Brexit to save Johnson ahead of likely no-confidence vote

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Speaking on Times Radio, Tobias Ellwood, who voted Remain, highlighted many devastating issues facing the UK, including debates over the Northern Ireland protocol jeopardising the Good Friday agreement and British businesses struggling following a fall in EU exports. However, his suggested solution, which he is understood to have also put before Boris Johnson, has frustrated many Brexiteers – for the UK to rejoin the EU single market.

The latest to slam Mr Ellwood’s suggestion was GB News presenter Darren Grimes, who said: “Tobias Ellwood calls for the UK to rejoin the EU single market, handing our decision making powers over to the EU, without any say in them whatsoever.

“What exactly are Conservatives like him seeking to conserve?

“Less UK lion and more EU pussycat.”

Mr Ellwood argued that rejoining the single market was a way to “maximise our Brexit fortunes”.

Drawing on his six years serving in the army, Mr Ellwood wrote in an article for the House parliamentary magazine: “if an army general, mid-battle, is mature enough to finesse his strategy to secure mission success, then government should do the same”.

He added there was plenty of room for improvement in economic relations with the EU, citing a drop in exports to Europe of £20billion, leaving fishers and farmers struggling in particular.

He told Times Radio: “Joining that single market [the Norway model], I believe, would strengthen our economy, because it would remove so much red tape.

“It would ease the cost-of-living crisis, it would actually settle the difficult Irish problem on the Northern Ireland Protocol.

“And it would also help get us back into the Dublin Convention that would help on deportation.

“And finally, it’s also to do with boosting our European credentials, because we are now taking a lead in Europe on Ukraine.”

“But the fact that with this Brexit issue and particular Northern Ireland is unresolved means we’re pulled back on this.

“So given these tough economic headwinds, would it not be churlish for us to think with our heads, do the math and ask ourselves if this economy is in the nation’s interests”.

However, some Tories have argued that Mr Ellwood is using the issue of Brexit to try and remove Mr Johnson, about whom Mr Ellwood has submitted a letter of no confidence.

David Frost, the UK’s chief negotiator during the divorce talks, said Mr Ellwood’s intervention “shows Brexit really is not safe in his hands or his allies’”.

A senior MP told the Guardian Mr Ellwood had “let the cat out of the bag”, adding: “After all the pain we went through on Brexit, he’s still hell-bent on trying to drag us back into the EU, and he’s willing to sacrifice the prime minister who delivered Brexit to get there.”

However, other MPs who have also submitted letters of no confidence about Mr Johnson have also expressed their distaste for Mr Ellwood’s suggestion.

Mark Harper said he categorically disagreed, and said he was clear that Brexit “meant leaving the single market and putting an end to freedom of movement – the end”.

Mr Harper said foreign secretary Liz Truss would be able to handle the issues with the Northern Ireland protocol alongside the Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis.

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Since the furore at his words Mr Ellwood called for a “pause” during the Jubilee weekend, to allow for more effective discussion to take place, citing the issues that need to be addressed with the Conservative party following the Sue Gray report.

He told Times Radio yesterday morning: “I think perhaps we should have a pause, maybe, and leave this until Tuesday when we all return, because I do worry about where it’s descending.

“The party itself must work together, whatever happens, wherever the party goes, and it’s important that we do remain civil.

“But you can’t get away from the fact that there are genuine concerns which aren’t just reflected in party members but also in the polling, in local elections, no doubt in the byelections as well. And those issues need to be addressed.

“It’s not just the culture of how No 10 was governed but also the direction of the party; where we go to meet the very huge challenges that lie ahead.”

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