To a church hall in soggy Westminster where, amid the faint smell of wet gundog, seven heroically untrendy Brexiteers explained why Theresa May’s ‘complete betrayal’ of an EU withdrawal agreement was so bad on customs procedures. Their arguments became lost amid repeated yelps from the press about their attempted ‘coup’ against Mrs May. A peachily bungled event – but no worse for that.
South American coups are led by beret-topped hombres with soup-strainer moustaches and belts of machine-gun bullets round their chests. Here in Britain, we regard that sort of thing as a bit too enthusiastic. And so we had Jacob ‘Che’ Rees-Mogg (Con, NE Somerset), clean-shaven, double-breasted and impeccably pukka. Fidel Castro as Savile Row might have preferred him.
Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg speaks at a meeting of the pro-Brexit European Research Group
Jacob and his six compadres, square as sugar-lumps, had gathered in the Upper Room of the Emmanuel evangelical centre near Church House. At a central table, arranged almost as in a well-known painting by Michelangelo, sat David Davis, Lord (Peter) Lilley, Labour Brexiteer John Mills and Mr Rees-Mogg. Also: a Dutch customs expert, Hans Maessen, steel industrialist Simon Boyd and the head of Bristol Port, Sir David Ord.
They ran through various ‘myths’ and ‘scare stories’ about leaving the EU customs union. Maessen, Boyd and Ord were perhaps the most interesting because they were the least political.
Sir David was asked if British ports would be able to cope with a no-deal Brexit. Yes, he said.
Dutchman Maessen noted that Mrs May’s agreement with the EU talks about ‘wet stamps’ being required on documents at borders. Such things had not been used by customs officers since the early 1990s, he said. The technology was now much more advanced.
If this was revolution, word had not reached the streets. The audience was comprised of a few reporters and three or four Conservative MPs. Blairites would have laughed at how amateur the event felt. Find some microphones so that everyone can hear what is being said?
That might have been a good idea. Stage management has never been a Eurosceptic forte. The diversity count, if that is your thing, was as low as Wrexham on a wet Friday night.
A BBC reporter suggested that Jacob’s ‘coup’ was like something from Dad’s Army. Mr Rees-Mogg, had he been sensible, would have ignored that. But Jacob feels a good-mannered obligation to cheer people up and at the end of his answer he added, in jocular fashion: ‘I’ve always admired Capt Mainwaring’. Whoosh. George Osborne’s anti-Brexit London Evening Standard soon swooped to portray Mr Rees-Mogg as Mainwaring alongside the headline ‘Stupid Boys’.
Give me a droll, self-teasing Mainwaring any day rather than ARP Warden Hodges bossily telling us to remain in the EU. Mr Davis was asked why yesterday’s research paper was not published earlier. Would that not have helped push back some of the alarmism about a no-deal Brexit?
Mr Davis replied that 14 months ago he signed off on a Government paper which made many of the points in yesterday’s paper, but Downing Street had ignored it. Lord Lilley thought that Whitehall was ‘over-interpreting’ customs rules. By ‘over-interpret’, polite Lilley probably meant ‘wilfully exaggerating the difficulties so that they can try to block Brexit’.
Leave it to me, men: A reporter suggested Mr Rees-Mogg’s so-called coup was like something from Dad’s Army
There was no Tarzan chest-beating about this event. They were (probably too) calm, reasonable, and, yes, they looked eccentric. In politics the most sound-bitey and sleek people are often the dangerous ones and the eccentric ones are often the soundest.
Someone returned to the allegation that Mr Rees-Mogg was trying to lead a ‘coup’. He replied that ‘coup’ was ‘a rather silly word’ for a legitimate attempt to stop a rotten policy. In Britain it was not yet compulsory to agree with your leader.
Alleluia to that. As for some ‘night of the long knives’ that possibly awaits Mrs May, he hoped such violently vivid terms could be avoided. ‘Let us be moderate in our language,’ he murmured. In Mrs May’s dictionary, alas, the words ‘reconsider’ and ‘listen’ are considered profanities.
