Friday, 29 Mar 2024

Andrew Neil grills Chuka Umunna for failing to challenge Boris – ‘You are frightened!’

Mr Umunna, a former Labour MP who defected to the Liberal Democrats fully supports wanting to stay in the EU and has fought to stop the Prime Minister from having a no deal Brexit. But when Mr Neil asked if the Liberal Democrat MP will now be supporting a vote of no confidence against Mr Johnson, Mr Umunna said it wasn’t the right time. Mr Neil went on to accuse the MP of being “frightened” to try and sack him.

Mr Neil said: “You have accused Mr Johnson today of a Trump-like authoritarian power grab and you’re still not sure if you want to remove him.”

Speaking on BBC One, Mr Umunna said: “We do want to remove him. The issue is of timing and ultimately we’ve got to have in our minds stopping catastrophe that we’ve seen from Yellowhammer documents.

“That’s one of the things actually, we haven’t had full disclosure of all the details of these Yellowhammer documents which the House of Commons requires the Government to disclose.

“We haven’t seen that, it’s one of the things we can return to tomorrow.”

Mr Neil added: “But back to the point that you are likeminded people, you now control parliamentary business, not the Government.

“This is a zombie Government. You’re running a campaign, you tweeted again today, to sack Boris Johnson.

“You invited the British voters to sign up to sack Boris Johnson.

“You yourself are frightened to sack him.”

Mr Umunna responded: “No, we’re not frightened to sack him. What we’re talking about it a matter of three and a half weeks.

“Once we get into the middle of October, we know that the Prime Minister is required by the law to request that extension to Article 50.”

He previously said Mr Johnson is “unfit for office” and should resign. 

But went on to say the “only mechanism to remove him” is a vote of no confidence by the leader fo the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn.

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Mr Umunna said: “He’s indicated that he will not table that vote of no confidence until we can be certain that we have secured an extension to the Article 50 process so we don’t fall out of the EU with no deal.

“For us, the Liberal Democrats, we are the biggest and strongest Remain party, we want to stop Brexit altogether that is ultimate aim.”

Mr Neil said: “That’s more important than a vote of no confidence?

“If Mr Corbyn was to move a vote of no confidence, would you support it?”

Source: Read Full Article

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