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General election 2019: Lifelong Tories should back Lib Dems, says Heseltine General election 2019: Lifelong Tories should back Lib Dems, says Heseltine
(about 3 hours later)
Former Conservative Deputy Prime Minister Lord Heseltine has urged Tory voters to back Lib Dem or independent candidates in next month's poll.Former Conservative Deputy Prime Minister Lord Heseltine has urged Tory voters to back Lib Dem or independent candidates in next month's poll.
Lord Heseltine, who served under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, said voters should "put country first". Lord Heseltine, who served under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, said Boris Johnson's Brexit policy would be "utterly disastrous" for the country.
He told an event in Buckinghamshire this meant voting for ex-Tories or the Liberal Democrats on 12 December. He said the PM's "get Brexit done" by January slogan was "nonsense" and there was still a risk of a no-deal exit.
The peer, who supported Remain during the EU referendum, has previously said he backed the Lib Dems over Brexit. But cabinet minister Michael Gove said his ex-colleague was "wrong" on this.
Speaking at a panel event alongside Dominic Grieve, Anne Milton and David Gauke - former Tories expelled from the party who are all now independent candidates - Lord Heseltine was asked for his message to Conservative voters ahead of next month's election. Lord Heseltine, a passionate Remain supporter who backs another Brexit referendum lost the Conservative whip earlier this year after saying he would "lend" his vote to the Lib Dems in May's European elections.
Speaking at an event in Buckinghamshire on Monday, he encouraged lifelong Tories to vote for the Lib Dems or three former Tory MPs - Dominic Grieve, Anne Milton and David Gauke - who are standing as independent candidates after being thrown out of the parliamentary party.
"I'm telling them [Tory voters] to vote for what they believe in and what the Conservative Party has stood for all my life and probably all theirs - and to put country first," the 86-year-old said."I'm telling them [Tory voters] to vote for what they believe in and what the Conservative Party has stood for all my life and probably all theirs - and to put country first," the 86-year-old said.
"What I think that means in practical terms is they either vote for defrocked Conservative candidates - of which we have three excellent examples here - or they vote for the Lib Dems.""What I think that means in practical terms is they either vote for defrocked Conservative candidates - of which we have three excellent examples here - or they vote for the Lib Dems."
"It is the great delusion, so effective, get Brexit done. The idea that you can do it in a month, around Christmas," he added, according to the Mirror. 'More uncertainty'
"The most you can do, if there were to be a massive Tory majority, is to get through the legislation to enable you to begin the talk about what the future relationship will be." Mr Johnson has said if the Conservatives win a healthy Commons majority, he will bring his EU withdrawal agreement back to Parliament before Christmas in the expectation it will become law early in 2020 and the UK will leave the EU by the 31 January deadline.
The PM has said the UK will then be able to negotiate a new trade and security relationship with the EU in less than a year, despite the fact most trade experts say it will take much longer.
Mr Johnson has insisted the UK will not extend the transition period that will kick in after the UK leaves the EU and which will see the UK follow the bloc's rules until the end of 2020.
If the UK and the EU don't agree a deal by that point, the UK will default to World Trade Organisation trading rules, which opponents of Brexit say is tantamount to a no-deal exit.
Lord Heseltine told Radio 4's Today the reality of the Brexit process was very different to that painted by the PM.
"It is complete nonsense to suggest that this thing can be done by Christmas," he said. "All you can do by Christmas is pass legislation to enter into negotiations. It is like the boxer saying 'OK you have been training, now you can get into the ring.
"We are in for another year of uncertainty and the possibility of a no-deal exit at the end of it. That is the reality of what we are facing if Mr Johnson gets an overall majority."
He said he believed Labour could not win the election and therefore he and other pro-European Tories were free to back other candidates without putting Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street.
"I cannot vote or support people who are going to make the country poorer and less influential, full stop, end of story," he said.
'End of the bout'
The BBC's assistant political editor Norman Smith said Lord Heseltine's intervention was "extraordinary", coming a day after former prime minister Tony Blair said he could understand why Labour voters might vote for the the Lib Dems because of their anger over Brexit.The BBC's assistant political editor Norman Smith said Lord Heseltine's intervention was "extraordinary", coming a day after former prime minister Tony Blair said he could understand why Labour voters might vote for the the Lib Dems because of their anger over Brexit.
'Spoilt child' But Mr Gove said he "respectfully disagreed" with his former colleague, saying the peer's support for further European integration put him at odds with his party - all of whose candidates supported the PM's deal to take the UK out of the EU.
Mr Grieve, Ms Milton, and Mr Gauke - who were part of the group of 21 MPs kicked out of the Conservative Party for rebelling over Brexit in September - used the event to criticise their former party. He said a victory for Mr Johnson would mean the boxing "bout" Mr Heseltine spoke about was over by the end of January.
Mr Grieve, Ms Milton, and Mr Gauke - who were part of the group of 21 MPs kicked out of the Conservative Party for rebelling over Brexit in September - used Monday's event to criticise their former party.
Mr Grieve, the former attorney general, is reported to have said: "I'm sorry, my party's gone bonkers", while Ms Milton, the former skills minister, likened Prime Minister Boris Johnson to a "spoilt child".Mr Grieve, the former attorney general, is reported to have said: "I'm sorry, my party's gone bonkers", while Ms Milton, the former skills minister, likened Prime Minister Boris Johnson to a "spoilt child".
It is not the first time Lord Heseltine has been at odds with the Conservative Party over Brexit.
In May he had the whip removed after saying he would "lend" his vote to the Lib Dems in the European elections. At the time, Lord Heseltine said he would not back a Tory candidate because of the party's pro-Brexit stance.
And in March 2017 he was sacked as a government adviser after rebelling in a Brexit vote in the House of Lords.
Lord Heseltine served as a Conservative MP between 1966 and 2001.