A growing number of Conservative MPs, including some leadership hopefuls, recognise that a second referendum is the only way out of the Brexit conundrum, but are too nervous to put their heads above the parapet, Sam Gyimah, one of the candidates for the top Tory job, has said.
Gyimah, who is the only candidate campaigning for a “people’s vote”, said some of his rivals realise that the country is heading for a second referendum when faced with the choice between that outcome and no deal, but they would prefer to have that imposed by parliament. “There are a number of leadership candidates who recognise this. They don’t want to propose it and they want it done to them rather than say it in the contest,” he said.
The former minister said there were “substantial numbers” of Conservative MPs now ready to accept that returning to the electorate may be the only way to break the impasse.
“Support for a second referendum grows when it is pitted against no deal,” he said. “I believe the stark and unwelcome choice we will face under a new prime minister is no deal or a second referendum, and at that point support of Conservative MPs grows even further.
“We are still at the stage where people are nervous of that option, because it is seen as a Lib Dem option, but the only thing that matters is how we pursue the national interest.”
He said all the other candidates were engaged in “wishful thinking” about the potential for getting a variation of Theresa May’s deal through parliament, especially those who think Labour MPs would come to the rescue of a Conservative prime minister.
Gymiah also accuses his rivals of “not being straight with the electorate and the country” by offering solutions that “we know will not work but are politically convenient” – from renegotiation of the backstop to the idea that “no deal is better than a bad deal”.
To those who rule out a second referendum, he said: “It’s not what you want. It’s not what you like. It’s what you can deliver. And there is no other plan out there to break the deadlock in parliament.
“Where this is headed ultimately is going back to the people and letting them back into the process. There is a risk for the Conservative party that Labour get there first. At that point, you have a Conservative party that will struggle politically as it will have set its face against the only path that can bring a resolution via the people.”
Gyimah needs to submit the names of at least eight supporters to the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers in order to make it to the next round of the contest, and only about six Tory MPs have publicly campaigned for a second referendum.
However, he highlighted the 15 Tories who voted for a confirmatory ballot on a deal and roughly 20 who abstained during the indicative votes process, warning his colleagues that it would be better to lead the country on the issue of a people’s vote than to be forced to accept it by Labour.
“There is a growing number of Conservatives who increasingly recognise this is the reality but don’t want to put their heads above the parapet,” he said. “I am not measuring my success simply by what happens in the leadership contest. It is about where we are headed and trying to move my party along to that position so that we own that solution rather than eventually having to follow the opposition.”
Labour has not yet unequivocally moved to campaigning for a second referendum, but Jeremy Corbyn has said he would support a confirmatory ballot on any deal negotiated with Brussels.
Gyimah, who resigned from the government last year because he could not support May’s deal, said it was important now for a second referendum not to be seen as a Liberal Democrat or Labour solution, but one that could be supported by everyone across the political divide in order to bring closure.
“One of the unfortunate things is that a second referendum has been tainted by remain, when in actual fact it is a process that will lead to an outcome,” he said, backing a two-stage question of leave versus remain and then deal versus no deal. “The country can still vote leave very loudly if it wants to. Then remoaners would have to shut up. But we’ve got to get beyond the current divide.”
Referring to Donald Trump’s style of politics, Gyimah also hit out at the “Trumpian machismo” of other candidates, who were all competing on “how hard a Brexit can you offer”.
“We’ve now got to a situation where renegotiating a backstop is what tame people offer. If you really want to be tough, you’ve got to contemplate proroguing parliament to deliver no deal. This is the problem. The debate is moving further and further towards the extremes. Now, if you mention a Norway-style deal, that is seen as a proxy for remain. That is incredibly worrying.”
