This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/02/sam-gyimah-joins-tory-leadership-race-offering-second-referendum
The article has changed 14 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Sam Gyimah joins Tory leadership race offering second referendum | Sam Gyimah joins Tory leadership race offering second referendum |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| The former universities minister Sam Gyimah is the latest Conservative MP to announce he is entering the party’s leadership race, calling for a “final say on the Brexit deal” as the only way to break the parliamentary deadlock. | The former universities minister Sam Gyimah is the latest Conservative MP to announce he is entering the party’s leadership race, calling for a “final say on the Brexit deal” as the only way to break the parliamentary deadlock. |
| There is a packed field of 13 candidates vying to replace Theresa May as the prime minister, with Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab and Michael Gove the bookies’ favourites. However, Gyimah is the only candidate offering a second referendum on Brexit. | There is a packed field of 13 candidates vying to replace Theresa May as the prime minister, with Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab and Michael Gove the bookies’ favourites. However, Gyimah is the only candidate offering a second referendum on Brexit. |
| “We face a very stark and unwelcome choice,” Gyimah told Sky. “It is either no deal or revoke via a second referendum, possibly. But what most of the candidates are offering is no deal and a fudge on Theresa May’s deal, which has been heavily defeated.” | |
| He said the nationwide “broad sweep of opinion” on how the UK should move forward with Brexit was not being reflected in the Tory leadership contest, which is why he was putting himself forward. | |
| “Parliament is deadlocked, we all know that, we want to move forward and we want to be able to bring the country together,” he added. “And that is why I think a final say on the Brexit deal is the way to achieve that.” | |
| Amber Rudd warns Tory leadership candidates against backing no-deal Brexit | Amber Rudd warns Tory leadership candidates against backing no-deal Brexit |
| Gyimah, the MP for East Surrey since 2010, said that as prime minister he would legislate for a second referendum with no deal, Theresa May’s deal and a remain option on the ballot paper. In that three-option referendum, Gyimah said he would vote remain but that he would not “actively campaign” for it as prime minister. | |
| He called on the Conservative party to put the country first. “What makes us successful is when we put the country first and when we are pragmatic,” he said. “And I will be the only candidate in the race offering this option.” | |
| A vast majority of the public supported a people’s vote, Gyimah said, and he referred to the chaos that has been wrought within the Tory party over Europe historically. “If we want govern in the interests of the country, this is an option we have to consider seriously.” | |
| The former deputy chair of the party and an under-secretary in DExEU, Cleverly has only been in parliament since 2015. The MP for Braintree announced his candidacy to his local paper saying the Conservatives needed to “look new and sound different”. | |
| The environment secretary is to pitch himself as a “unity candidate” capable of attracting leavers and remainers, as he formally declared his candidacy saying: “I believe that I’m ready to unite the Conservative and Unionist party, ready to deliver Brexit and ready to lead this great country.” But robust Brexiters in particular dislike the fact that he stayed loyal even in the final days of the crumbling May regime. | |
| The former universities minister is calling for a 'final say on the Brexit deal' as the only way to break the parliamentary deadlock. Gyimah is the only candidate offering a second referendum on Brexit, saying 'There is a wide range of candidates out there but there is a very narrow set of views on Brexit being discussed'. | |
| The health secretary remains a relative outsider, but the longer the race goes on, the more he gains ground for the seemingly basic virtues of being apparently competent and broadly similar to a normal human being, albeit a particularly energetic one. A concerted effort would probably require an image consultant. | |
| The former immigration minister and chief whip was behind the controversial 'go-home' vans when working under Theresa May at the Home Office. He resigned as immigration minister in 2014after it emerged he was employing a cleaner who did not have permission to work in the UK. He later served as David Cameron’s chief whip. But he has not served in Theresa May’s government and has, therefore, sought to cast himself as the candidate who offers 'fresh thinking. | |
| Fears that the foreign secretary would be another overly woolly compromise choice were hardly assuaged when after a set-piece speech he seemed unable to outline why his brand of Conservatism might appeal to voters. | |
