Tag: Damian Green

Hard Brexiters have warned Theresa May that the only proposal they are likely to support to break the Brexit impasse is a version of the “Malthouse compromise”, which envisages removing the backstop from the draft European Union exit treaty. So start stockpiling now | Matthew d’Ancona Read more Steve Baker, the vice-chair of the European Research Group, said he and other Conservative Eurosceptics could not support the alternative they believed the prime minister favoured – an addendum to the existing EU withdrawal agreement. Baker is one of five backbench MPs who will meet Steve Barclay, the Brexit secretary, on Monday, in the first meeting of a new working group aimed at examining whether technological solutions could eliminate the backstop. “As far as I’m concerned, the Malthouse compromise is the only game in town if we’re going to reach an agreement in Brussels,” Baker said, indicating that only rewriting the draft withdrawal agreement to remove the backstop would satisfy Tory Brexiters. She is preparing to go to Brussels armed with specific proposals as to how to break the Brexit deadlock after the first deal May negotiated was defeated by 230 votes in January, the worst defeat suffered by a government in modern times. Asked about this, he said: “We need to leave the European Union in a smooth and orderly way. Play Video 1:06 The cabinet minister also dismissed weekend newspaper reports that Downing Street strategists were considering holding a snap general election on 6 June if May could not get a Brexit deal through parliament. “The last thing we want is a general election, the people will never forgive us for it,” Javid told The Andrew Marr Show on the BBC. They have been given a very clear mandate, now it’s our job to get on with it.” There are signs that the Conservatives have started to gear up for a possible snap election, with the party’s chief executive, Sir Mick Davis, having placed the Tories on a “war footing” last week and increased fundraising activities under the cover of the local elections in May. When he responded that the party HQ was focused on the local elections, it was dismissed as a “non-denial” and other MPs joined in, calling on him to rule it out completely.

With Operation Save Amber finally derailed after two weeks of fire-fighting the former home secretary’s failing memory – by the weekend she couldn’t even remember what targets she was meant to have forgotten – the Tory party’s attention turned to Operation Save Face. With Amber Rudd out of a job, the prime minister has been left with no one else to take the blame for her hostile environment policy that caused the Windrush scandal. The transport secretary is just about the only minister who makes David Davis look quick-witted and is the last person who should be sent out in a crisis. Over in Downing Street, May let out a shriek as Grayling inadvertently tried to get her the sack as well. What it came down to was this: no one was really to blame for the Windrush debacle and Rudd was every bit as much a victim as the many thousands who had found themselves deprived of work and healthcare and threatened with deportation. She had just made one teeny-weeny little mistake. Sajid Javid disowns 'hostile environment' phrase in first outing as home secretary - Politics live Read more Shortly after appointing Sajid Javid as her new home secretary, it was May’s turn to face the cameras. The Guardian view on Amber Rudd’s resignation: now change the policy | Editorial Read more Several Labour MPs tried to put him right, but Javid wasn’t having any of it. He refused to recognise the term hostile environment. Compliant as in being as beastly as possible to anyone who looked foreign without being actively hostile.

Conservative MP Damian Green has resigned as secretary of state to spend more time watching other people’s wives, it’s emerged. The stress of being both an MP and a member of cabinet proved to be too much for Green, who said he’d be neglecting himself and his favourite past-time as a result. ‘There’s so many other people’s wives out there who need to be looked at by me under greater scrutiny, preferably with the curtains drawn and my trousers around my ankles,’ said Green. The move has been applauded by many MPs as internet speeds in the House of Commons have doubled since Green left along with his computer. ‘It was the right thing for him to do. Now I can finally play Pokemon GO without any lag,’ said Jacob Rees-Mogg. It’s believed that Damian Green actually handed in his letter of resignation weeks ago, it was just stuck together with a particularly strong adhesive substance that took time to unstick.