David Davis resigns insisting he has not 'weakened' PM: Theresa May facing leadership crisis as Brexit Secretary quits over Chequers deal

Brexit Secretary David Davis quits days after crunch Brexit summit at Chequers ++++ He tells PM her EU policies could leave UK in a "weak and inescapable" negotiating position ++++ Rebellion as junior minister Steve Baker quits Brexit dept ++++ Tory Eurosceptics praise Mr Davis's decision to go ++++ Follow our live coverage here
Ella Wills9 July 2018
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The Prime Minister is facing a leadership crisis after Brexit Secretary David Davis quit, savaging a deal reached by the Government at a crunch Chequers summit as 'illusory'.

He said current policy and tactics were making it look "less and less likely" that Brexit would be delivered, two days after ministers had agreed a plan for the UK's EU withdrawal.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning, Mr Davis denied his decision to resign had weakened Theresa May's leadership, and said that he had told the Prime Minister that he believed her plan "was not the best strategy" prior to a Chequers summit on Friday.

He told presenter John Humphrys: "When we debated this at Cabinet on Friday my opening remark to Theresa was 'Prime Minister, as you know I'm going to be the odd-man-out in this'.

He added: "I took the view at the time this was not the best strategy, that there were better strategies available - we have been establishing them.

David Davis had a weekend off watching racing at Silverstone after Friday's summit at Chequers, before quitting his post
Action Plus via Getty Images

"She has got to have a Brexit Secretary who will deliver on her strategy. That is not weakening, that is actually enhancing the effectiveness of the strategy."

It triggered a Brexiteer rebellion as Steve Baker, a junior minister in the Brexit department, stepped down.

He admitted he had "lost the argument in Cabinet", adding: "In my view, this policy has got a number of weaknesses.

"I would be front and centre in delivering this policy, explaining it to the House, persuading the House it is right, and then going out and delivering it with the EU.

"Frankly, just as it was known what the policy was, it was also known I had concerns about it.

"It would not have been a plausible thing to do and I wouldn't have done a good job at it."

Mr Davis' resignation was warmly welcomed by hardline Eurosceptics in the Tory ranks who were already expressing reservations about Mrs May's leadership after her Cabinet agreed a plan which would keep the UK closely tied to Brussels.

The Prime Minister is facing a Brexiteer rebellion
AFP/Getty Images

The Prime Minister now faces a stormy meeting with Tory MPs and peers in Parliament on Monday evening as she tries to keep her fragile administration together.

Junior minister quits

Steve Baker:

Mr Baker was Mr Davis's deputy at DExEU.

Among his responsibilities was planning for a no-deal Brexit in the event negotiations with Brussels fail to reach an agreement.

Arch-Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg said Mr Baker's departure "would be another blow" to Theresa May, describing him as an "enormously impressive man (and) a very dedicated minister" who was "in some sense the conscience of Brexit".

He added: "If the Government can't manage to keep him, it raises questions about whether the Government's Brexit policy could possibly be going in the right direction."

Mr Baker once chaired the influential European Research Group (ERG) of Brexiteer MPs, which is now led by Mr Rees-Mogg.

Elected in 2010, the former RAF engineer was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at DExEU in June 2017.

Ahead of the Chequers summit, the MP for Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, had made his views on Britain's customs relationship with the EU clear, insisting Britain had to leave the single market.

The comments were seen as a swipe at Business Secretary Greg Clark, who had issued a plea for the Government to listen to business warnings of disruption to trade.

Mrs May had hoped that the Cabinet agreement secured on Friday at Chequers would help her deliver the "right Brexit" for the UK, with an offer to Brussels to share a "common rulebook" on goods and form a new UK-EU free trade area.

In his resignation letter, Mr Davis said the "current trend of policy and tactics" was making it look "less and less likely" that Brexit would deliver on the referendum result and the Tory commitments to leave the EU customs union and single market.

David Davis speaking to Jeremy Hunt at the Prime Minsiter's Chequers summit
PA

Mr Davis said "the general direction of policy will leave us in at best a weak negotiating position, and possibly an inescapable one".

The "common rulebook" plan "hands control of large swathes of our economy to the EU and is certainly not returning control of our laws in any real sense," he wrote to Mrs May.

"I am also unpersuaded that our negotiating approach will not just lead to further demands for concessions," he added.

Theresa May discusses Brexit blue print with cabinet members
PA

The responsibility for leading the negotiations should now go to an "enthusiastic believer in your approach, and not merely a reluctant conscript", he said.