| The home secretary still has the same weaknesses: he is an uninspiring speaker and some worry he is too fond of headline-grabbing, illiberal political gestures. But he is almost as ubiquitous as Liz Truss, and clearly believes this is his time. | |
| The out-and-out favourite, so popular with the Tory grassroots that it would be hard for MPs to not make Johnson one of the final two. He has been relatively quiet recently, beyond his regular Telegraph column, but this is very deliberate. | |
| The former House of Commons leader, who left Theresa May as the last candidate standing when she pulled out of the previous leadership race in 2016, has decided to have another tilt at the top job, saying she has the “experience and confidence” to “lead this country into a brighter future”. But even with her staunch Brexiter tendencies, she would be seen as an outsider. | |
| The housing minister is credited as the convener of both Conservative leavers and remainers to develop a compromise on May’s withdrawal agreement. He said there was a “yearning for change”. The 52-year-old is a former deputy mayor of London and entered the Commons in 2015 when David Cameron’s Conservatives won a majority. His name was given to the “Malthouse compromise” – a proposal drawn up by backbenchers from leave and remain wings of the Tory party, which would have implemented May’s Brexit deal with the backstop replaced by alternative arrangements. | |
| The former work and pensions secretary, who quit last year over May’s Brexit plans, has launched her own in-party campaign group/leadership vehicle called Blue Collar Conservatism, promising to make the party more amenable to voters in deprived communities – mainly through a promise to deliver a strong Brexit and policies such as diverting much of the foreign aid budget to schools and police. | |
| Few things say “would-be leader in waiting” like a kitchen photoshoot with your spouse, and the former Brexit secretary duly obliged with this imageawash with tasteful pastel hues. He formally launched his bid in the Mail on Sunday. Among the more core constituency of Conservative MPs, Raab has been pushing hard, as has his semi-official “Ready for Raab” Twitter feed. | |
| The cabinet’s most recent arrival – Mordaunt’s promotion to defence led to Stewart becoming international development secretary – certainly has the necessary ambition and self-belief, plus a privileged if unorthodox backstory covering Eton, Oxford, a senior role in postwar Iraq and a bestselling book about walking across Afghanistan. He remains an outsider, not least because of his remain tendencies and slightly 2010 view of compassionate Conservatism. | |
| Sir Graham Brady, Penny Mordaunt and James Brokenshire are yet to declare their intentions. Liz Truss and Amber Rudd have ruled themselves out. | |
| Among other senior figures not expected to run are Brandon Lewis, Chris Grayling and Philip Hammond. Gavin Williamson’s recent sacking after the Huawei leak inquiry will also surely rule him out as an option this time around. | |
| He insisted he was not positioning himself for a cabinet post and said he would find it difficult to serve as a minister under a leader pursuing a no-deal Brexit. | |
| Gyimah, a former investment banker at Goldman Sachs, resigned from the government in November in protest against May’s Brexit deal, which he said was not in Britain’s national interest and would mean the UK lost its voice in the EU while still having to follow the bloc’s rules. He said at the time that another referendum could be the only option if MPs rejected May’s deal, as they did. | |
| Elsewhere, a number of other Tory leadership hopefuls set out policy proposals on Sunday. Sajid Javid said he would consider scrapping the top rate of income tax in a bid to boost the economy. Raab has pledged to cut income tax by a penny a year – 5p over the course of a parliament to 15p in the pound for the basic rate – which critics have claimed would cost £25bn. | |
| The foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has suggested slashing corporation tax to Irish levels of 12.5% from the 19% it sits at currently. | The foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has suggested slashing corporation tax to Irish levels of 12.5% from the 19% it sits at currently. |
| Gove is said to be preparing to delay Brexit until the end of next year rather than leave without a deal on 31 October. while former Commons leader Andrea Leadsom has set out a three-point plan to deliver Brexit, including introducing legislation to guarantee citizens’ rights for Brits in the EU and Gibraltar and EU citizens in the UK. | |
| Meanwhile, Liz Truss, the chief secretary to the Treasury, has announced she is backing Johnson to be the next prime minister. | |
| Sam Gyimah | Sam Gyimah |
| Conservative leadership | Conservative leadership |
| Conservatives | Conservatives |
| news | news |
| Share on Facebook | Share on Facebook |
| Share on Twitter | Share on Twitter |
| Share via Email | Share via Email |
| Share on LinkedIn | Share on LinkedIn |
| Share on Pinterest | Share on Pinterest |
| Share on WhatsApp | Share on WhatsApp |
| Share on Messenger | Share on Messenger |
| Reuse this content | Reuse this content |