Ruddy rudd for PM?22 Dec 2018 21:24
Tele comment
Amber Rudd is by no means the only senior politician who, having spouted pious claims of “absolute respect” for the UK’s Brexit vote, has since changed their tune. But by pointing last week to a “plausible case” for “a second referendum”, she became the first cabinet minister to cross that rhetorical and moral Rubicon.
Now Work and Pensions Secretary, Rudd maintains with a straight face she backs Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement – delivering a Brexit of sorts, albeit one which, courtesy of the ghastly backstop, locks Britain into the EU’s custom union with a border down the Irish Sea. But like so many who “accept the result” but don’t – including Tony Blair, Nick Clegg and fellow Tory MP Anna Soubry – Rudd has clearly wanted to stay in the EU all along, upending the biggest act of democracy in British history.
It certainly “will be difficult”, as she says, for May’s deal to clear the Commons, when the long-awaited “meaningful vote” happens in mid-January, after MPs’ Christmas recess. If that deal falls, the Government’s Brexit legislation, already approved by Parliament, means we leave in March 2019 anyway, trading with the EU using World Trade Organisation rules.
Rudd now openly contradicts that, to the delight of her friends and family in the Continuity Remain camp, agitating for another referendum instead. Using WTO rules is “unthinkable”, she claims, like “a car crash”. This is self-serving nonsense
Tories in disarray - big mouth out again- guess - love her or loath he - ruddy that is
Sign In
Follow the stocks
