warned lives could be put at risk by medicine shortages if no deal can be reached, and challenged Johnson to make public any advice he has been given on the issue.
He writes: “I would ask Mr Johnson to tell us what advice he has had on the vital medical drugs that we buy from mainland Europe and to name the supplies that won’t get through and how many lives his officials are telling him are at risk.
“I would ask him to explain why the Health Department commercial director – the man who organises and purchases supplies of life-saving drugs so many of which come from mainland Europe – says that, even after stockpiling and flying drugs in by air, we face severe shortages immediately after October 31 and serious shortages for the following six months.”