Rebels warned their bid to oust Mrs May could cripple party
A senior minister has warned the plot to topple Theresa May risks doing ‘historic’ damage to the Conservatives – as even Jacob Rees-Mogg admitted it had become like an episode of Dad’s Army.
In a private letter, Sir Alan Duncan told Mr Rees-Mogg that his attempted coup at the height of the Brexit negotiations ‘amounted to a declaration of war’.
Yesterday Mr Rees-Mogg urged his band of plotters on, saying it was ‘now or never’ to ditch the Prime Minister if they didn’t want her to lead the party into the next election. But he acknowledged there was a ‘Dad’s Army’ feeling to the scheme, saying: ‘I’ve always admired Captain Mainwaring.’
In a private letter, Sir Alan Duncan told Mr Rees-Mogg that his attempted coup at the height of the Brexit negotiations ‘amounted to a declaration of war’.
He launched a public bid to oust Mrs May last week with an extraordinary press conference outside the Commons. The MP revealed he had written a letter of no confidence and urged others to follow suit – however the plot has so far failed to gather the 48 Tory MPs needed to force a vote.
By yesterday just 24 MPs had gone public calling for Mrs May to go, and Mr Rees-Mogg – chairman of the European Research Group, an alliance of pro-Brexit Tories – acknowledged it could take another month to reach the target needed to force a leadership contest.
Asked whether Mrs May would lead the party into the next election in 2022, he said: ‘I would wait and see about that. You find Tory MPs who say they are really keen that Theresa May should lead us into the next general election.
‘Basically, if there is a vote of confidence it is not just for a year. Getting the 48 letters has shown to be quite difficult, so the idea that in a year you just repeat the process and then she would go at that point I don’t think that is realistic.
‘I think it is now, or the Prime Minister will lead the Conservatives into the next election.’
Mr Rees-Mogg told the Conservative Home website yesterday that the 48 threshold would be reached by next month. He and the ERG’s shop steward Steve Baker also met for a ‘post mortem’ on the scheme, and agreed to press ahead.
The attempted coup – a term disputed by Mr Rees-Mogg – has sparked fury among Tory moderates. In Sir Alan’s letter, a copy of which has been seen by the Daily Mail, he said that if the antics of the ERG were not toned down, they risked ‘sinking the whole ship’. He added: ‘Your press conference last week and your subsequent calls for the Prime Minister to be replaced amount to a declaration of war from a party within the Party.
‘The damage you are now causing is of historic significance and I am writing once again to ask you to appreciate the gravity of your actions and step back from taking any further steps to destabilise the Government.’
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said removing Mrs May would ‘risk the most appalling chaos’ which could threaten the stability of the country.
Former Tory leader Lord Hague warned the plot was increasing the risk of a Corbyn-led government, adding: ‘I have lived through more crises in British politics than I can remember, but I have never witnessed one more serious than this.’
The plot has also caused divisions within the ERG. Younger MPs have criticised senior figures such as Iain Duncan Smith, Owen Paterson and Sir Bernard Jenkin for failing to join the plot, despite sharing concerns about Mrs May’s Brexit deal.
Yesterday Nadine Dorries, one of those who has sent a no confidence letter, criticised male MPs for failing to show the courage of their convictions. One MP who has submitted a letter told the Mail that some veteran Eurosceptics were being bought off by ‘tea, fruitcake and blether’.
The source said Mr Duncan Smith and Mr Paterson had been lathered with ‘more butter than the average crumpet’.
ERG sources yesterday brushed aside claims the plot had proved a flop. One senior figure said the fallout had wrecked government attempts to sell Mrs May’s Brexit deal, adding: ‘We’ll get there, and in the meantime we’re wrecking No 10’s communications grid.’
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News Pictures Mr Rees-Mogg's eccentric troops are often the soundest
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