Dominic Grieve: Tory MPs are becoming unhinged over Brexit withdrawal process
2 min read
Dominic Grieve has accused a number of Tory MPs of becoming “unhinged” over the Brexit withdrawal process.
The former attorney general also claimed there was an attempt to “bully into silence” Remain-supporting Tories who were speaking out against the Government.
The latest Brexit row is over the Government’s decision last week to table an amendment which commits Britain to leaving at 11pm on 29 March next year.
The move would force any pro-European MPs to come out publicly against the bill in March 2019.
It would also prevent any Tory MPs from siding with opposition parties in trying to vote down the final Brexit deal.
Mr Grieve has already come out as a vocal opponent to the amendment, branding it “thoroughly stupid”.
Today he said the decision to enshrine the date in law was “paranoid” and part of the “general hysteria” surrounding Brexit.
“I do sometimes think that some of my colleagues have become unhinged, actually. Not the Prime Minister at all,” he told BBC Radio 5Live's Pienaar’s Politics.
“I think the Prime Minister’s problem is she is surrounded by people who get louder and more strident by the moment as some of the inevitable problems which are going to come with Brexit start to make themselves apparent.”
He also claimed there were attempts to “bully” Tory MPs, specifically referencing last week’s Daily Telegraph’s front page branding Brexit rebels “mutineers”.
“The risk you start to run is you’re just being bullied into silence and I think the last week has shown to me that that risk is very apparent, it hasn’t come from my colleagues, it’s come in part at least, from social media.
"Some of my colleagues have had death threats but all these are in part generated by the sort of media coverage that has been given and the cranking up of the tension and excitement and hysteria.”
Anna Soubry revealed last week she had reported five threats against her to the police following the broadsheet splash.
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