Claire Fox

It would be foolish to take Boris’s Brexit promises at face value

As the by-election result came through from Wales last week, one Tory Leaver tweeted this:

“Brecon and Radnor is a timely warning to Brexiteers. Vote for the @brexitparty_uk and you will hand another seat to Remain. How could you be so stupid?”. 

So stupid? The nerve, when after all, it was the the Brexit party that resuscitated the referendum result after a near death experience created by his party. I was furious at the arrogance. But he isn’t alone; this view has now become the narrative popularised by some Tory grandees and voters, even though many of the latter loaned the Brexit party their votes in the Euro elections. 

Yet without the Brexit party, it is likely that Theresa May would still be prime minister. Given that May promised much at the start of her leadership and delivered zilch over three long years, it would be foolish to take Boris’s promises at face value. No number of Conservative politicians, armed with count-down clocks, is proof that Brexit is a done deal. Rumours of some kind of reheated version of May’s dreadful deal, without the backstop, is not enough for me to bring out the bunting.

However, the Brexit party does face new challenges: for once the debate is not Leave vs Remain, but between Brexiteers. Does the rise of the new Brexity Boris and his band of Brexiteer advisors signal the end for the newly formed, insurgent Brexit party? Should the Brexit party stand down to let the Tories get on with the job? Here’s my thoughts and advice for the Conservative party:

Show some humility:

Might I suggest that, when it comes to the (sometimes newly-converted) hard Brexiteers now installed in positions of power in Westminster, perhaps they might show just a smidgen of humility when they try to claim that it is they who are rescuing Brexit. 

No one should be under any illusions: Boris would not be talking tough now had it not been for voters – mainly rallied by the Brexit party – forcing his hand. The re-assembling of the official Vote Leave campaign around Number 10 is not a credit to the Conservative party; it is a testament to the resilience of Leave voters who have strong-armed the Government to see through what they were told to do three years ago. 

Don’t get me wrong.

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