It is a high-risk strategy but one that could yet result in her becoming the next prime minister. As the Brexit impasse has continued, a resurgent Amber Rudd has emerged as the cabinet minister who has seized the initiative, running a soft Brexit operation that this week forced the beleaguered prime minister to effectively abandon no-deal.
The work and pensions secretary, who only returned to cabinet in November, has helped coordinate a formidable revolt of Tory remainers and soft Brexiters over the last fortnight, forcing a reluctant Theresa May to allow a vote on extending article 50 if no deal is agreed by 12 March.
Rudd brings to the soft Brexit faction in cabinet and government a degree of organisation that it has hitherto lacked. After she was forced to quit as home secretary last April because of her inability to deal with the Windrush scandal, the titular leader of the soft Brexit faction fell to Phillip Hammond.
The chancellor seemed unwilling to lead an effective caucus in government, complaining on one occasion that after Rudd’s departure there was nobody to organise soft Brexit ministers before key meetings. “You’d think the chancellor would have some convening power, but he didn’t seem to get it,” an ally said.
The standing of the 55-year-old returnee has been boosted by the lengthy Brexit stalemate, because May appears to be no closer to reaching a deal with the European Union with just weeks before the 29 March deadline that she is insistent upon.
Two weeks ago it emerged via leaks that Rudd and three other cabinet ministers had asked May to stop using the threat of no deal as a negotiating tactic in a private meeting; a few days later it was reported that two dozen ministers would be ready to defy the prime minister and vote to delay Brexit.
The extraordinary, open defiance has not pleased Downing Street, which is desperate to close down the endless stream of Brexit leaks from cabinet and other private meetings. Cabinet minutes have been marked secret for some months, when they were not before, meaning they are covered by the Official Secrets Act.
But the defiance of Rudd’s faction has been overt. At the…