In her reply, Mrs May told him: "I do not agree with your characterisation of the policy we agreed on at Cabinet on Friday."

She said: "I am sorry that you have chosen to leave the Government when we have already made so much progress towards delivering a smooth and successful Brexit and when we are only eight months from the date set in law when the United Kingdom will leave the European Union."

Mr Davis's exit may embolden Brexiteer backbench MPs with concerns about Mrs May's leadership.

Arch-Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg, leader of the powerful European Research Group faction within the Tory ranks, said his resignation should force Mrs May to reconsider her approach.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live: "These proposals will have to come to the House of Commons in legislation and the question is 'will they command support from Conservative MPs?'

"And I think without David Davis there, without his imprimatur, it will be very difficult for them to get the support of Conservative MPs and therefore the Prime Minister would be well advised to reconsider them."

 David Davis's resignation letter to Theresa May:

"Dear Prime Minister

"As you know there have been a significant number of occasions in the last year or so on which I have disagreed with the Number 10 policy line, ranging from accepting the Commission's sequencing of negotiations through to the language on Northern Ireland in the December Joint Report.

"At each stage I have accepted collective responsibility because it is part of my task to find workable compromises, and because I considered it was still possible to deliver on the mandate of the referendum, and on our manifesto commitment to leave the Customs Union and the Single Market.

"I am afraid that I think the current trend of policy and tactics is making that look less and less likely.

"Whether it is the progressive dilution of what I thought was a firm Chequers agreement in February on right to diverge, or the unnecessary delays of the start of the White Paper, or the presentation of a backstop proposal that omitted the strict conditions that I requested and believed that we had

agreed, the general direction of policy will leave us in at best a weak negotiating position, and possibly an inescapable one.

"The Cabinet decision on Friday crystallised this problem.

"In my view the inevitable consequence of the proposed policies will be to make the supposed control by Parliament illusory rather than real.

"As I said at Cabinet, the "common rule book" policy hands control of large swathes of our economy to the EU and is certainly not returning control of our laws in any real sense.

"I am also unpersuaded that our negotiating approach will not just lead to further demands for concessions.

"Of course this is a complex area of judgement and it is possible that you are right and I am wrong.

"However, even in that event it seems to me that the national interest requires a Secretary of State in my Department that is an enthusiastic believer in your approach, and not merely a reluctant conscript.

"While I have been grateful to you for the opportunity to serve, it is with great regret that I tender my resignation from the Cabinet with immediate effect.

"Yours ever, David Davis"

Fellow Tory Brexiteer Peter Bone welcomed Mr Davis's resignation, saying it was "a principled and brave decision", while Andrea Jenkyns said Mr Davis's departure was "fantastic news" and hailed Mr Baker as "another courageous and principled MP".

Letters calling for a leadership contest have reportedly been submitted to the backbench 1922 Committee by some Conservatives over the weekend.

Mr Davis said it was 'less and less likely' that Brexit would deliver
REUTERS

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen told the Press Association: "I can't support the offer which emerged at Chequers - I think it's a breach of the red lines, in fact the offer is so poor that I couldn't support it even if the EU were paying us for it."

Mrs May is expected to use a Commons statement to tell MPs that the strategy agreed on at Chequers is the "right Brexit" for Britain.

Mr Davis had come close to resigning before, but Mrs May must have hoped the danger of Cabinet resignations had passed after Friday's deal at her official country retreat.

Brexiteer Cabinet minister Michael Gove admitted the plan was not everything he had hoped for, but he was a "realist" and the Prime Minister's lack of a Commons majority meant the "parliamentary arithmetic" was a factor in deciding what could be adopted.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson backed the proposals at Chequers, despite claiming that defending the plans was like "polishing a turd" during the meeting.

In the Commons, Mrs May will acknowledge that there have been "robust views" around the Cabinet table and a "spirited national debate" since the 2016 referendum decision to leave the EU.

She will say: "Over that time, I have listened to every possible idea and every possible version of Brexit. This is the right Brexit."

She will tell MPs it was "the Brexit that is in our national interest" and "will deliver on the democratic decision of the British people".

The Prime Minister is expected to appoint a replacement for Mr Davis on Monday.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the Prime Minister "has no authority left and is incapable of delivering Brexit".

"With her Government in chaos, if she clings on, it's clear she's more interested in hanging on for her own sake than serving the people of our country," he said.

Additional reporting by Press Association.

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